Carving a living dream: December 2012

December 22nd, two days till Christmas. My family and I are in Mérida, the city where we lived six years ago and where most of our larger family lives. We've spent four days with our aunts, cousins and grandparents, so much to catch up on. Christmas lights illuminate streets and bridges, buildings and parks. This afternoon we went ice skating in a mall's ice ring, which is quite a feat when being so near the equator. I enjoyed it completely, particularly once I had gotten the hang of it, feeling like I was gonna slip but keeping on till what I did was called skating. We came back home famished. And Jesus supplied a delicious quickly-prepared meal and great company.
Even now though, it's a bit difficult to feel like Christmas and I'm wondering what else to do. It's as if I had a Christmas-spirit suit that I set aside and take out to wear during the season. And I've certainly been putting it on and off these days -on when I'm giving and off when I'm in a bad mood. It seems that way to me.
However, this approach to Christmas is really human, I feel.
And while I am human, Jesus lives in my heart so that makes me sure that if there's something that I'm missing, which I am, He knows and can tell me about it.
So I sat here to ask, and my Jesus answered me:

Sweetheart, donning the garment isn't about being in a certain place, doing certain things, thinking certain thoughts, listening to certain music. Wearing My Christmas spirit is never about the world around you, it's about Me who is in you.
How can you live in Christmas magic today? Think about how to be Me for others. Maybe it's smiling a little bit more, maybe it's being patient with those who exasperate you, maybe it's buying someone a gift, maybe it's offering a kind word or spending long hours with a lone friend. You name it, it's called the art of love. When you love, you automatically let Christmas' spirit permeate what you do and your whole frame of mind changes, thus you affect the world around you with My special touch.
Will you let Me flow this Christmas? No need to do something in particular, just remember Who you're carrying inside and do your best to give That love to others. You'll see that places flourish and are touched with love, but the one who's most blessed is you: the giver and partaker of My love.

Jesus, thank you for your answers! I think I get lost making Christmas, when in reality Christmas already is, and the joy is found when handing others a little bit of Christmas wrapped up in a sincere act of love. Thank you for being the babe we celebrate, the King we honor, the God we praise. You coming to Earth is the reason why I have life and have it in abundance. You're the reason why our closeness is real and not something reserved for a single priest who can walk into your presence once a year! You made yourself reachable to everyone, to me! You came to Earth on Christmas to live for love and to die for love so that we can live and love forever, so that nothing can separate us from your love.

"So, what do you think? With God on our side like this, how can we lose? If God didn’t hesitate to put everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing himself to the worst by sending his own Son, is there anything else he wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us? And who would dare tangle with God by messing with one of God’s chosen? Who would dare even to point a finger? The One who died for us—who was raised to life for us!—is in the presence of God at this very moment sticking up for us. Do you think anyone is going to be able to drive a wedge between us and Christ’s love for us? There is no way! Not trouble, not hard times, not hatred, not hunger, not homelessness, not bullying threats, not backstabbing, not even the worst sins listed in Scripture. ... None of this fazes us because Jesus loves us. I’m absolutely convinced that nothing—nothing living or dead, angelic or demonic, today or tomorrow, high or low, thinkable or unthinkable—absolutely nothing can get between us and God’s love because of the way that Jesus our Master has embraced us." (Romans 8:31-39)

He's embraced us and we're His, forever!

He told me "Why do you worry about the story that is already written?"
"Jesus, what if I don't like the story? What if my worst fears take place in that story?!"
"Don't I make all things beautiful in their time? Your story is no exception, the story of your family is no exception. I'm using it, what right now you cringe over, I will use to bring greater things. Think of it as a lion's den. Trust Me."
And it's a real battle to not give in to fear. Yet, He said the lion's den? What happened after Daniel came out of the lion's den?

I heard that story so many times as a kid. The King was aghast when Daniel came out of the lion's den alive and whole. He told Daniel "Truly your God is the living God" and he commanded his entire empire to worship the God of Daniel, who had saved him. That time in the lion's den, with the fear of maybe being eaten by beasts, is simply not worth comparing with what God was planning after that.
Maybe the lions in your den seem like they're gonna eat you, like I sometimes worry in my own story, but God will bring us out and do extraordinary things as we surrender to what He has penned and planed since the beginning of time.
Thank you, Jesus! Thank you for being the best writer ever! All those books that fascinate us, book-lovers, have stories that are left in the dust compared to the love, wisdom, power and beauty you put into our stories. Thank you for being so good!