December 11

“The new life comes only when we begin to see that love, as it is made plain in Christ, is not ‘what can God do for us?’ but, ‘what can I do for God?’  It is in His life poured out on the Cross that we see the transforming love that cannot stop giving.  The love that lifts and does not expect to be thanked.  The love that gives more when it is receiving nothing.”  Eugenia Price, S.P.S., 11/22

This is a wonderful picture of Grace: ”the love that gives more when it is receiving nothing.”  It’s as though that kind of love receives its energy from the void.  It’s like what happens when the seal is broken on a bottle in which all the air had been previously sucked out--the vacuum that had been created immediately sucks in the air that’s been hanging around on the outside.  God’s kind of love is Grace.  It surrounds us all the time, but because of the blockage in our heart (fear) we’ve created a vacuum--an empty space walled off from the rest of ourselves and others.  Christ came and made a way for us to open up our hearts--first to Him.  This is easier for some than others because pride (the ego) constantly fights against it.  But then, even after Christ has broken the seal on the vacuum and His love has come rushing in, too often we hoard it, and hoarded love quickly begins to close off that opening.   Many times we will think we never received Christ to begin with and attempt to accept Him all over again--but this is impossible because He’s already there.  Instead we need to see that we are still giving our ego a home.  It really must be sent packing!

“No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other....” Matthew 6:24a