While Love may be the most familiar of the Advent concepts, it is also one that we complicate with layers of humanity and ego. In its purest, love is the very essence of who we are. It is the unifying and creative force in the Universe. We usually see love shrouded in our personal history and experience. We feel wounded by love as much as we feel healed by love. Actually, the wounding we might identify is our human response to the actions of other humans, not related to the pure essence of love at all.
Perhaps the original story of the visit of the Magi bearing gifts has contributed to the complication of the celebration of love and Christ’s birth. We measure both the love we give and the love we receive in gifts. We allow large and small, fancy and simple, time and companionship experiences, and yet, we keep ending up measuring love with gifts. A favorite Motown Christmas song implores us to “Give Love on Christmas Day.” We acknowledge that the heart of every gift is love and I just wonder what love looks like beyond the gifts.
This year I want to suggest we Be Love, not only at Christmas but all through the year. When we are being love, we are not only compassionate but also generous with others and with ourselves. I’m not sure how being love looks to you but I invite us all to explore the experience for ourselves. Amid the busy shopping, wrapping and cooking, take time to breathe and be the love that is Christ born anew in us each day.
Radical Wholeness 