During the winter months when it is cold and gets dark earlier, drinking hot cider or hot chocolate, wrapping up in a warm blanket, and sitting by a fire are some of the little comforts the cold weather allows us to enjoy. The hot water in the shower or bath, a warm hand holding your cold hand, the warmth from a pet when it lays on your lap. The winter weather reminds us of the great comfort and peace warmth brings when we are cold.
Warmth brings our anxiety down, relaxes our body and mind, and comforts our heart and soul. Nothing is without a reason, God allows us to experience these joys to remind us of the complete comfort and peace He gives through His love. The warmth of God's touch on our life is what allows us keep living with joy in our heart.
God doesn't just watch over us, He is here with us and He comforts us. Just as a mother comforts her baby, God knows we are weak, in desperate need of love and care, and He, being our Father, provides that. God is love! "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and everyone who loves is born of God and knows God. He who does not love does not know God, for God is love." (1 John 4:7-8). The warmth of God's love doesn't just cover us in the winter season, it covers us 365 days every year. Just as the warmth of the sun when it shines on your face or body during the summer, God's love warmly shines on us. In sunny times and chilly, whether we are happy or sad, whether we feel it or not, God's love is constant. The thing about "feelings" are that they are deceiving and fleeting. One minute we can like someone and the next we can dislike them, one minute we are smiling and having a good day, the next we are grumpy and ready for the day to end. Feelings and emotions are to be controlled not to control us. Remind yourself and your emotions that God's love does not expire or depend on your current feeling. God's love is eternal!
“Blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord, and whose hope is the Lord. For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters, which spreads out its roots by the river, and will not fear when heat comes; but its leaf will be green, and will not be anxious in the year of drought, nor will cease from yielding fruit. “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it? I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, even to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his doings. - Jeremiah 17:7-10
God comforts us not only because He loves us but to show us how we are to comfort others. We go through hardships to make us stronger and to be able to comfort and help others who are going through a similar or the same difficulty. When we comfort one another we are displaying God's love and helping heal the spiritual and emotional wounds of others.
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also abounds through Christ. Now if we are afflicted, it is for your consolation and salvation, which is effective for enduring the same sufferings which we also suffer. Or if we are comforted, it is for your consolation and salvation. And our hope for you is steadfast, because we know that as you are partakers of the sufferings, so also you will partake of the consolation. - 2 Corinthians 1:3-7
God's love brings peace in our life. During December and the days leading up to Christmas, think on these characteristics of God and how the warmth of His love impacts your life. As Mary did, ponder and treasure these things in your heart and meditate on His Word, the living word of God filled with His love and redemption. The warmth of God's love was demonstrated to us in the form of His only Son, Jesus Christ, born as a baby in flesh to this world with a purpose and plan to redeem men and women throughout the ages. Jesus died for each person, all the sins each person committed and would commit. His precious sinless blood poured out to cover our treacherous deeds, words, and thoughts. There is no greater love than the love God has for you! Be covered in the warmth and comfort of your Creator's love this season and throughout each day and remember what CHRISTmas is truly about, Christ.
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” - John 16:33
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. - John 14:27
Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. - John 15:13