A few years ago my friend Lyanda Lynn Haupt wrote about her Advent reading. She mentioned a writer who was new to me–always a treat. She was reading A Child in Winter by Caryll Houselander. So I put it on hold, and it came to me from the Benedictines at Mount Angel. The slim blue book made an impression right away. This is the third year that I’ve used it at Advent. It’s still amazing me. Even though I’ve been sharing often from this book, today’s selection really throws on lights.
Christ never goes away, never forgets, all day long, wherever you are, whoever you are, whatever you are doing. HIs whole heart is concentrated upon you.
He watches you with the eye of a mother watching her only child. He sees not the surface of things, not the imperfections inevitable to human frailty, but the truly loveable in you, your dependence on him, your need of him. Does a mother love her child less because it has fallen and bruised itself? No, indeed; only, if that is possible, more!
What must we do then?
Listen. Be silent. Let Christ speak to you. Forget yourself, do not be self-centered, let him tell you how he loves you, show you what he is like, prove to you that he is real. Silence in your soul means a gentle attention to Christ, it means turning away from self to him, listening to him.
God speaks silently, God speaks in your heart; if your heart is noisy, chattering, you will not hear.
Every ordinary thing in your life is a word of God’s love:
your home, your work, the clothes you wear, the air you breathe, the food you eat, the friends you delight in, the flowers under your feet are the courtesy of God’s heart flung down on you! All these things say one thing only: “See how I love you.”
God asks only this one thing, that you will let God tell you this directly, simply; that you will treat God as someone real, not as someone who does not really exist.
–From The Comforting of Christ, 21
Janet says
10 December 2014 at 1:43 pmLove this, Kortney. So beautiful His love for us. Thanks for sharing it.
Lisa Hassan Scott says
11 December 2014 at 12:52 amThank you for sharing this, Kortney. I love Caryll Houslander & recommend The Way of The Cross if you’re looking for powerful Lenten reading. The thing I love about the selection you have shared is the emphasis on God using the ordinariness of life to show us His love. Too often, I think we are exhorted to leave the temptations of this “evil world” behind in order to find God. When actually, God is Here and Now.
Kortney Garrison says
13 December 2014 at 8:15 pmLisa, you’re the first person whose known of Houselander…yet another connection! Thank you for the recommendation. I also have (and haven’t read) Reed of God.
Peace keep you.
Lisa Hassan Scott says
18 December 2014 at 2:02 pmSo do I! Gosh, the print is so tiny, isn’t it? I’ve dipped in but never read it cover to cover.
I just finished reading Keeping Advent. Thank you! I loved it and we, too, have been colouring in the nativity you recommended on Twitter.
Kortney Garrison says
20 December 2014 at 9:45 pmThanks for taking the time to let me know you read Keeping Advent. It’s a strange thing to let something into the world and then not hear much back…
Peace keep you, Lisa.
ladydusk says
12 December 2014 at 7:31 amI oh so need daily reminders of his constant presence and care.