Monday, December 21, 2009

With God Anything is Possible!

Merry Christmas:

A Season for Miracles—One of my favorite things to do while getting ready for Christmas is to watch the Hallmark channel. Yesterday I saw one of my favorite scenes during the movie “A Season for Miracles.” The woman had just broken the trust of most of the townspeople where she had moved, including the man who had fallen in love with her. The scene is where the man is commiserating with a bartender, who was really an angel. The bartender/angel asked him, “What do you think about her actions?” His reply, “She made a mistake.” The bartender/angels reply, “Forgive her!” His: “I wish it were that easy.”

Then the angel reminded him, “What, you’ve never made a mistake? All of us make our own mistakes, in our own ways. But the solution is always the same—‘I forgive you!’ There’s a lot of power in those three simple words. They can change the world.”
Then he said, “I wish it were possible.” And the angel replied, “With God, anything is possible.”

“Mary set out and traveled to the hill country in haste to a town of Judah, where she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. When Elizabeth heard Mary’s greeting, the infant leaped in her womb, and Elizabeth, filled with the Holy Spirit, cried out in a loud voice and said, “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb.

And how does this happen to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? For at the moment the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the infant in my womb leaped for joy. Blessed are you who believed that what was spoken to you by the Lord would be fulfilled.” Lk 1:39-45

The birth of Jesus was a miracle, as was Elizabeth’s pregnancy in her “old age.” Do we believe that whatever the Lord says will be fulfilled? That all things are possible with God?

This is the same message Deacon Joe brought to us from Pope Benedicts messages this week: “With God All things are Possible.“

He also talked about the limits we put on our relationship with God and ultimately on our relationships with our spouses, family and friends. We put “limits” on our forgiveness, on our love, and on God’s power in our lives. We say we “believe” or that we “love” and yet we limit that love, by being selfish, by expecting forgiveness for our own mistakes, and yet not forgiving the mistakes of our loved ones. We expect our spouses to be unselfish, even when we are being selfish ourselves. We set “limits” on ourselves while having greater “expectations” of others. We stop short of truly forgiving, trusting, and unselfishly answering God’s call to love each other as He loved us.

Do we expect more of our spouses, our children or our friends than they know or are able to give? Do we give as much as we expect them to give? Are we willing to accept our spouse’s shortcomings? Why is it that we can forgive our children over and over, yet we are unwilling to forgive our spouse more than once? Do we recognize when the people we love are trying their hardest, and do we still ask for or want more? Is this the same thing we are asking of God, for Him to forgive us, yet we are unwilling to forgive others?

Are we setting limits on the possibilities God has for our lives.
What would have happened if Mary had not accepted her role as a wife and as the Mother of God? What would have happened if Mary had said “no” to God, or set limits on Jesus’ birth and place in her life?

So just like the Hallmark show, Jesus comes to us this week, in the Christmas story of love, humility and poverty to teach us to forgive without limit. If we truly give our lives to Him, if we truly forgive and ask for forgiveness, All Things Are Possible!

Wishing you A Season of Miracles. May God’s Blessings in Your Life this Christmas Season be Limitless.
Charlotte

No comments:

Post a Comment