Steadfast Love

Recently, the site Following the Star, focused on the beauty and the reality of the steadfast love of God:

www.followingthestar.org.

This site provides a reading from scripture, a meditation, and a reflection for each day of the Advent Season.

On one particular day last week, the daily devotional contained an excerpt from the Book of Lamentations - a book, that in all my years of studying and teaching scripture, I had never really explored in any depth.

I flipped through this book today, and found passages that immediately spoke to my soul and heart. The passage that Following the Star explored, contained these verses from Lamentations 3: 22 - 24 - which I copy here:

"The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases,
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
'The Lord is my portion,' says my soul,
'Therefore I will hope in Him.'"

In times of trouble or when things are bleak, a passage like this brings solace and comfort to the person of faith.

One of things that I have learned is, that no matter how much sorrow one experiences, and no matter how many curve balls one is thrown, there is always something to be thankful for, and there are always many blessings surrounding us - if we have the eyes to see - and the ears to hear.

As this site noted:

"When we embrace the steadfast love of the Lord,
we are able to wait in patient hopefulness..."

The daily devotional ended with this prayer:

"God of faith, hope, and love,
fill me with the assurance
of Your never-ceasing Love.
Make me patient, as I wait
for You and Your goodness."

In the midst of so many demands and busyness that are experienced at this time of the year, may you feel the embrace of the Lord's steadfast Love as you more deeply enter in the gentle stillness of the sacred season!

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