During my Pastor's message on Pentecost Sunday, he reminded us of the fire of the Holy Spirit. One of the qualities he mentioned was the gentle warmth of the Spirit, which softens, soothes and warms our coldest places.

The image reminded me of Winter, when I so much enjoy gazing at the open fire. Watching the flames easily lick their way over heavy logs, takes me right away from my anxieties and daily concerns. I am lost in wonder as the flickering ribbons of fire everchange in glowing colors. The fire flickers, entrancing me, as the flames weave in and around, but ever aiming upwards to the heavens.The warmth from the glowing embers eases away all my bodily aches and pains. I totally relax my body, mind and soul in a peaceful calm and gratitude fills every pore of my being.

When connecting this image with prayer, winter is the season for inner pondering around our beautiful gentle God. It is the season for silence, and meditation, as we snuggle up in our favorite chair and remember His bountiful goodness to us. Winter is the season for quiet before God. As the leaves have fallen, and the trees are bare and still, so let us empty our minds, and leave behind our prayer lists and personal needs, and just come as we are into the warming and calming presence of God.

As we sit, and gaze upon His glory, we shall find that our hearts are indeed warmed, and our mind will relax in just the same way as if we sat by a fire. As we fill our minds with thoughts of our wonderful Lord, He shall also entrance us with His beauty. God will weave His gentle Spirit in and around our lives in ways we can never imagine, and like the flames of the fire, His Spirit works to warm us in ways which will always lead us upwards towards a closer and more loving relationship with God. These changes, unlike the fire, are so much longer lasting, for God's gentle warming of our hearts will stay with us.

Someone recently spent time in quietness with God like this, and found the experience amazing. She then realized that what she had offered to God warmed and amazed His heart too. For what God wants is simply us, every aspect of us to be offered quietly to Him. God longs for our love, our time, and our quiet devotion, like Mary of Bethany offered to Jesus. Our loving time is a gift to God too.

Allow this season of winter to be a time for silent reflective prayer. May each of us be warmed and calmed as we spend time with the Lover who made us. He is longing for us to be still, to gaze upon His entrancing beauty, and we shall find ourselves changed forever in deeper love with Him.

(c). 2006. Christine M. Jones.

Droplets From Life: http://www.dropletsfromlife.blogspot.com