(Written
by Sheila Gail Landgraf)
It isn't required that you read meditations each day as you light the Menorah for Hanukkah; but we enjoy the exercise and feel it helps to give the season more fulfillment inside our hearts; so we chose to do so at our house; and invite you to join in with us.
If you
are reading these meditations each day as you are lighting the Hanukkah candles on your Menorah, I hope that you are keeping one very important question in
mind. Are you experiencing Hanukkah within your heart and in your own days, or is it just an ancient story to you?
Is The One and Only True God being daily renewed in your life, replacing all the false and untrue things that the world tries to force upon us? God's Holy Days and the two occasions of Mosaic Holidays each year help us, remind us, and teach us to do just that.
There
are no set rules or prayers for making this meditation each year; it is simply
about remembering the Presence of God among His people in times of hardship and
struggle.
In the world that we live in now; what could be more timely? Every newscast is full of false prophets proclaiming there is no more hope. We need the truth to fall on our ears and find its way into our hearts again this year.
So many seem to have lost the way to hope; yet these days hold out pictures of our hope like a perfect gift wrapped in gold. They are free to all who want to believe and understand. They are reminders of our greatest gifts; those sent down from our heavenly Father!
The fact that the first day of Hannukah falls during and on Christmas Eve in 2016 makes it even more significant. Do we remember Christ in EVERY celebration EVERY year? He IS the light of Hanukkah. He IS the miracle! What we celebrate as Emmanuel on Christmas Eve is what the miracle of Hannukah foretold. It was a prophesy of the coming Messiah! The miracle of the light spoke of the coming miracle of The Light Of The World.
He is the Christ Child we look for at Advent. He is the Savior we honor with Christmas Day. He is the fulfillment of all of God's Holy Days. He is what the Mosaic Holidays point to. The Hanukkah story just points to more of the miracles that happened because of Him.
It is all about remembering that
God gives us the hope and a promise of a good and everlasting future, no matter how dark or bleak
the winter we are living through may seem.
For so many of us Christmas Eve brings disappointment. This is not intended disappointment; it happens when we put our faith in the things of the world and not on the things of God.
If your focus is straight, your heart will celebrate in all circumstances; just like that very first Hanukkah when the great miracle happened. When we ponder the miracles of God during this time, our own selfish and human complaints seem to disappear and they are replaced with God's joy in our hearts at the things that He has done for us, and not the things that the world has done to us.
This MUST have been the way that Mary was able to get through such an unexpected change in her life; a miracle from God that did not look like a miracle. From the worldly view, it seemed like trouble. Mary's focus was straight, and so was the focus of those who cleansed the temple on that very first Hannukah when God gave the miracle of light as a sign that Messiah would come!
These ancient worshipers celebrated in spite of their lack; and God provided more than they needed! He brought forth a symbol of the Light that we now know as Messiah.
In this season that occurs during the darkest and shortest days of winter we are reminded that spring is coming again, and with spring comes new life from God. The things that will grow into spring lay hidden in the ground right now; but they are still there; just like hope that is always ever growing but not always visible to the eye. There ARE hidden miracles at work and God still has control of everything!
It all starts in the darkness of winter and silently grows in God’s ever
abiding Presence when we remember that He Alone is the God of great miracles. So make your prayer and light your candles in
a gesture of faith, and please remember and experience the moments.
Religion
is not merely to be observed, but in its highest state it must be
expressed!
Do you not feel an existential
awareness of God’s Presence as you observe the things that honor Him in your
life?
Are you not being totally honest about
your relationship with God as you light the candles that point to the hope that reveals The Light of
The World?
As the days are building, one
candle after another and they increase in light as the time goes by, is your
soul too expanding wider in order to incorporate all the things that God is
showing you and teaching you in this life? Are you living out your days as if each day were the lighting of yet another candle and another way to worship the God you love?
If you are not content that you are constantly dwelling in the light of
God; do you have a dream and a vision of coming closer and closer in the
future?
Are you taking those small steps
every day that open the door wider and wider to the work of God within your
heart? Babies take small steps in the beginning before they are able to run. We come to God with the heart of a child if we come honestly and willingly. As we take small baby steps of faith; our hearts grow wider and fuller of The Light of The World we know as Messiah.
It is hoped by the end of Hanukkah, when all
eight candles have been lit and set back into their place, that the room will fill up and glow
with the Spirit of God and we all will feel His Presence as close as the flames
of the candles and as warm as the love that lasts through all of eternity.
The smoke of the candles send up our
prayers.
God sees our hearts and knows.
This
year at Hanukkah please make a point of invoking God’s Presence each time you light
the candles. It is as easy as saying a
heart-felt prayer and believing that He who has promised will be faithful.
As a matter of fact; I think those very words may be the words we speak this year with each day of our candle lighting: "HE WHO HAS PROMISED WILL BE FAITHFUL!" It will be a reminding prayer that the light lasting for eight days was a glorious shadow of The Light Of The World called Christ who first came as a child and will soon come again as a King. Each lighting will remind us of these three miracles of past, present and future in God's Kingdom!
On the first full Day of Hanukkah as you see the new light, be prepared to not only observe God in your life, but to
experience Him with each new breath that you take.
He will speak to your heart if you are only prepared to listen!
