The Tribune

By Rev. Angela Bosfield

Palacious

Advent marks the beginning of a new church year, affording us the opportunity to start all over again. Where do you need to try a different approach? What do you want as a new experience to replace an old memory? The choice is yours to ask God for help to accomplish something that will make you more equipped for a peaceful life.

I had the opportunity to see two dogs fighting at very close range. It was a terrible thing to see and hear. I knew the dogs to normally be playful and pleasant and so the shock was quite great. I felt emotionally drained afterwards and many thoughts came to my mind: If this is how it was when two dogs fought what must it be like for children to see parents screaming, punching and throwing each other down?

My heart goes out to all those children who live with this on a weekly basis. What if the Christmas holidays brings the nightmare of such trauma with parents fighting over suspicious absences or unrestrained spending, excessive drinking and anything else that provokes arguments of such magnitude? What if they are beaten as a part of the madness? Would a new beginning seem like a miracle?

We all need to pray for such miracles to happen within the next few weeks. I am sure that such children would trade a harmonious home for all the presents in the world. Don’t you?
Do you know someone who would love some respect for Christmas? Perhaps to have a spouse or friend show affection, attention and speak words of kindness and encouragement would be the longed-for gift. How many relationships at home, work, school, or in the neighbourhood need to start over again all over this island, I wonder?

Our God offers more chances to change than we have breath to breathe, and wants to touch us in our secret place, our inmost being if we will accept the offer. Why live any longer with the war going on in your spirit? Why experience one more Christmas just like the rest? Our God is able to help you to be a new creation, a re-born being, a “new every morning” miracle that meets each day with a strength beyond your own, a love that is assured, and a joy waiting deep inside to explode to the surface when you need it most.

I wish for you to fall in love this Christmas with a baby in a manger who becomes a man on a cross. I pray for you to let it happen or to remember what it felt like when it first did and allow the same feelings to sweep you into God’s arms again.

I want more than anything for us to be a godly people who live lives pleasing to God, raising families that will be a blessing to this nation. What about you? Is that what you want too? If so, is there something that you can do to make such a dream come true?