Red heart shaped sky at sunset. Beautiful landscape with road.

One gigantic Gift—Anno Domini

By Joy Le Page Smith

The birth of Jesus, has instigated advantages far beyond what can be quickly put into words. One “for instance,” is the way we mark time: “AD” or Anno Domini which means “The Day of the Lord”, whereas BC stands for “Before Christ.”

God had one thing in mind for human kind: He wanted to “walk and talk” with us as . . . an existence in Oneness with Him. No coercion, just a peaceful life of love and righteousness.

God walked and talked, in person, with those first inhabitants of the earth. That is, until they lost their amazing one-on-one connection with the Creator. How did that happen? God gave them one “Do not do . . .” commandment—and they failed. They disobeyed! That is when their phenomenal home, meant to be eternally lived out in fellowship with their Maker, ended and they were swiftly evicted. Consequentially, death, illness and imbalance came to the earth for humankind. Great storms, dis-eases of many sorts along with human hatred came to be. And, that special, peaceful place called the Garden of Eden came to an abrupt end.

From there on men and women could choose: either live by the guidance of God on their souls and abiding by rules made clear through prophets and scribes who were anointed by the Holy Spirit to write the Scriptures; or, we can live according to desires prevalent to human nature, such as pursuits for power, greed, self-aggrandizement and pride to mention only a few. Scripture calls these human foibles “lusts of the flesh” which carry very real consequences, particularly loss of meaningful relationships.

The whole story of how the Holy Writ (the Bible) came to be is magnificent: 66 books were written on papyrus and later on parchment scrolls by 40 men over several thousand years, extending a ubiquitous message of a God who loves us and wishes to succor and protect our souls—providing we allow His guidance. God’s goal is to bring us into relationship with Himself with an endearing closeness, again, that ultimately results in an afterlife with our Heavenly Father throughout eternity. When we read the Bible with open hearts the Holy Spirit anoints the truths, uplifting our souls. How can we know the Bible is true? It is simple: Reading it changes us. It changes who we are.

God’s Holy Spirit brings us into a vastly blessed love. As we seek to stay “in tune,” we are enabled to transcend the hardships of life (and our fallen nature.) The bottom line? God is love and He created us to be able to know His love, to love others and to follow His plan for us.

Reading His Word warns us, “He who does not love does not know God, for God is love. In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him,” (1 John 4:7-9).

Churches and parishes exist all over the world for this purpose of helping us know we are loved. Through the most wonderful of all gifts we are “given the right to become children of God,” (John 1:12). Accepting Christ as Lord and Savior of our souls, we gain potential for our greatest desire: to fulfill God’s original design for us, living as heirs of God once we believe in His Son and receive Him as our “Lord.” The message of Christianity is to live out this life in reverence of God’s Son, who has redeemed us back to God by covering our sins with His shed blood.

We are God’s children. Our “restored walk” with God finds us desiring to share this astounding love with others while sensing the Lord’s presence and seeking His guidance as we live out this life.

There is nothing hard about beginning the journey. Praying and reading/studying the Bible clues us in as to how to hear God’s guidance from within our hearts.

Even in times when the world seems dark, God’s tender love is ever-beaconing us to join Him on “the high road” provided by the Savior whose birthday we are about to celebrate. Christmas reminds us of the most amazing time of all human history: the birth of Jesus Christ, the one who is ever loving, able and willing to intercede for us—and provide eternal life for all who choose to call Him “Lord.”

By Joy Lepage Smith

See website healing-with-joy.com for multiple free helps (articles) on depression, disillusionment, disappointment and many matters that derail us in life. See homepage for books and children’s YouTube.