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How did you get on with your “gifting” at Christmas? Gifting is the word that some shops are now using to describe the practice of exchanging Christmas presents. However, I detect signs of a growing unease about the annual merry-go-round of gifting that takes place. Some people are uncovering new ways of making their gifts less costly and more meaningful. I now give my family members a card which invites them to a free weekend away all together.

Whatever you think of “gifting”, giving is a different activity. Giving involves being generous to someone who often cannot give you anything back beyond a heart-felt thank you. Knowing how to give generously without expecting anything in return is important. So is saying thank you in response to such generosity. Happy relationships are built around generous giving and genuine gratitude. Real giving is a lost art that we may need to rediscover.

“God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

PRAY

Generous God, thank you for the world in which I live, for the roof over my head and for my friends and family. Make me generous in my giving to others. Amen.

REFLECT

Are there ways you could make Christmas presents less costly and more meaningful?

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Praying is for anyone at any time. It is about being awake and alert to the presence of God in the world around us. Prayer sees an extraordinary God at work in the everyday lives we lead and gives thanks. The spiritual person looks beyond the ordinary.

‘My soul magnifies the Lord.’ (Luke 1: 46)

PRAY
Extraordinary God, Open my eyes to your beauty in the world I inhabit. Help me to see beyond the ordinary and to be thankful for all that you have made. Amen.
REFLECT
What counts as extraordinary in your everyday world?

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Spirituality searches for what cannot be known through one’s mind alone. It is an attempt to know and love a God who exists within and beyond the simple world we see. The focal point of a spiritual life rests in God.

As a deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for you, O God. (Psalm 42: 1)
PRAY
Ever faithful God, I am your child. In some mysterious sense, I look out for signs that you are with me in the world, in the relationships I share and in the love that I feel. I seek not self-improvement, I simply search for you. Amen.
REFLECT
In your heart of hearts, what is it you search for most?

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In the busy world we inhabit, it is easy to forget God. Yet our ancestors felt a spiritual connection with God that helped them to make sense of who they were. In the Bible, God pleads constantly with his people to remember him in order to know and understand themselves well.

My people have forgotten me, days without number. (Jeremiah 2: 32b)

PRAY
Faithful God, forgive my forgetfulness of you. So often I allow the pressures of everyday life to crowd you out. Help me to remember your loving kindness towards me at all times. Amen.

REFLECT
Are there any places where you feel the presence of God?

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Although we value being independent, we still rely on many people for support. We often feel a deep sense of gratitude to those we depend on most. God is generous to us in all sorts of ways and we have much to be grateful for. Thanking God builds us as spiritual people.

I will always thank the LORD (Psalm 34: 1)
PRAY
Loving God, open my eyes to all that you give and make me grateful. Enlarge my heart in love of you and fill my life with joy. Amen.
REFLECT
Where in your life do you feel a deep sense of gratitude?

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The world doesn’t need more busy people; and it doesn’t need more intelligent people. It needs ‘deep people’ who know a need for: Silence, if their words are to be meaningful; Prayer, if they are to be conscious of God in the world; Reflection, if their actions are to be truly significant.

Where could I go to escape from you? Where could I get away from your presence? If I went up to heaven, you would be there; if I lay down in the world of the dead, you would be there. (Psalm 139: 7-8)
PRAY
Spirit of God, teacher and guide, be present with me this day to light up my path and to deepen my walk through your world. Amen.
REFLECT
Have you ever done something that has felt truly significant?

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Anxiety is … a much used messenger. We send him out with our children, lest they should come to some harm; we take him with us when we visit the doctor; and we let him question our future plans and expectations. He is a very poor servant and a grudging, gloomy master. He extracts from us ease of mind and places dark fingerprints upon the good things that come to us. Jesus directs his disciples away from everyday anxieties. He points towards birds in the sky that are free from restraint, and towards wild flowers nodding without care in the fields.

‘Don’t be anxious about living…. Surely life is more important than food, and the body more important than the clothes you wear. Look at the birds in the sky…. Consider how the wild flowers grow. They neither work nor weave, but I tell you that even Solomon in all his glory was never arrayed like one of these!’ (Matthew 6: 25-29)
PRAY
May my heart and mind know: the peace of God which leads away from anxiety; and the wisdom of God which lights the way ahead. Amen.
REFLECT
What makes you feel anxious? What makes you feel free?