Daily Reflection - December
 

December 1

A Time to Think: Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.
—Mother Teresa

To Act: Face every situation with faith in your heart.

To Pray: Lord, with Your help I will focus on each small step of the climb, instead of the mountain that stands before me.

December 2

A Time to Think: Live one moment at a time and that moment for God. Don't think of a holy life for that will overwhelm you by its immensity. Remember that a holy life is a series of holy moments.
—Source Unknown

To Act: Be willing to take lovingly each small gift of life.

To Pray: Lord, day by day, help me to do what You have designed me to do.

December 3

A Time to Think: Prayer is the exercise of drawing on the grace of God. –Oswald Chambers, author and evangelist

To Act: Practice believing that as you pray you are receiving God's boundless blessings.

To Pray: Heavenly Father, please help me face each day with grace and appreciation for the blessings of Your love.

December 4

A Time to Think: You may pray for an hour and still not pray. You may meet God for a moment and then be in touch with Him all day. –Fredrik Wisloff, Norwegian theologian and Christian preacher

To Act: Take heed: you do not find what you do not seek.

To Pray: Father, may my prayers for others be as constant and natural as breathing.

December 5

A Time to Think: I truly believe that if we keep telling the Christmas story, singing the Christmas songs, and living the Christmas spirit, we can bring joy and happiness and peace to this world. –Norman Vincent Peale, pastor and author

To Act: Renew your spirit at this special time.

To Pray: Dear Lord, help me to begin today with hope, to feel Your love and know I am never alone.

December 6

A Time to Think: Each small task of everyday life is part of the total harmony of the universe. –St. Therese of Lisieux

To Act: Believe God loves you and is present in every aspect of your life.

To Pray: Lord, show me how to make every activity of every day a doorway into Your presence.

December 7

A Time to Think: I wish we could put up some of the Christmas spirit in jars and open a jar of it every month. –Harlan Miller, author

To Act: Remember that love shared is multiplied many times over.

To Pray: Lord, open my eyes to the love around me, and help me see how much You love me through others.

December 8

A Time to Think: To me, every hour of the day and night is an unspeakably perfect miracle. –Walt Whitman, poet

To Act: Approach today with a grateful heart.

To Pray: Dear Lord, thank You for giving us a fresh start each day to begin anew.

December 9

A Time to Think: Somehow, not only for Christmas but all the long year through, the joy you give to others is the joy that comes back to you. –John Greenleaf Whittier, poet

To Act: Rejoice during this special season.

To Pray: God, keep my arms wide open to life and make my heart merry.

December 10

A Time to Think: Christmas is a time to open our hearts to God and His gifts. Just like the rest of the year. –Author Unknown

To Act: Tell the people you love how much they mean to you.

To Pray: Dear Lord, help me to open myself up to the happiness that is mine today.

December 11

A Time to Think: The only things we can keep are the things we freely give to God. –C.S. Lewis, author

To Act: Extend your love, share a story, give someone a smile.

To Pray: Dear God, through our acts of giving, we lay up treasures in heaven that will last forever.

December 12

A Time to Think: Do you seek any further reward beyond that of having pleased God? In truth, you know not how great a good it is to please Him. –St. John Chrysostom

To Act: Take comfort knowing God is with you.

To Pray: My heavenly Father, from Whom I have received every good and perfect gift, Thank You.

December 13

A Time to Think: May peace be your gift at Christmas and your blessing all year through! –Author Unknown

To Act: Radiate the glow of Christmastime.

To Pray: Lord, help me to find the place where You can use me best.

December 14

A Time to Think: You are infinitely dear to the Father, unspeakably precious to Him. You are never, not for one second, alone. –Norman F. Dowty, author and pastor

To Act: Take comfort knowing God is with you.

To Pray: Dear Lord, send Your infinite love to all those in need of divine comfort.

December 15

A Time to Think: God loves with a great love the man whose heart is bursting with a passion for the impossible. –William Booth, preacher and founder of The Salvation Army

To Act: Reach out and help someone by sharing your love and time.

To Pray: Lord, may You touch someone through me this day.

December 16

A Time to Think: The message of Christmas is that the visible material world is bound to the invisible spiritual world. –Author Unknown

To Act: Face every situation with faith in your heart.

To Pray: Dear Lord, during the holiday season, help me to spread Your message of love.

December 17

A Time to Think: The most obvious lesson in Christ's teaching is that there is no happiness in having or getting anything, but only in giving. –Henry Drummond, author and evangelist

To Act: Remember that you attract what you give away.

To Pray: Lord, help me spend the time You've given me looking for joy and overcoming obstacles.

December 18

A Time to Think: Love is what's in the room with you at Christmas if you stop opening presents and listen. –Anonymous

To Act: Commit to the wonder, to marvel at the coming of Christ.

To Pray: Come, Lord Jesus, as I stand with my arms outstretched, ready to welcome You.

December 19

A Time to Think: All the Christmas presents in the world are worth nothing without the presence of Christ. –David Jeremiah, author

To Act: During this special time, forgive actions, thoughts and misgivings that have burdened you.

To Pray: As we celebrate Your coming, Lord Jesus, bless us and give us the gift of Your Peace.

December 20

A Time to Think: Christmas, my child, is love in action. –Dale Evans, actress, singer and songwriter

To Act: Remind yourself of the real reason why we celebrate Christmas: Christ has come to live among us.

To Pray: In this most wonderful of seasons, Lord, we thank You for sending Your Son.

December 21

A Time to Think: Gifts of time and love are surely the basic ingredients of a truly merry Christmas. –Peg Bracken, author

To Act: Share with others how important they are to you.

To Pray: Jesus, this Christmas, give me the grace to honor You in every person I meet.

December 22

A Time to Think: Christmas is doing a little something extra for someone. –Charles M. Schultz, cartoonist

To Act: Go out in a spirit of love and do something for somebody who is in need.

To Pray: In this holy Christmas season, Lord, show us how to best communicate Your love.

December 23

A Time to Think: Christmas is the season for kindling the fire of hospitality in the hall, the genial flame of charity in the heart. –Washington Irving, author

To Act: Remember that our hearts were made to enjoy the One who created them.

To Pray: Father, may joyful memories bring back the wonder of Christmas to me.

December 24

A Time to Think: Joy to the world! The Lord is come; let earth receive her King; let every heart prepare Him room, and heaven and nature sing. –Isaac Watts, hymn writer

To Act: Open your heart to the beauty that surrounds you.

To Pray: Lord, help me make the Christmas celebration longer in my heart.

December 25

A Time to Think: Christmas is not as much about opening our presents as opening our hearts. –Janice Maeditere, writer

To Act: Spread the spirit of Christmas by sharing and giving to those in need.

To Pray: This Christmas Day and every day, I thank You, Lord, for coming into our world, and into my heart.

December 26

A Time to Think: Christ was born to bring new Life. May the New Year renew new Life in you. –Author Unknown

To Act: Examine your past difficulties, and understand the lessons that have been shown to you.

To Pray: You are the Author of life, Lord; write Your renewing love upon my heart.

December 27

A Time to Think: Each today, well lived, makes yesterday a dream of happiness and each tomorrow a vision of hope. Look, therefore, to this one day, for it and it alone is life. –Anonymous

To Act: Free yourself of yesterday's worries.

To Pray: Lord, I thank You for the gift of the past year as I anticipate the days of the new.

December 28

A Time to Think: Let us move into the New Year with a great sense of the thrill of living. –Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, author and pastor

To Act: Forget a wrong, remember a kindness.

To Pray: A life of faith is a daily adventure, Lord. Keep us from seeing it as ordinary or commonplace.

December 29

A Time to Think: Approach the New Year with resolve to find the opportunities hidden in each new day. –Michael Josephson, law professor

To Act: Remember that remarkable achievements begin as thoughts.

To Pray: Today, and all year long, please help me refrain from discouraging words or thoughts.

December 30

A Time to Think: Since the new year will not be any newer than you are, make up your mind that you are going to be new. –Norman Vincent Peale, pastor and author

To Act: Remember that detours are opportunities to experience new things.

To Pray: God, thank You for all of the blessings in my life and the vision with which to recognize them.

December 31

A Time to Think: Be always at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let each new year find you a better man. –Benjamin Franklin

To Act: Look for an opportunity to make a positive difference.

To Pray: Father, each day in this new year, please help me remember that You are in control of everything.