The Sacred Child Within
The season of Advent invites contemplation of the concepts of holy longing and expectant waiting. Hope eternal is the taproot that nourishes this time of year, as we embrace the darkness, whilst turning toward the light’s return and the birth of the Christ Child.
I ponder The Christ Child, and a message arises from within…
Awaken the sacred child that lives within your heart and spirit. Invite your child-self to reveal your life through the lens of wonder, innocence, and awe. Embrace friends and family that cross your path, as though you are encountering them for the first time. Be Love in the world. Be the child who knows joy and imagines possibility in each moment, with every new idea and vision. While you await the birth of Jesus, become reacquainted with the sacred child that lives within you. Play, dream, explore, express, and re-imagine your life with new possibility. Be ready to step into new ways of living and being when the Light returns to the world. Celebrate this holy season as a sacred child of God.
The gifts of wonder and awe are part and parcel of our birthright. These qualities are meant to stay with us throughout life’s journey, yet, somehow along the way we lose our connection and step into our perceived ideas of adult responsibilities. Advent calls us to wakefulness. Perhaps engaging the meaning of true consciousness invites a reconnection to the gifts God placed in us as innocent children.
What would it be like to re-experience an open heart and wondrous imagination that became a natural state when we were very young? How might the Advent and the Christmas seasons be different this year if we were to step into the soul-skins of youth to recall the memory of magic, astonishment, and holy wonder for all that is held in December’s mystery?
The following questions are offered as journal prompts. May these simple exercises help you to reconnect to your sacred child within:
Recall a singular Christmas memory (from your earliest recollection) that is charged with the feeling of wonder and awe. How might you re-engage this moment from your youth to serve you now?
When you were a child did you create gifts, small offerings of love to give away to others at Christmas time? How would it feel to “gift” something you create by the work of your hands and heart?
When you were a child did you have a dream or vision that you held close? What small thing might you do this month to reactivate your long forgotten dream or to inspire a new one?
Make a collage to express the meaning of Christmas through the eyes of your sacred child-self.
Write a prayer in the voice that lives within your heart of wonder.
May we take some time this Advent season to withdraw from life’s busyness to reflect on the deepest meaning of this wondrous and holy time while we await the coming of Christ Jesus. And may you discover renewal and joy through the re-acquaintance with your hopeful and imaginative sacred child within.