Advent Greetings …

It is not often that I hear of miracles happening today.  We celebrate when good things happen, but often put it down to scientific advances, our good decision-making abilities, or simply ‘being in the right place at the right time’.  I actually think there are many miracles that still happen each day but we often don’t name them as such.  So here’s a little miracle story I came across today, when I was looking at the latest Network magazine, called the miracle of the Christmas flower.

Poinsettias, named for Joel Roberts Poinsett, are indigenous to Mexico and Central America and can grow as tall as five metres.

Legend has it that a young Mexican girl could not afford to offer the baby Jesus a gift at the Christmas Eve Service, so she picked some weeds from the side of the road and made them into a bouquet.  She believed that even this humble gift, given in love, would be worthy.

When she knelt down and put the bouquet of weeds at the foot of the nativity scene, the weeds burst into bright red and green flowers, which the congregation agreed was a Christmas miracle.

I like this story and can’t help but wonder whether there was a miracle other than that of the flowers … the miracle of a young girl knowing that gifts given in love are precious and worth something.

The gift of Jesus was a gift given in love … what gift of love might you bring offer this Christmas?

Blessings – Heather (she/her).