Advent Week 4
On Tending the Spirit and Making Room for Love
The fourth Sunday of Advent means Christmas is at most a week away.
I’m a little crazy about Christmas. I’ve been thinking about this coming Christmas since last Christmas. Nothing brings me more joy than celebrating the birth of Jesus, spending time with family, and giving gifts. I cannot wait for Christmas morning.
But we aren’t quite there yet.
Today, I want to encourage you to slow down—just a little—and make room for love. To receive it fully, so you can pour it out freely.
I might struggle with hope, peace, and joy, but love is something that feels natural and easy to me.
I love big and deep and freely. Just ask my kids—I tell them I love them all the time.
I may have a hard time naming what brings me joy, but I can list the things I love without much effort: my family, my bed, chocolate, coffee, long chats with friends, puzzles, my dogs, our outdoor/indoor feral cat, laughing at my own bad jokes, watching “our show” with my kids (different shows in different seasons), saying things I think are funny that my 13-year-old daughter thinks are totally cringe (like that sentence right there 😅), highland cows, The Grinch (2018), funny cake pie, snow…
I could keep going.
But today, we’re focusing on God’s love—and two truths keep rising to the surface:
God loves me (and you) enough to send His Son as a baby, who would one day save us from our sins (Matthew 1:21).
God sees me, knows me fully, and still loves me (Romans 8:35–38).
Why am I struck by something so simple—so seemingly obvious?
Because while I love others freely, and love many things easily, believing that I am lovable or worthy of love, that’s where I struggle.
In my early Intuitive Eating days, one of the biggest hurdles I faced was learning to offer myself grace and lean into self-compassion. I was encouraged to “get curious” about my feelings, reactions, and responses. Everything was practice and information, not failure. Slowly, I began to learn I could care for myself the same way I care for others.
One of my greatest struggles was learning to respect my body.
After nearly two decades of hating my body and trying to change it, the idea of loving it felt complicated. You can read more about that journey here:
I worried that loving my body would turn it into an idol. I believed the lie that thinness made me worthy of love—and that as a Christian, not having a “perfect” body somehow reflected a problem with my heart.
When a teacher of the law asked Jesus which commandment mattered most, He replied:
“‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:28–31).
Looking back, I truly did love God to the best of my ability. I thought I was loving people well. And yet, in my humanness, I was quietly playing the comparison game—measuring myself, my body, my worth—often without even realizing it.
So how do we grow in love?
I believe we love more fully when we practice spirit care—tending to the part of us where God’s Spirit meets our everyday lives. It’s about building intentional practices that keep us connected to God’s presence, grounded in love, and attentive to what He’s doing within us.
When we take the time to sit with Jesus each day, He ministers to our hearts and fills our love tanks so we can pour out. Not only does it increase our capacity to love, it increases our capacity to love like Jesus loves.
Spirit-care might look like:
Creating margin — building space into your days so you can breathe and hear God beneath the noise.
Practicing solitude — stepping away, even briefly, to restore clarity, humility, and dependence on the Father.
Prayerful reflection — noticing where you sensed God’s nearness (or absence).
Storytelling & testimony writing — naming your story as a reminder of God’s faithfulness over time.
Being fully present — offering undivided attention to the moment or person in front of you.
Listening without fixing — honoring others’ stories without carrying what isn’t yours.
Small, honest community — choosing a few safe people with whom you can be seen and known.
Laughter and play — remembering that delight is holy and restorative.
Sabbath-keeping — resting in who you are, not what you produce.
Creative expression — giving your spirit a voice as you notice and respond to God through writing, planning, or creating.
Naming limits — acknowledging finiteness and inviting grace to meet you there.
Practicing gratitude — noticing small gifts, even in weary or ordinary seasons.
Spirit care isn’t about striving to love better—it’s about staying close enough to Jesus that His love keeps shaping us.
Which of these practices feels like an invitation to you as we close out 2025 and begin 2026?
As Advent draws to a close, my hope for you is simple: that you would pause long enough to receive God’s love—not as something to earn or prove, but as something already given. Love changes how we move through the world when we stop resisting it and let it meet us right where we are.
If you’re longing for gentle ways to practice this kind of spirit-care, I created a Week 4 Spirit Reset Guide with ten simple practices to help you slow down, return to love, and establish rhythms that can carry you into the new year with intention and grace.
You can download the guide here: [Practical Ways to Live from Love this Advent Seasons]
May this final week of Advent be less about rushing toward Christmas—and more about resting in Love Himself.
Blessings as you journey,
Emily
Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor & Coach at IE with Emily
P.S. Find last year’s Advent reflection on love here:
