It's Not All About the Anticipation

Reading: James 1:17--"Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows."

 

I always get a kick out of hearing about how people prepare for the Christmas season. It seems that more and more are following suit of the department stores and are decorating their homes earlier and earlier in the calendar year. Then, by the evening of the 25th of December, they're beginning to get the itch to restore their homes to pre-holiday décor. Many trees head out the door or back into the box on December 26--the day is over and the anticipation is over. Time to get back to the day-to-day.

 

This reminds me of how we pretty much handle any important events in our lives. Remember proms from high school?  Graduations? Birthday parties? In retrospect, it seems that the anticipation gets more of our attention and energy than the event itself. In fact, when the event does arrive, we have already grown weary of the whole thing. Isn't that silly of us?

 

Christmas is not just about all the anticipation, although that anticipation has a name--Advent. It is a beautiful season in and of itself. And, after Christmas, we have the next wondrous season leading up to Epiphany--the momentous time when the three Wise Men found the Christ Child and worshipped him as King of Kings.

 

So, remember...Christmas isn't necessarily over at the stroke of midnight on the 25th of December. It's also not a single season in and of itself. There's so much more to enjoy--and yes, anticipate. The greatest beauty of the season is the unchanging gift of perfect love that we are all given with the birth of this wondrous child. Happy Advent, Merry Christmas, Happy Epiphany.

 

Peace be with you.

Nice Little Projects, After All

Readings: Job 34:19--"...who shows no partiality to princes, nor regards the rich more than the poor, for they are all the work of his hands."

Psalm 136:26--"Give thanks to the God of heaven, for his steadfast love endures forever."

 

I decided to plug in my sewing machine and make a few Christmas gifts this year. About mid-way through the first project, I began to wonder why I did so. As I put the finishing touches on the gift, I started seeing every little flaw that I had created along the process. Doubt began to take over whenever I would work on or look at the project. Why didn't I just buy something instead of trying to make something? One day a friend came along and I showed the project to her. Her response was much different than I expected. She was honestly impressed with my handiwork. She, without giving false flattery, told me how much she knew the recipient would enjoy the personalized gift. Later that evening, I once again picked up the project and looked at it. This time however, I looked at it with eyes of appreciation rather than eyes of skepticism. Instead of seeing every slight error I had ruminated on earlier, I now saw a much neater version of the project where I painstakingly removed a row of stitching and carefully replaced it to make it look nicer or re-trimmed a spot here or there to neaten everything up. It turned out to be a nice little project, after all.

When we're feeling extra critical about ourselves, our neighbors, or our surroundings, we need to remember that we are, after all, created in God's image. The human part of us that is limited in scope, tends to want to zero in on the flaws. How much better to look through the spirit of God's infinite love and see just how blessed and divide we and everything around us is created. We've all turned out, after all, to be nice little projects, too!

 

Peace be with you.

Not My, But Thy Will Be Done

Reading: Matthew 6:9-10 "This, then, is how you should pray--"Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name; your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven."

As I write this morning, one of my brothers is in surgery for a heart catheterization, and another friend in is in the middle of a dialysis session suffering with a severe headache. The roads are still a mess from the ice and snow that came piling in late last week. My mom's telephone is still out. Wouldn't it be easy to just say, "God--fix all this. Make it better"?

That's just not the way it works; and, as I grown older, I'm actually glad that it doesn't work that way. Why, you ask? Why not just get things put back into the order we want?

I have found that our ideas of "fixing" things are highly limited. We are finite creatures with finite thinking. God's way is always better--more thought out and, of course, perfect. He is infinite. If I want my brother's heart catheterization to be "fixed", my way of thinking would be one of ignorance in that area. I'm not a cardiac physician--I have no idea of all of the intricacies of this type of procedure. Similarly, if I think I could "fix" my dear friend's dialysis session so she feels better, it would be fleeting at best. I'm not a nephrologist--I know very little about how the kidneys work (or don't work). Add to this list my lack of knowledge of how to best deal with icy highways or malfunctioning phone lines. It makes me very humble and full of gratitude that God is in control.

Will my brother's procedure turn out as I would like? I don't know that. But I do know that whatever happens, it truly is in God's loving hands. Will my friend's kidneys ever function again on their own? I don't know that answer, either. But once again, there are no better hands in which she can be than God's. The good Lord will watch over our roadways, and my mom's phone will be repaired in good order.  In the meantime, He has blessed us with capable workers in each of these areas as well as surrounding us with good people who work hard to fill in the momentary gaps.

As difficult as it is for us, once we learn to pray not my, but God's will be done, life does become far more comforting and pleasant. The relief that all is not up to us and our limited skills, knowledge, and means to keep things going is a blessing indeed.

Peace be with you.

Thankful for Thanksgiving

Reading: Colossians 3:17--"And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him."


Thanksgiving will arrive in just a few days. I must admit that it's one of my favorite holidays. It's all about thanks--thanks for family and friends that gather, thanks for the good foods that are shared with one another, thanks for the past seasons that allowed many of those foods to be grown and harvested.

It's nice to have a holiday where it's all about the thanks. It's too easy to overlook gratitude in our hectic lives. Focusing on being grateful for what we have in front of us is a relaxing and enjoyable feeling. There's no planning (other than cooking some food--but isn't it nice that most any combinations of food works well on this holiday?), there's no expectations of those in attendance of gifts other than the company of one another (and that good food, of course!).

Another nice thing about Thanksgiving is the name of the holiday itself--thanksgiving. Giving thanks. What could be more gratifying--giving thanks for everything good and right in our lives. For different people, this could be different things: a new job, perhaps, or a new spouse or child; good news from medical reports; just being alive on God's beautiful earth. No matter what the event or occasion, giving thanks is a beautiful tribute to our all-watching and all-loving God and his son, Jesus Christ.

So, I'm thankful today for a holiday of thanks...I'm also thankful that I can extend that holiday into each day of my life. Yes, I'm most thankful for Thanksgiving!

Peace be with you all.

Keeping an Eye on the Storm

Reading: Matthew 16:3--"'It will be stormy today, for the sky is red and threatening.' You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times."

Last Sunday was a day that many will not soon forget. Across the Midwest, horrific storms and tornados roared through towns and the countryside, taking with it homes, businesses, possessions, and life itself. As tragic as it all was, we were still at a great advantage due to the weather service giving us warnings hours and even days in advance that prepared us as much as possible for the storms. Nevertheless, none of us knew the exact location of where the storms would hit--even advanced weather radar is still unable to give pin-point accuracy. So, we prepared. We planned our day's activities around the time of the storm, we made sure we had needed supplies in case we needed them later, and we checked on loved ones to make sure all were okay. We do our best to be wisely prepared.

All throughout time, we have watched the skies. Weather plays a very crucial part in our day-to-day existence. It not only predicts whether the ballgame or picnic will happen, it also alerts the boats on the water and the planes in the sky of impending trouble. Watching the weather is certainly not a new invention. Even in Biblical times the adage "Red sky at morning, sailor take warning" was much-depended upon for safe sailing of the seas. With the passage of time, we now have very elaborate equipment that can forecast even the suggestion of a storm, much as it did last Sunday.

God tells us that He, too, is a forecaster--the perfect forecaster. He's always 100 percent correct in his predictions. He tells us to become better at being forecasters of our surroundings here on Earth. The world is indeed changing, and not necessarily for the better. The winds are stirring; the storms are brewing. The proverbial sky is red and threatening. These signs of inclement weather are our watches and warnings to be prepared for in heading to shelter--the shelter of God's perfect love and protection. We need to be vigilant in keeping a lookout for ourselves and others to stay safe from the coming storms. We'll never have a better storm shelter than the one God offers us; upon acceptance of Him and His son as our Savior, we have constant shelter. As the children's Sunday School song goes, "His shelter over me is love." What more could we need?

So, let's all keep alert with an eye to the skies. Let's also keep alert for the signs of the ultimate beautiful day of Christ's return.

Peace be with you.

Blessed by Examples of Godly Women

 

Reading: Proverbs 31:26  "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue."

 No one, I doubt, would disagree that our world is quickly changing.  I think age might have a little to do with it, but even remaining "young at heart" has become a real challenge in some areas--like TV. Tom and I usually go to church on Saturday evenings, so Sunday mornings are sometimes comprised of sipping coffee and enjoying CBS Sunday Morning. I'm guessing it's considered an "old people show", since it has a variety of low-key stories of people and events. This morning the TV got turned on a little earlier than usual and we ended up wading through some morning shows while waiting for our dependable Charles Osgood. And wading seemed to be the correct term--maybe even wading through molasses. We were bombarded with one meaningless story after another that had very little content and pretty much was just a lot of noise. I'm not sure this kind of change is what we all need.

 As I sat and watched some women participate in a cooking segment, my mind started mulling over just how difficult they were making easy steps of preparing a recipe. No woman I had grown up with would approach a meal in this way. The women I grew up watching and learning from could tackle a church supper feeding 500+ people without blinking--no running around, dancing, or posturing about the kitchen. And feed the masses they did--year after year. They worked passionately so that their friends and neighbors could enjoy a great meal and some equally great fellowship. And then they took their earnings and gave it back to the community. I have been richly blessed by these examples.

Those particular church suppers are in the past these days, but I was a recipient of a priceless treasure of those times. My mom was, for years, one of the main planners and cooks; I have her hand-written notes from years of planning. So many women's names listed quietly and efficiently pitched in, baking pies, making dressing, preparing massive amounts of mashed potatoes, baking endless turkeys. They cooked, they shared, they cleaned up, they planned for the next one--Godly women who worked harmoniously together as Godly women have worked harmoniously together for generations throughout the Bible and in times since.

 One of those Godly women listed as a strong participant in those notes will be marking a particularly momentous event on the 14th. Marian will be turning 100; and yes, she is still just as kind, gracious, and lovely as she was during all those suppers in years' past. Many, many of us throughout the years have been blessed by her example of what how a Godly woman lives. As the Proverb above states, "She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue". Ask anyone--they would agree that this particular verse is a loving definition of this dear lady.

 So, Happy Birthday to you, Marian...a blessed example to so many of us of a Godly woman. Thank you for being you.

Family Ties

Readings: Genesis 28:14--"Your offspring shall be like the dust of the earth, and you shall spread abroad to the west and to the east and to the north and to the south, and in you and your offspring shall all the families of the earth be blessed."

I had the opportunity to spend a day yesterday with a family that was not my own. Every year, most all the females of this family gather together to visit and to assure that cousins, cousins once-removed and so on know who each other is beyond the yearly Christmas card picture. It was a nice time for this outsider to witness. I do like it when families stay families.

The ages of these ladies ranged from three to beyond 80. All decades were well represented. There was one happy incident that made this gathering all the more positive. The cabin had a tin roof and the over-all location in general made for lousy phone reception. Yep...a cabin full of 21st century females and not one working smart phone. What a nice site to see. The family members weren't strewn throughout the cabin staring at screens; on the contrary, they were talking--face to face. They were laughing, not LOL-ing. It was refreshing to see. They were truly connecting. Conversations could be random just that way they should be when sitting in the same room having eye-to-eye chats. No "????" message needed. The facial expressions and voice inflections gave all the needed clues to be able to keep the changes in conversation topics flowing.

We live in a precarious time when technology is horning in on one of our most important needs as humans--we need people-to-people communication, no electronic device-to-people communication. Sure, it's great to use in a pinch or when distance is an issue. But in the same house, in the same room, it has no place. We need to get back to learning what it truly means to look one another in the eye. We need to keep our family ties strong so that our future generations will know the sanctity of family love and trust. 

Peace be with you.