Christmas

Walk into any retail store this time of year and you will be instantly bombarded by CHRISTMAS. Decorations, gifts, lights, candy, food, you name it. Our calendars also begin to reflect the season as parties, performances and family gatherings elbow each other for space in our days.

I don’t know about you, but as much as I love all the trappings of Christmas, it can feel like the real reason for the celebration has been put under wrapping paper Himself.

Unfortunately, it can almost feel like a fight to keep the focus on the fact that the God of the universe came to earth in the form of a human baby. He came so meek and mild that He even surprised those who had been expecting Him. His whole life He had a way of turning people’s expectations of Him upside-down.

His parents didn’t understand Him, His friends didn’t understand, the leaders of the day didn’t get it. I guess it is not any wonder that we can struggle sometimes too. Jesus never forced anything on anyone and He still doesn’t. Jesus gently leads and invites, and offers us the best He can: Himself. This Christmas would be a wonderful time to accept that offer.

I would encourage you to carve some time out of your busy schedule to just spend time listening to what Jesus might be saying to you. Is He still waiting for you to accept His invitation to repent and follow Him? Does He want to show you some deeper truths? Take time to unwrap the mystery and the wonder of Christmas. For while it is true that His first Christmas on earth, He was wrapped in swaddling cloths, God most definitely does not want the amazing story of His Son’s birth hidden under a pile of wrapping paper this year!

“While they were there, the time came for her Child to be born. And she gave birth to her firstborn, a Son. She wrapped Him in swaddling cloths and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.” Luke 2:6-7

I don’t know about you, but I love the Hallmark Christmas movies. There is just something about their cheesy predictability I enjoy immensely. My daughters and I even created a Bingo game based on thematic elements of the movies such as fake snow and snowing while sunny!

There is just something so comforting about someone’s life problems being solved in about 90 minutes and ending with everyone living happily ever after. The truth is that the reason so many of us watch these movies is they portray what we want: fulfillment in our work, close friends, family, and someone to love and who loves us.

The awesome thing is that those of us who know Jesus already have this kind of love and acceptance. Jesus has a purpose for our lives and is more than willing to lead us to our calling. In the Bible, Jesus refers to His followers as His friends. When we accept Jesus into our lives we are adopted into God’s family as heirs. And of course God is love.

I know sometimes it is hard to be happy with these things when it feels like you don’t have them in people you can see and touch, but Jesus is so kind and faithful, He will show up for you and usually in ways that you wouldn’t expect. I think He enjoys surprising us with blessings and kindnesses!

So this year as we are enjoying the Hallmark channel, I hope we can be grateful for our own lives and the adventure we are on with Jesus. I pray that each of us knows that we have a story every bit as wonderful; it is just going to take a little longer than 90 minutes to see the whole story!

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

I cannot even believe this is the last Friday before the holiday season officially begins. Where did the year go? To be honest, I have just gotten used to writing the correct year when I have to write down a date! I know most of you feel the same way, that time has sped up somehow, making us feel almost breathless as we try to keep up.

I find myself trying to squeeze even more into a bulging calendar because I am afraid of missing something as it all goes speeding by. This is the opposite of what I should do to really make the moments last. I can’t do it all, and neither can you. This is an important reminder as we approach the busy holiday season and feel pulled in so many directions by what appear to be good things.

Besides the somewhat obvious solution of prioritizing activities, there is another way of slowing down time. It is called being present. In fact, during this time of almost frantic gift-giving, this could be the best present you give your loved ones and yourself this year. When we take a moment to bring ourselves into the now and really experience where we are, it can actually give us a sense of slowing time.

I suppose there are only three places we can be in our thoughts. We can be in the past, which could mean thinking about happy memories, or dwelling on negatives from our past. We can be in the future, which could mean goal setting, or needless fear of what might happen. Or we can be here now, doing this.

In the Bible, Jesus advised us to do the latter and not worry about tomorrow, “For tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.” (Matthew 6:34) If we are so caught up thinking about the unchangeable past or the unknown future, we are going to miss the now: the changing leaves on the trees; a baby’s smile; the way a hot cup of coffee tastes first thing in the morning; even the feel of a sweater on a crisp day.

We can slow down time, it just takes a little practice and effort. When you catch your mind spinning back to yesterday or fast forwarding to tomorrow, gently rein it back in by noticing what is in front of you now. And thank your Heavenly Father for the present.

“Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” Isaiah 43:18

“Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life.” Matthew 6:25

“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights Who does not change like shifting shadows.” James 1:17

This week almost all of my kids were back in school after the Christmas break. Most years my goal has been to have all the decorations boxed back up and the Christmas tree taken down by at least New Year’s Day, and definitely before school started back up. Unfortunately, in the past this has often meant that I have been cranky from the stress of getting it all cleaned up by that certain, arbitrary date. This year, I simply have not been able to get any undecorating done yet, and that is okay. There is something else I have been working on cleaning up–my attitude!

I have had several conversations with other people lately about the power our attitudes have on those around us, specifically our families. It is amazing how a bad attitude from just one person can spread throughout the house. Of course God has known that all along, which is why you can find quite a lot of advice in the Bible about heart attitudes and the power of our words. The book of Proverbs especially has a lot to say. In chapter 18:21 it says, “The tongue has the power of life and death.” Chapter 21:23, “He who guards his, (or her) mouth and his tongue keeps himself from calamity.” Those verses are really quite sobering if you think about it, life and death and calamity. That goes a lot further than just having a nice, peaceful home. But then again, doesn’t everything start at home?

If that is true, then it is even more important that I allow the Holy Spirit to clean up my heart. I do not want to be instilling bad attitudes into my family for them to carry out into the world. Instead, I want to learn to trust God in everything and be filled with His peace, (even in a house still decorated for Christmas in mid-January!) guard my tongue, and encourage those around me toward good attitudes and love, that they can then carry to a hurting world.

“Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul and healing to the bones.” Proverbs 16:24

Do you ever think much about names?  We humans like to name things.  Maybe it’s because that was the first job God ever gave us way back in the garden of Eden.  Adam first named his wife Eve, and then God gave them the task of naming all the animals.  In the Bible names are a big deal.  God is called by a lot of different names, each reflecting a different one of His attributes.

When I had each of my children I took special care to pick out their names.  Each of their names has a specific meaning that I hoped and prayed they would grow into.  I also found verses that went along with the meaning of their names.  I really believe though, that God Himself names each one of us.  I have met many people who have, (mostly unknowingly) lived into the meaning of their names, whether their parents had chosen their name for its meaning or just because they liked it.

Have you ever looked up what your name means?  My full name is Christy, named after the character in Catherine Marshall’s book of the same name.  Oddly enough, I was about 21 before I actually read the book.  The strange thing is that I found myself to be quite similar to the Christy of the book.

As I was reading my Bible one day, I came across the name “Ebenezer.”  The only Ebenezer I have ever heard of bore the last name Scrooge.  It was the footnote in my Bible, however, that really got me thinking.  It said that the name “Ebenezer,” means ‘stone of help.’  It made me wonder about Dickens.  Did he know the meaning behind the name he dubbed his infamous character?  I like to think that as the author, with the redemptive end for Scrooge in mind, he did know the meaning.  By the end of his Christmas Carol, Ebenezer was most definitely living into his name, providing help for many in his town.

I believe that God creates each of us with a special plan in mind.  Sometimes part of His plan is revealed quite clearly in our name.  Even if your name has not been something that you have been especially fond of in your life, I would encourage you to talk to God about it.  Ask Him to reveal His meaning for your name to you.  He may even want to reveal a new name to you, or a new meaning for your name.  No matter what the meaning for your name, I pray that you come to realize more deeply that God created you unique, with a special purpose that He will reveal more and more the closer you walk with Him.

Merry Christmas, and God bless us every one!

“A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches, and favor is better than silver or gold.”  Proverbs 22:1

“The nations will see your righteousness, and all kings your glory; you will be called by a new name that the mouth of the Lord will bestow.”  Isaiah 62:2

 

Do you struggle with the concept of faith?  I know I do.  I think of faith in all capital letters: FAITH.  As though it is a huge work that I have to do before experiencing good things such as grace, hope or love.  I think of it as a feeling that I have to create inside myself before I can move forward.

I am so thankful that Jesus explained it very clearly in His analogy of the mustard seed.  He said that if we even have a tiny bit of faith, even the size of a mustard seed, that we could do huge things like move mountains.  Mountains are something I am very familiar with.  It seems as though every time I turn around, there is another mountain of a problem in my way.  When I choose to believe that God can do all things, and choose to have the tiniest crumb of faith, He always does amazing things.  Now, the awesome thing about God, is that He will always work things out for the good of us who love Him, but I feel like I grow closer to Him in the times that I relinquish all my worries and simply trust Him first.

This whole tiny faith concept makes me think of snowballs.  They technically start as a single little flake of snow, but as you roll them, they grow quickly.  Snow can even become an avalanche.  What if God wants to take your little bit of faith, my little bit of faith, and turn it into an avalanche of faith?  After all, isn’t an avalanche like a mountain moving?

Think about what could happen if each of us had faith like that, if we could trust God that much.  I know my life would look different.  I would have far fewer worries and I would stop wasting so much energy on the, “what ifs.”  Then I could have real trust, which as an unknown author said, “Bounces on eager toes of anticipation–laughs with pure delight of knowing in whom it believes–rests easy on whom it waits.”

“”Have faith in God,” Jesus answered.  “I tell you the truth, if anyone says to this mountain, ‘Go, throw yourself into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart but believes that what he says will happen, it will be done for him.  Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours.””  Mark 11:22-24