Merry Christmas?

Something is off this year, and I can’t figure out what it is. In the midst of my favorite season of the whole year, I’m just not feeling it.

Maybe it is because the weather is so warm, or because I am not feeling 100%, or because I know several people who have lost loved ones in recent months making this a very hard day/month/season/year for them. My heart hurts for their pain, knowing that they are facing their first Christmas without mom, grandma, grandpa, husband, child, etc, and it is never going to be the same again. Maybe it is because in my busyness I chose not to spend time connecting to the Lord in the advent season. Maybe it is because I am tired. Maybe it is knowing that our next conference starts in three days and I’m not super motivated for it this year. And maybe I’ve just been eating too much and exercising too little, and focusing on the wrong things.

Whatever it is, I know it isn’t where I want my heart to be when I wake up tomorrow.

When I look around I see much reason for celebration and joy. And there is joy, even in the midst of feeling off. Joy in delicious food and new houses and time off with family and friends. Joy in answered prayers, and hope for those still unanswered. Joy in laughter and jokes and love. Joy that my family is reunited and my brother is back with us, joy in remembering that Christ made Himself low and took on human flesh. Joy in knowing that this is a season of celebrating that God did not leave us on our own, but came to us. He is Emmanuel, God with Us. He is here!

O Holy Night, the starts are brightly shining,

It is the night of our dear Savior’s birth

Long lay the world, in sin and error pining

Till He appeared, and the soul felt its worth

A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices

For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn’

I love the old Christmas hymns that tell of the wonder of His birth. They serve as a reminder of why we take time off and pause from our busy lives to celebrate this one event that happened so many, many years ago. One baby being born, one who entered in such humility, changed the entire course of history. Salvation has come to a weary world that is still trying so hard to do it on its own. Yet our soul feels its worth through Him and Him alone.

In the midst of this season and not totally feeling it, I am learning that it is ok to be off. To embrace it and trust the Lord to renew my joy moment by moment. So, wherever you are at on the eve of Christmas, I pray you are finding your joy in His presence, and trusting Him even if you aren’t where you want to be.

Merry Christmas dear friends….

Thankful Thursday: December 15th

Thankful today for…
1. A team for summer project. Up through yesterday morning it was a little iffy if there would be a leadership team for the project. Then, like He always does, the Lord stepped in at the last minute and provided some rockstars. Excited for this summer.
2. Pajamas
3. Christmas ornaments
4. My new computer
5. Being able to talk to my brother whenever I want to.

Thankful Thursday: December 8th

Thankful today…

1) That Matt is home!! Monday was a lovely and special day for our family as we reunited, laughed, hugged and enjoyed one another. The long dark night is over, and we are all very thankful.

All together again!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2) For my ministry partners! I am back in DC for the week, and it has been fun seeing and catching up with a few of my team. It is a constant reminder of what a blessing it is to serve together with this group of people.

3) For my mom’s cooking

4) For the commissary! One of the things I miss most about my military ID card is the discounted prices on groceries. Mom and I went yesterday and I stocked up on some non-perishables to take back to Indy, and I was just amazed at some of the deals. I forgot how awesome it is to shop on base.

5) For the Advent season, and the opportunity to reflect on what it means to wait on something – in this case the birth of our glorious Messiah. Living in a culture where we expect things to happen yesterday, it is a strange thing to think of waiting, yet something the Lord often calls us to do. What is He asking you to wait for right now?

Thankful Thursday: December 1st

Thankful today for these 5 things….

1) My heating pad. I know that was on last weeks’ list too….I’m doubly thankful for it I suppose, especially at this time of year.

2) Christmas!! And having my mom in town this year to help me decorate!!

Me and mom trimming the tree!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

3) That in just 4 days I will be hugging my brother for the first time in almost 2 years

4) For a dad who takes care of all the apartment-y and car maintenance things for me when he comes to visit! Thankful for a winterized patio, outdoor Christmas lights and organized and protected patio furniture. Thanks dad!

5) Being able to laugh at work/my team/having an awesome job. Each year we create an “Office Ops Team” recruiting ad for the program at IndyCC, and the picture we took today for this year completely takes the cake. Epic, even. Just wait until the final product is revealed in the next few weeks.  Here is a glance at the remnants of when we were done and starting to clean up:

"Have fun at work...or else!"

The Light of the Whole World

Today we pick up with the story of the Shepherds from Luke 2:

That same night, in amongst the other stars, suddenly a bright new star appeared. Of all the stars in the dark vaulted heavens, this one shone clearer. It blazes in the night and made the other stars look pale beside it. God put it there when His baby Son was born – to be like a spotlight. Shining on Him. Lighting up the darkness. Showing people the way to Him. You see, God was like a new daddy – he couldn’t keep the good news to Himself. He’d been waiting all these long years for this moment, and now He wanted to tell everyone.

So He pulled out all the stops. He’d sent an angel to tell Mary the good news. He’d put a special star in the sky to show where His boy was. And now He was going to send a big choir of angels to sing His happy song to the world: He’s here! He’s come! Go and see Him. My little Boy.

Now, where would you send your splendid choir? To a big concert hall maybe? Or a palace, perhaps? God sent His to a little hillside, outside a little town, in the middle of the night. He sent all those angels to sing for a raggedy old bunch of shepherds watching their sheep outside Bethlehem.

In those days, remember, people used to laugh at shepherds and say they were smelly and call them other rude names (which I can’t possibly mention here). You see, people thought shepherds were nobodies, just scruffy old riff-raff. But God must have thought shepherds were very important indeed, because they’re the ones He chose to tell the good news to first.

That night some shepherds were out in the open fields, warming themselves by a campfire, when suddenly the sheep departed. They were frightened by something. The olive trees rustled. What was that…..a wing beat?

They turned around. Standing in front of them was a huge warrior of light, blazing in the darkness. “Don’t be afraid of me!”, the bright shining man said. “I haven’t come to hurt you. I’ve come to bring you happy news for everyone everywhere. Today, in David’s town, in Bethlehem, God’s Son has been born! You can go and see him. He is sleeping in a manger.”

Behind the angel they saw a strange glowing cloud – except it wasn’t a cloud, it was angels….troops and troops of angels, armed with light! And they were singing a beautiful song: “Glory to God! To God be Fame and Honor and all our Hoorays!”

Then, as quickly as they appeared, the angels left.

The shepherds stamped out their fire, left their sheep, raced down the grassy hill, through the gates of Bethlehem, down narrow cobble streets, through a courtyard, down some step, step, steps, past an inn, round a corner, through a hedge, until, at last, they reached….

a tumbledown stable.

They caught their breath. Then quietly, they tiptoed inside. They knelt on the dirt floor. They had heard about this Promised Child and now he was here. Heaven’s Son. The Maker of the Stars. A baby sleeping in His mother’s arms. This baby would be like that bright star shining in the sky that night. A Light to light up the whole world. Chasing away darkness. Helping people to see. And the darker the night got, the brighter the star would shine.

Copyright 2007, The Jesus Storybook Bible, by Sally Lloyd-Jones

He’s Here!

He’s Here!
The Nativity, from Luke 1-2

Everything was ready. The moment God had been waiting for was here at last! God was coming to help His people, just as He promised in the beginning. But how would He come? What would He be like? What would He do?
Mountains would have bowed down. Seas would have roared. Trees would have clapped their hands.
But earth held its breath. As silent as snow falling, He came in. And when no one was looking, in the darkness, He came.
There was a young girl who was engaged to a man named Joseph. (Joseph was the great-great-great-great-great grandson of King David.) One morning this girl was minding her own business when, suddenly, a great warrior of light appeared – right there in her bedroom. He was Gabriel, and he was an angel, a special messenger from heaven. When she saw the tall shining man standing there, Mary was frightened. “You don’t need to be scared”, Gabriel said. “God is very happy with you!” Mary looked around to see if perhaps he was talking to someone else. “Mary”, Gabriel said, and he laughed with such gladness that Mary’s eyes filled with sudden tears. “Mary, you’re going to have a baby. A little boy. You will call Him Jesus. He is God’s own Son. He’s the One! The Rescuer!”
The God who flung planets into space and kept them whirling around and around, the God who made the universe with just a word, the one who could do anything at all – was making himself small. And coming down…..as a baby.
Wait.
God was sending a baby to rescue the world?
“But it’s too wonderful!” Mary said and felt her heart beating hard. “How can it be true?”
“Is anything too wonderful for God?” Gabriel asked.
So Mary trusted God more than what her eyes could see. And she believed. “I am God’s servant”, she said. “Whatever God says, I will do”
Sure enough, it was just as the angel had said. Nine months later, Mary was almost ready to have her baby. Now, Mary and Joseph had to take a trip to Bethlehem, the town King David was from. But when they reached the little town, they found every room was full. Every bed was taken.
“Go away!” the innkeepers told them. “There isn’t any place for you.”
Where would they stay? Soon Mary’s baby would come. They couldn’t find anywhere except an old, tumbledown stable. So, they stayed where the cows and the donkeys and the horses stayed. And there, in the stable, amongst the chickens and the donkeys and the cows, in the quiet of the night, God gave the world His wonderful gift. The baby that would change the world was born. His baby Son.
Mary and Joseph wrapped him up to keep him warm. They made a soft bed of straw and used the animals’ feeding trough as his cradle. And they gazed in wonder at God’s Great Gift, wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.
Mary and Joseph named him Jesus, “Emmanuel” – which means “God has come to live with us.”
Because, of course, He had.

Copyright “The Jesus Storybook Bible” by Sally Lloyd-Jones.