My After Christmas Plan...Just in Case You Need One, Too

Only one of our little families could make it home this Christmas.

We were thrilled to have the one...

So thankful that Stephanie, Megan, Ellie, and Hayden could be with us!

There have been a few years, where there have been none.

That's just a fact of life, and a testimony to the season we are currently living.

And, this mama, determined years ago, as the little birdies flew the nest, that above all, she'd create a no-guilt-holiday-policy.

I'll tell ya...that takes work!

All empty-nesters testify to this truth, that, although we've taught our kids to adult well (maybe too well?), we MISS them (especially over the holidays).

But, make the most of the season? We have learned to do that just fine!

Even the Elf-on-the-Shelf made an appearance for the small-one.

We dive into the CELEBRATION, as one might dive into a cold pond...

Once the initial splash is over, you adapt much quicker.

So, we decorate.

We create.

We cook.

(I know, this looks terrible, but it really isn't Christmas without a pan of jalapeño poppers.)

We plan.

We attend.

We read, meditate, ponder the Scriptures surrounding THE EXTRAORDINARY BIRTH OF OUR SAVIOR.

Papa leading us in the worship and wonder of the meaning of Christmas...

We just try not to think about what's missing. Sigh.

And, then, just like every year (SNAP!), it's over.

So, as our one little family climbed into their car to head home, Papa prayed over them, asking the Lord for a safe journey.

As we said our Good-byes, I felt like I had just climbed out of the pond and now had to re-adjust to the temperatures on land, again...

The only thing left to do was take down the decorations, eat up the leftovers, put away the sewing machine and the Cricut, delete the Hallmark Christmas movies...and, return to....WHAT?

WHAT DO WE RETURN TO AFTER THE HOLIDAYS???

That was my question yesterday.

After the car drove off, and before the washing of sheets, and cleaning of bathrooms began, I sat down for some quiet time of reflection.

Almost immediately, I received a combination of answers to my question...

First, from theologian, Paul David Tripp.

Then, from my sweet niece, who challenges me weekly.

PDT challenged me to continue celebrating Christmas EVERYDAY, reminding myself often to reflect on the SACRIFICE of Christ, what His sacrifice says to me of my spiritual condition (oh, how easy it is to let spiritual satisfaction, spiritual amnesia, AND spiritual pride to creep into the soul), and, finally the authority and power of the ONE who came to right our wrongs by His death and glorious resurrection.  It's often easy to let those things slide, until Easter, and then try to pick it back up again. This kind of meditation shouldn't be seasonal...it should be a regular routine!

Everyday Christmas-pondering of the soul's condition keeps the Christmas-wonder alive-and-well!

A bit later, I read my niece, Nicole's, post on Facebook.  Let me summarize what she said. Nicole mentioned that now that Christmas was over, she was ready to move forward, clear the decor, get back to "normal." However, the Lord stopped her at the story of the shepherds, once again. After coming to see Jesus, they went back to "normal." They returned to the stinky sheep, the quiet hillside,  their "not so pretty lives." BUT, Luke 2:20 tells us, "...they returned glorifying and praising God for all the things they had seen and heard."

Then, Nicole took that thought further.. She declared that she would linger a little longer in the wonder of the Christmas story, before returning to normal. Then, in lingering, hanging onto all that the Lord God had begun through the birth of His Son, she would be much more prepared to return to the normal of everyday, also glorifying and praising God...

There was one. more challenge from the Lord for me yesterday, as well. I picked up where I'd left off in the Psalms. I read a very familiar passage that seemed to settle into my heart like a fresh rain from heaven, Psalm 46:10.  "Be still and know that I am the Lord."  Be restful. Stop striving. Don't try so hard to keep at it, even the spiritual-doing (maybe, especially the spiritual-doing). Simply sit...

There are seven days to the New Year.

Seven days to simply sit with the Lord.

Seven days to reflect, remember, rest...and usher in 2019 with a renewed vision of bringing Christmas into every day.

So, here's my AFTER CHRISTMAS PLAN.  I will:

1.  Remember the Lord's sacrifice (both that of the Father and of the Son)...

2.  Recall my past and present spiritual condition, and why I am bankrupt without Christmas.

3.  Reflect on the GLORY and the AUTHORITY and the character of Jesus...His grace, love, and righteousness poured out for me.

4.  Linger in the GREAT TRUTHS of CHRISTMAS, glorifying and praising the ONE who sacrificed for my spiritual condition, the only one who was born to die that I might live.

5.  Sit in the midst of it all for the next seven days...ringing in the new year with REFRESHED PURPOSE of sharing the GOOD NEWS of CHRISTMAS - EVERY. SINGLE. DAY!

The Best Two Words of the Christmas Season

It came upon a midnight clear...

"AND SUDDENLY..."

Those two words - the "and-suddenly" - of Luke 2:13.

Those are the two best words of the Christmas story!

At least they were for the shepherds;

and, they should be for you and I as we linger in Advent, meditating on the story of our lives, and how the Savior loves to collide with them in miraculous ways.

Paul David Tripp said it best in his Wednesday Word yesterday. The Christmas Story is all about "glory colliding with tragedy."

It is...

(...and, really, so is the Easter Story.)

In a split second the lives of these simple men were changed.

Actually, their lives were much more complicated.

Troubled, in fact.

If you were a shepherd, you were despised, even by the normal, poorer folk of the day.

Townspeople would have nothing to do with you.

You weren't invited out for coffee.

The local synagogue shut its doors in your face.

You were at the bottom of the social ladder.

Even dung sweepers in the city streets received more favor than you.

Shepherds only hung out with...well...other shepherds....and sheep.

Shepherds were lonely, rejected, devalued, dishonored, shunned, excluded...

They had no rights...even a court of law turned them away.

Hence, their stories were NOT destined to happy Hallmark endings, magical turn-arounds, or change...

And suddenly!

And-suddenly; God released the angels to introduce His Son to the world.

And-suddenly; Heaven touched earth on a hillside to the most marginalized people in the Middle Eastern world.

And-suddenly; their lives did a 180-degree turn around.

The entire view of their world lit up with possibility.

The possibility of redemption and reconciliation.

The possibility of living in the light, no longer hidden in darkness.

And-suddenly, the night a tiny baby came into the world, and the angels split the quiet of the hillside, they stepped out of their others-given-identity into the LIGHT of new-life.

You and I need the reminder of the "and-suddenly."

We may be facing some hard-stuff.

Life may be troubled.

We may feel just like the shepherds: marginalized, unaccepted, devalued, lonely, rejected, excluded, defrauded, dishonored, and shunned...

We may feel shut out at every turn...and in great heart-pain...

That doesn't mean there is no hope.

That doesn't mean life can't do a turn-around.

It doesn't mean this is all there is.

Because:

the best part of the Christmas story is that, even for us, there can be an "and-suddenly."

Look up!

Watch for it!

At the most unlikely time...

...when things seem the darkest...
...and the hardest...
...and the loneliest...

God just might be preparing to send heaven-to-earth to collide with our tragedy and turn it to triumph...

AND SUDDENLY...

Spread the Merry - An Advent Challenge

My mind, as is most of yours, is FOCUSED on the coming of Christmas.

That's what ADVENT is all about...THE COMING.

THE COMING OF THE CHRIST.

My Messiah.

I long to CELEBRATE ADVENT WITH INTENTION!!!

I'm trying to stay focused on the meaning of it all...and not the commercialism of it.

(Daily word-focus for Advent)

Sadly, the two get mixed up in my brain most days.

I start out pretty good...

Each morning I read several ADVENT devotional-helps I have sitting around.

I reflect...

...I do!!!!

Then...the day begins, and

....the craziness of the season swallows me.

There are gifts to buy...to PAY FOR...to bring home...and, to wrap.

My hands have been busy creating: crafts...food...decorations...baby elf hats (who could resist???? Right?)...

I'm skillfully, and busily, working at an atmosphere of PEACE-on-EARTH within my home...

Now isn't that contradictory????????

Early in the season, I ran across an Oswald Chambers devotional.

It wasn't about Christmas at all.

But, it referenced the night the angels descended as a choir,

to the shepherds watching their sheep in a field,

and burst into glorious song

about the babe in the manger.

GOD'S SON!

The words of Oswald Chambers stopped me.

They've become the theme of my ADVENT-SOUL-PREPARATION.

Mr. Chambers' writings referred to the heart of hilarity the angels had over God's plan for mankind.

There was so much glee, the Lord had to stay their mouths from spilling over in fulness.

Mankind couldn't grasp it with our finite minds.

This author hinted that ever-so-often God lifts the veil and we humans are able to catch glimpses of this PURE JOY.

The JOY of angels.

That's where my reflection has been each morning.

I've asked the Lord to show me...

...to lift the veil from my eyes...

and, to let me giggle with the glee of the angels over GOD'S-ADVENT-PLAN.

Little-by-little

He's doing so.

I've been recording it all on our ministry FACEBOOK page (& my own personal one, as well).

Look for this hashtag: #themerryofChristmas

In fact, part of their laughter has to be over how the meaning of the season has simply gotten lost in our intention of celebrating Jesus well...

All our hustle and chaos must simply make the angels chuckle....

But, here's a random thought on which I have only just begun to reflect...

Let's stop and ponder, 

and catch,

the glee, the giggles, the hilarity, and the WONDER

of the angels...

and WHY GOD'S-CHRISTMAS-PLAN IS ALL worth smiling over...

THE GIVER of THE GREATEST GIFT became THE GIFT before THE BEGINNING OF TIME, that I might GIVE THE GREATEST GIFT to someone else, and THIS GIFT by the GIVER could be passed on INTO ETERNITY. 

Let's GIVE THE GIVER'S GIFT to someone else....

...and SPREAD THE MERRY!

The Thrill of HOPE

I was driving home from Durango yesterday, running errands, and getting a little start on Christmas.

I am a late starter this year. Normally, I've done all my shopping, and gift preparations, by Thanksgiving.

I tend to be an over-achiever; but, not this year.

I flipped on a Christmas-music-playing radio station to do a little sing-a-long, while nobody could hear the flat and sharp notes that proceed from my mouth, no matter how hard I try...

From Jingle Bells to I'll Be Home for Christmas, the crooning put me in a nostalgic mood.

I sat up a little straighter, and paid a little more attention, when O Holy Night sounded in the speakers.

I heard the words a little differently this year.

Perhaps because I'm winding down my study on HOPE.

It's been a whole year of study.

And those of you who are loyal to read each week have probably grown weary of my ramblings.

But pay attention, one last time - these words - chills ran up and down my spine:

"The thrill of HOPE, the weary world rejoices...

For yonder breaks a new and GLORIOUS day.

Fall on your knees..."

Christmas.

Jesus.

The Word-Made-Flesh.

The Light of the World, in whom there was no darkness.

The Good Shepherd.

Creator of the Universe.

THE THRILL OF HOPE!!!!

Yes, the world should rejoice...and, we should fall on our knees.

That would be an appropriate response to God, The Thrill of Hope.

We have a Savior.

A bridge into eternity.

A HEAVENLY HOPE.

A JOYOUS TOMORROW.

Many of us need to be reminded of that during the holiday season.

What a way to close out a year of hope-learning.

And as I do, I'd like to just leave you with a few Haiku to reflect on over the Holy-day Season.

These are just a few written by women from the retreat in Cyprus, who summarized HOPE for me as we wound down our lovely time together. What a nice way to reflect on Jesus, review the past year, and

PONDER our THRILL OF HOPE!

I’m looking forward

Jesus Christ, He is my HOPE

Singing, joyfully

Knowing and resting

Anchored in hope is my soul

Wait with confidence

God works in our lives

We were called for a purpose

Remember His love

Hope in God secure

His promises will endure

Praise and worship sure

Dark clouds chasing me

Trying to outrun the storm

Safe harbor, Set anchor

Waiting on the Lord

Is painful and difficult

Joy is the outcome

Gentle tears fall down

Praises fill our hearts with hope

The name of Jesus

God unchangeable

Gives us a sanctuary

In the midst of storms

A Word for this Christmas: The Name Matters

That morning I stood absolutely OVERCOME with emotion.

It's happened before when the realization of who I am, where I am, and what I'm doing seem to hit with an overwhelming velocity.

Me...a very common, not extremely gifted, fairly simple-minded woman, with a few ordinary life-stories (I do have a "BUT GOD," to my benefit)...

Standing...in places I would never have seen myself - not in my WILDEST imagination.

SPEAKING (seriously, I stumble over my words on a GOOD DAY)...to a group of women about the ONE who has been in the business of changing my life since the beginning of time. 

I was in JERUSALEM (me)! 

(overlooking the city from Mt. Scopus)

(the old city)

(the market in the Muslim Quarter of the old city)

(overlooking Jerusalem from the Prayer Tower at King of Kings Community Church)

Jerusalem (!), the place, where in all actuality, the story of my life as I know it today BEGAN just over 2000 years ago.

...and I, I was the one honored to GET to talk about HIM, the Son of God, Savior, Life-changer...

I had asked the Lord, and sought for weeks, what He would say, in this Age-of-Today, to the women from this particular congregation.

As is not-so-uncommon, I sensed only bits and pieces of the message over the course of those weeks, until just a few days prior to the event. Then, the Spirit of the Lord opened my eyes to a simple quote that was like putting all the pieces of the puzzle together in a flash. So...as far as what I knew I was to speak, there wasn't a question.

HOWEVER, I hadn't done my research on this particular congregation.

It's comprised of a lot of internationals, along with many Messianic followers.

So, what was the problem...after all, these were women who all loved Jesus (from many backgrounds, yes, and diverse in age)?

What I didn't realize is that there is an entirely different "culture," and "language," that surrounds the worship-preferences of Messianic Jews.

So, in the course of my sharing the very message the Lord placed on my heart for these gals, I used some terminology that failed to impart their faith in ways consistent with their Jewish heritage. In fact, the words I used carried negative historical baggage. 

I was clueless.

Until after-the-fact. 

When I finally inquired (a little-too-late) of the pastor's wife why something seemed a bit "off," she (very graciously) apologized for not making me more culturally aware before the speaking session began.

She assumed my cross-cultural background bore understanding I had not acquired.

I assumed I was among people-of-like-mind and could speak my common-to-me spiritual language freely.

We both assumed wrong.

As it was, a couple of older women in attendance, insulted, began to walk out. 

This sweet pastor's wife, as she put it, "Talked them down from the ledge." 

They stayed. 

They relaxed. 

They ended up enjoying the day. 

In fact, I had the privilege of washing, massaging, and painting the toe nails, on the feet of one of those women.

So what has been my take away after pondering the last few weeks?

(By the way, click on this link if you want to see an abbreviated dictionary of correct Messianic Terminology.)

This week, in heart-preparation for the Christmas season, I began studying the Gospel of John.

John writes his stories-of-life-with-Jesus for a specific audience and for a specific reason (each of the Gospel writers do). 

Here's what I noticed right from the get-go.

John begins with The Name.

You see, one of my faux pas was to use the name "Jesus." 

A very precious name to me.

Yet not to these gals.

The name Jesus hits raw nerves...Through the centuries, our Jewish friends have suffered persecution in "the name of Jesus." Consequently, using this name brings to mind hatred and anti-semitism. The preferred name is the one Jesus used as He walked on earth: Yeshua (salvation).

While Jesus is the most BEAUTIFUL NAME (link to song here) that crosses my lips, John-the-Beloved doesn't just start right out with this Name-above-all-Names, nor does he call Him Yeshua.

He begins with this name: WORD.

John knew his audience...and he knew this was the name they needed to hear.

At the beginning of this Christmas season, we all need to be reminded of the same.

What I discovered in Jerusalem that day: A NAME MATTERS!!!

(Shakespeare was wrong.)

So, John wants us all to remember that before He was Jesus, or Yeshua, He was the WORD (Logos).

It didn't matter what the angel had told Joseph and Mary to name the babe.

What matters most is that all of us who read John's stories (from the day his hand penned them to today) would KNOW THIS TRUTH:

The WORD (who was with God in the beginning and was God) wrapped Himself in flesh to become the DIVINE EXPRESSION of THE I AM!

That's what matters more than the name Jesus, or Yeshua...

...and, that's when it resonated with me.

We can only know Jesus/Yeshua (Salvation) when we truly believe and receive He was first, and is always, the WORD-Made-Flesh.

This gives us the right to be children of the God-Most-High (cf. John 1:12).

So, this Christmas season may we filter every thought about the Christ-child through this one truth:

That babe born in the manger was born-to-be GOD'S DIVINE EXPRESSION, so you and I could know Him by whatever Name matters most to us.

Let's Remember that

His Name Matters.

He was the WORD.

Incarnate!

For, this is the WHY of a 

Name: 

...that which is used

to cover

EVERYTHING

from

thoughts

to feelings

aroused in the mind and heart;

that which, when mentioned,

brings to mind

the excellence,

the character,

the command,

the nature,

the pleasure,

of the

One-So-Called.