Is the Christmas season the best month of the year or just the most stressful? Yes! This humorous video overwhelms us with all the craziness that crowds our schedules at Christmas and then adds a tongue-in-cheek reminder that “Jesus is the reason for the season” and after yesterday’s post I couldn’t help but piggy-back this on. Enjoy!
Ah, the sounds of Christmas…carols playing softly, a crackling fire and WAIT! Not in my house. Here is what Christmas sound like in our house (it’s more fun if you sing it…)
Hark how the bells, phones, and the texts, ring through the house, giving no rest. MOM WHERE IS THIS? MOM I NEED THAT! He’s touching me. She started it! Merry merry merry merry Christmas! Merry merry merry merry Christmas!
I am so bored. Can I go here? Please take me there. I need a dozen cookies. I need a dozen more please! She’s got my stuff! He started it! Merry merry merry merry Christmas! Merry merry merry merry Christmas!
It’s picture time. Can’t you sit still? Just look right here. You have a Christmas concert? You have to be at practice? Get in the car! We need more gas. Merry merry merry merry Christmas! Merry merry merry merry Christmas!
A picture of Christmas for so many of us, right? I wrote this last year for our Christmas cards, a picture of the days leading up to our Christmas, written in jest but based in reality. And then more recently I read this, “When it’s so easy to be overbooked, overstretched, and about to snap, STOP! Otherwise you will bulldoze right past some of life’s most precious moments.”
More than ever, this year I have a desire to do more than just have Christmas. I want to experience Christmas. Here is my advent challenge. I want to open my heart up to be present in the season today, not bulldoze through it in anticipation of tomorrow, or next week. I don’t want to bull rush my way to Christmas day. I want to make this very moment count. I want to allow my soul to awaken to the thrills of the Lord’s presence as I move through this holiday season. I love Jacob’s words in Genesis, “Surely the Lord is in this place, and I wasn’t even aware of it!” These words echo in my heart as a reminder to slow down and notice Emmanuel, God with us, this season.
Merry merry merry merry Christmas!
A question to ponder today as we are all “innkeepers”…do you have room?
Dearest God,
Please never let me
Crowd my life
Full to the brim.
So like the keeper of Bethlehem’s Inn,
I find I have no room for Him.
Instead, let my heart’s door
Be ever open,
Ready to welcome
The newborn King.
Let me offer the best I have
To Him
Who gives me everything.
–author unknown
Advent…and so it begins. (Actually is began two days ago.) The countdown that marches us closer and closer to Christmas. I think of calendars with tiny little doors that open to reveal a piece of chocolate (eaten before breakfast, of course) for every day between now and Christmas. My kids used to get excited if they happened to miss a day for some reason and got to have two pieces of chocolate. I can remember having my own advent calendar years ago and the excitement and anticipation that opening every little door brought. One day closer…
Do you still have that excitement and anticipation or are the days flying by in a blur of to-do lists and to-buy lists? Advent is to Christmas what Lent is to Easter. A time of preparation for the coming celebration. John Piper says, “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” In other words, “In every heart prepare him room…by cleaning the house.”
Take some time to be still today, and in the coming days, to prepare your heart, or as John Piper said, clean the house. Marvel with me in wonder at the miracle of the season. Allow yourself time to take a deep breath and soak in the meaning of the season.
Jesus said, “I have come as a light to shine in this dark world, so that all who put their trust in me will no longer remain in the dark.” (John 12:46) He came to light up our world, to rescue us, to pull us out of the darkness forevermore. The very first gift of Christmas, given to you, to me, was love and salvation, peace and joy, given in the tiny form of a baby, wrapped, not in shiny paper and sparkly bow, but in rags.
I look forward to going on an advent journey together. For tonight, lets kick off the journey with a piece of chocolate and recapture the innocent anticipation of the coming celebration.
Happy Thanksgiving…We are so blessed, even on our bad days. Josh Groban’s song always brings me to thankful tears and I wanted to share it with you. Sometimes we get caught up in our own messes that we lose sight of our blessings and what is truly important.
Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations. (Psalm 100:4-5)
Some days we forget to look around us
Some days we can’t see the joy that surrounds us
So caught up inside ourselves
We take when we should give.
So for tonight we pray for
What we know can be.
And on this day we hope for
What we still can’t see.
It’s up to us to be the change
And even though we all can still do more
There’s so much to be thankful for.
-Josh Groban, Thankful
I pray that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving…
After finding myself in another Waiting Room (11/2/13 post) I have been struggling with the heart and head connection and Matt Chandler addresses this specifically in this short video. It also begs the question when you are waiting, who or what are you trusting? Where are you searching for hope? Both challenging and encouraging, this video is well worth watching.
Trust God when He puts you in the waiting room. He knows what He’s doing.
~Charles Stanley
Waiting rooms can be horrible places. When you are sitting in a waiting room, with very little information, and you are holding your breath in expectation of answers, that wait can feel eternal. Tonight, as I am forced to wait, I have dug back into The Word, reminding myself of all of the lessons I have learned.
History repeating itself…this time with a twist and a slightly new cast. But I know that I can’t be the only one struggling with the wait and the fear and the helplessness tonight. I know that I don’t want cliches, I want answers. I want assurance. I want to stop holding my breath. And I know where to find those answers but that doesn’t mean its easy to let go of the worry and choose peace. So in as much a reminder to myself this evening here is my encouragement.
“Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” (Psalm 27:14)
“My soul, wait in silence for God only, for my hope is from Him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my stronghold; I shall not be shaken.” (Psalm 62:5-6)
“Trust in The Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” (Prov 3:5-6)
It’s easy to read the words but harder to believe them as personal truth when you don’t feel patient, when the ground under you is shifting, when satan’s hot breath is whispering fear into your mind and you just don’t understand!
BUT GOD! He is bigger than any of that. I just need to be still in Him and allow Him to calm my heart and fears.
My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever. (Psalms 73:26 NLT)
Sometimes it just takes awhile for my heart to catch up with my head. In the meantime I will remember to breathe and let go of what I can’t control. Instead, in the darkness of night I will cling to the promises of what I know to be true in the light.
There you go changing my plans again
There you go shifting my sands again
For reasons I don’t understand again
Lately I don’t have a clueJust when I start liking what I see
There you go changing my scenery
I never know where you’re taking me
But I’m trying just to follow youIt’s out of my hands
It’s out of my reach
It’s over my head
And it’s out of my league
There’s too many things
That I don’t understand
So it’s into your will
And it’s out of my hands-Out Of My Hands, Matthew West
“Yet I am confident I will see the Lord ’s goodness while I am here in the land of the living. Wait patiently for the Lord. Be brave and courageous. Yes, wait patiently for the Lord.” (Psalms 27:13, 14 NLT)
“With your unfailing love you lead the people you have redeemed. In your might, you guide them to your sacred home.” (Exodus 15:13 NLT)
Life as an adventure with God as our guide and companion. The destination, and the journey left in His loving hands.
“Until God opens the next door. Praise Him in the hallway.”
I love this! I want to make this my anthem – praising in the hallway! A beautiful picture of praising God while we are waiting. Praising God before He answers. Praising God in spite of our circumstances, in spite of how we feel.
In reading the blog Spiritual Inspiration I came across this. “Remember, a sacrifice of praise is when it costs you something, when you don’t necessarily feel like doing it. Praise Him, not because of how you feel, but because He is worthy!” Francis Chan says this, “The point is not to completely understand God but to worship Him. Let the very fact that you cannot know Him fully lead you to praise Him for His infiniteness and grandeur.” Rick Warren, in his book “What On Earth Am I Here For?” says this, “Don’t be troubled by trouble. Circumstances cannot change the character of God. God’s grace is still in full force; he is still for you, even when you don’t feel it. When you feel abandoned by God yet continue to trust Him in spite of your feelings, you worship Him in the deepest way.”
Let all that I am praise the Lord; with my whole heart, I will praise His holy name. Let all that I am praise the Lord, may I never forget the good things He does for me. (Psalms 103:1-2)
We need to learn how to praise the Lord in our darkest hour. Praise Him, even when we don’t understand, even when we don’t feel like it. We need to praise Him, not because of what He can do for us, but because of what He is to us. And I promise if you can do that, He will lift you out of the darkness. Your circumstances may not change, you may find yourself standing in the hallway for a really long time. But, if you praise Him while you are there, with a genuine spirit of worship, your heart will be changed!
Lord, I lift my hands up to praise to you this morning. I take my hands off every problem, every situation and circumstance that I am trying to fix on my own. Lord Jesus, I cast all of my burdens on you. Open my eyes to see that you know what is best for me. Strengthen my faith to take you at your word. Rise within me that I may boldly declare your truth. Cast out fear, remove all doubt, block unbelief and cause an unwavering trust to be stirred within me. Lord, change me. Amen
Very well said on a day when I simply feel like enduring. A reminder that we need to engage, not withdraw into ourselves or stick our heads in the sand. Engaging requires more of us than simply enduring. It requires that we open our eyes and hearts to those around us. Engaging is our opportunity to use what God has given us, the good and the bad, to glorify him.
We have a sign posted as a reminder as we leave our house that says, “Your life may be the only Bible someone reads today.” That’s a heavy weight to bear but has everything to do with how we handle our shortcomings, our stumbles, our heartache, and the times when we are wronged. These are all ways we are able to begin fleshing out hope for a watching world. To live authentically, even in failure, gives hope to a world that has perfection as the standard expectation. Humility and gracefulness are strong, heroic attitudes. These words in action truly do require courage because it goes against the pride of society, the self-promoting, excuse-making, blame-avoiding society that my children are being raised in and influenced by on a daily basis. I want to engage deeper, to live my life fearlessly in the shadow of my Protector, and when I fail I want to be brave enough to admit it. You want others to know God? You want to begin to flesh out hope? Engage. It’s not in what you say, Jesus will be seen (or not) in what you do. And quite frankly there are days when that makes me want to just stay in bed with the blankets over my head but there is one more sign that we have hanging and it simply says this, “It’s not all about you.”
Father, this is such a tall order and I fail you daily but because of your mercy I am forgiven. Please help me to live in such a way that even in my failures I am pointing others to you. On days like today when I just feel like enduring, remind me that is because I haven’t spent time with You and forgive me for not wanting to engage. Thank you for being the author of grace and redemption. Thank you for your limitless, unconditional love. Amen.
Run and Be Still 