Discovering True Intimacy with Our Savior

Day 1: The Arrival

//  6 Comments

[Click here for the Intro to Christmas ADVENTure 2018]

People are in a hurry.  (I’m looking at you, Reflection.)

A LOT of people are in a hurry to put up their Christmas decorations, and it seems to get earlier and earlier each year.

I am a stickler for nothing Christmas until after Thanksgiving.  Usually, my tree goes out in early- to mid- December, but this year, that bad boy was up while the turkey leftovers were still in my refrigerator.

A  post on The Art of Simple  got me to thinking.

What if we decorated a bit slower this year?  Or next year if you’re me.

What if we, day-by-day, decorated like a slow crescendo to the big day?

It sounds crazy, right?  Maybe impossible.  The practical side of me is wondering what in the world I would do with the boxes while I slowly unpacked it all.  But what if it was possible?  What would that look like in your home?

Advent means “arrival.”  God’s people waited for the arrival of their Jesus.  They waited thousands of years for His coming.

Sometimes they worked while they waited.

Sometimes, God spoke.

Sometimes, He didn’t.

Sometimes, it seemed His arrival was right around the corner.

Sometimes, it felt like God had forgotten.

And often times, it felt like it would never come.

But still…they waited.  And God waited too…for the perfect time.

All through the Bible, all through the long years, God has been waiting for exactly the right time to send his great gift. He has been waiting for Christmas! – The Storybook Bible Advent Guideby Sally Lloyd-Jones.

So, this year (or next) think about decorating your tree a little slower to honor those who waited and to remind us that we are waiting for Him to come again.

The Great ADVENTure 2018

//  2 Comments

I’m suddenly very captivated with the idea of Advent.  Christmas and I have a long history in adulthood of not really getting along.  Through the years, I’ve done some re-thinking on Christmas traditions, but with 2018 dealing more than its fair share of blows, I definitely could use some re-focusing and re-framing.  And Advent looks promising.

It could be a Christmas game-changer.

I can feel it.

Are you familiar with Advent?  Maybe you’re like me and have heard the word but never really thought anything about it.  Or maybe you are an Advent Pro who grew up celebrating and still celebrate today.  Whatever the case, there is room for you here.

This season, as I’m learning and looking through piles and piles of Advent materials, I thought it might be fun to share a little something each day. I have no idea right at this moment what those somethings are, but again…that is part of the ADVENTure.

I’d love for you to come along.

Day 1 starts now!

(Re)thinking Christmas: Gifts

//  2 Comments

Let’s talk gifts.  This time of year, everywhere you look there are gifts.

Gift lists
Gift boxes
Gift bags
Gift wrap
Gift cards
Gift certificates
Gift baskets

As I sit and think about the gifts I’ve been given over the years, the ones that stick out to me are the ones that were handmade by those I love.

My favorite Christmas gift was an antebellum dollhouse my parents gave me when I was about eight years old.  My cousin handmade it; my aunt decorated the inside, and my mom sat in her closet gluing all the little furniture pieces together.  It occupies a good bit of my attic real estate, but I just can’t bring myself to part with it.  It’s still beautiful even after all the years of dust that has accumulated, and just thinking about all that went into making it – the thought, the love and the time – overwhelms me.

Off the top of my head, I can think of gifts friends have made for me over the years: an oil painting, a watercolor, a knit hat & scarf, a hand-thrown ceramic vase, and a ceramic plaque.  (By the way, I particularly appreciate the hand-thrown vase after a brief run-in with a pottery class from which I still haven’t recovered.)

I have a hand painted ornament given to me by my little cousin (who’s not so little anymore); a photography book made by an ex-boyfriend; a half-marathon scrapbook from a friend/training buddy, and a quilt my mom made of all my race t-shirts from my first year of doing triathlons.

I can tell you where each of these gifts are in my house and who gave them to me.  I cherish them because there are little bits of love captured in each stitch, brush stroke, and photograph.

One night, as I was knitting, God reminded me of a verse in Psalm 139: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (v. 13).

I chuckled as I pictured God sitting on His throne with His feet propped up on a planet and a ball of yarn sitting at His side.  Like any experienced knitter, He chose the perfect yarn and the perfect pattern for His project.  He couldn’t wait to begin.  He thought about the recipients of the gift and smiled with delight.  He followed the pattern precisely and examined His progress often.  As each month ticked on, His work grew.  Until finally, after nine months, a beautiful baby was given to the world.

Each strand of hair perfectly positioned
Each cheekbone strategically sculpted
Eye color carefully chosen
Height meticulously measured
Body type purposely proportioned
Personality distinctively defined

I wonder what the world would look like if we stopped thinking of each other as people and started thinking of each other as a gift from the Creator?  Or what would happen if, when we looked in the mirror, we stopped critiquing the Master’s masterpiece and started focusing on our beauty instead of what the world points out to us as flaws?

It’s a radical concept, and one that I’m not so sure the devil wants us to grasp.  But this Christmas, I challenge you to focus on the gifts in your life – not the man-made, store bought gifts – but the handmade gifts God has given you:  those you love; those that are hard to love; and those you prefer to love from really, really far away.  They are all gifts – every single one of them.

Disagree?  Take it up with The Almighty.  It’s His Word that says, “…I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well” (Psalm 139:14).