A bit homesick this Christmas...

Amidst all the excitement of the Christmas season I find myself feeling two contrasting emotions...homesickness and excitement.

I am not actually homesick for a place, but for a time. I miss having little ones running around with eyes full of wonder, excited to open the day's advent window, excited to have on more Christmas story read to them, excited to sing Christmas songs around the tree, little ones to wake up on Christmas morning and run to the Nativity to see that Baby Jesus has indeed arrived. Those days are long past and I miss them.

A few weeks ago, both Brian and I were feeling a bit sad about this empty nest of ours and we were missing the traditions we had established over the years with the kids. I told a dear friend that I was struggling and she gave me some great advice. "A word of wisdom. Traditions are great for families, helping build a legacy, BUT they are not commandments from God nor are they sacred so ask the Lord for ability to flex, to start new traditions and to be able to enjoy the season remembering memories of the past, but making new memories!" What wise words! I am thinking on these words often this year as many traditions are just not practical anymore.

The emotion of excitement is mixed right in there. This is our first Christmas in this house, this town and with this church family. I am excited to experience all those firsts, for Brian and I to develop some new traditions, and to decorate a new house for Christmas. It will be fun to open my Christmas decorations and see which ones I kept and where their home will be in this house. As always I am excited because its Christmas! I love the wonder and beauty of this season!

Our tree is up, it is still bare, but even bare it is beautiful. You see there is one tradition we were able to go back to this year. That is picking a tree out in the wild, a totally non-groomed, non-perfect tree. We did that for years when the kids were little; but in Iowa we didn't have forests, so we went to a tree farm. Those are nice trees, but we were always looking for that one tree that didn't look like it grew up on a tree farm. This year, Brian and I joined an amazing family on their land and picked a wild tree. Looking at that tree takes the edge off my homesickness and makes me smile.

Ah to be out in the woods hunting a tree!!! We love the one we found!!

In the midst of these conflicting emotions is peace...sweet contentment...joy; Brian and I are right where God wants us to be!

No Room???

No room...sorry.
 Can't help you sir...sorry.
   Can't you see there's a census going on...of course there's no room...sorry.
     No room in here sir...but I guess you can take the stable...it's a little smelly though...sorry!

I imagine  these were some of the responses Joseph and Mary had when the arrived in Bethlehem. No room for them in the Inn. I wonder had these innkeepers known who they were turning away, would they have answered differently? Would they have suddenly discovered an empty room?

I've got family coming...I can't help at church on Christmas...sorry.
 I don't have money to give...I have my "Santa" presents to buy...sorry.
   There's no room for those "Jesus" ornaments...I've got a snowflake theme this year...sorry.

Are we like the innkeepers? Do we come up with excuses as to why there's no room for Jesus in our own Christmas celebrations? Are we so bogged down with the stresses of buying gifts for everyone, decorating our house just so, baking for days, and attending every party we are invited to that we forget the reason we do it all? Where is Jesus in your Christmas?

Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 6:7 This is one of my favorite verses on passing on our faith and teaching our children. I feel it is very applicable this time of year! To  put the verse another way. Teach your children about Christmas. Talk to them as you bake Christmas cookies, as you walk the neighborhood caroling, when you get up on Christmas morning. Remind your kids that there is one and only one reason for the season, it is about a man (not the one in the red suit), it is about JESUS!

 The innkeepers may have turned Mary and Joseph away, they didn't know Jesus was coming. We don't have that excuse, we know Christmas is about Him, so let's find room in our December for Jesus!

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Impossible???

 

For nothing is impossible with God. 

This was what the angel Gabriel told Mary right after he told some pretty "impossible" news. I'm sure Mary would need to cling to this truth many times in her life. As she watched her belly swell with baby Jesus growing inside her, as she waited to see just how Joseph was going to respond, as she visited her cousin Elizabeth who was with child later in life, and as she watched her son be crucified. Those words had to provide her with comfort as she took part in a story that was filled with impossibilities! God saw something in Mary, that is why he chose her for this task. He knew she could handle it. He knew she would experience shame, ridicule and heartbreak in her life, but He knew she would lean on Him and that she would believe that NOTHING IS IMPOSSIBLE WITH GOD.

We too need to believe these words intended for Mary all those years ago. They are still true today. They are true in our own lives. God may not have called us to the same task he called Mary, but he has called us. He has seen in us something special and equipped us each with a task, possibly an "impossible" task, we need to take to heart the truth in Luke 1:27. This Christmas season, keep this truth close at hand. Remember it, apply it, believe it, trust it.

For nothing is impossible with God.

Forgotten Christmas...

Christmas is only 66 days away.....ahhhh!!!!!

Now this news probably does send some of you into a panic. Your mind is racing with lists already. Some of you have had your lists made for months, in fact some of you have even checked it twice. Then there are those of you who are thinking I've got plenty of time...after all that's what Christmas Eve is for...to buy presents! 

Every year our family tries to do something different with how we give gifts to one another. We try to avoid overspending and at the same time make the gifts meaningful and fun. A few years ago we had a theme for our Christmas...simply put our Christmas that year was JOY.

  Jesus

    Others 

You

Our first focus that season was of course on Jesus. Our next focus was on others, and then we focused on each other, or you. One very practical way we reached out to others was by forgoing a Christmas tree that year. Choosing and cutting down our tree is always a big thing to us, so by not getting one this year, it made a big impact on us all. We chose to take the money we would have used on a tree and purchased fruit trees for a person who needed the fruit to survive. This small sacrifice on our part is still impacting people to this day. And yes, our Christmas was just as special without the tree!

Gospel for Asia is one of  a few ministries that makes available a Christmas catalog where you can purchase things ranging from chickens to water buffalo to houses for people who can't afford these things on their own. They have put together a web site called Forgotten Christmas. The following video explains what the website is all about. 

**WARNING....this video is convicting!**

So, as you begin to make your lists for Christmas, I challenge you to prayerfully consider buying one less thing this year, or set a smaller spending limit. The average person spends at least $500 on Christmas. In some parts of the world that is more money than they will even see in a year! Imagine if we all could take just a portion of that money and buy someone the gift of hope, love and encouragement. A small gift on our part is a huge gift can be multiplied over and over again to the forgotten people!

As we are celebrating the birth of our Savior let us not forget that 2,700,000,000 people have not yet heard that Jesus was even born! 


In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ Acts 20:35


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