Something to Ponder...

The Refugees
Ann Weems

Into the wild and painful cold of the starless winter night
came the refugees,
slowly making their way to the border.
The man, stooped from age or anxiety,
hurried his small family through the wind.
Bearded and dark, his skin rough and cracked from the cold,
his frame looming large in spite of the slumped shoulders:
He looked like a man who could take care of whatever
came at them
from the dark.
Unless, of course, there were too many of them.
One man he could handle...two, even...
but the border patrol...
they wouldn't have a chance.
His eyes, black and alert,
darted from side to side, then over his shoulder,
then back again forward.
Had they been seen?
Had they been heard?
Every rustle of wind, every sigh from the child,
sent terror through his chest.
Was this the way?
Even the stars had been unkind--
had hidden themselves in the ink of night
so that the man could not read their way.
Only the wind...was it enough?
Only the wind and his innate sense of direction...
What kind of a ruel judgment would that be,
to wander in circles through the night?
Or to safely make their way to the border
only to find the authorities waiting for them?
He glanced at the young woman, his bride.
No more than a child herself,
she nuzzled their newborn, kidding his neck.
She looked up, caught his eye, and smiled.
Oh, how the homelessness had taken its toll on her!
Her eyes were red, her young face lined,
her lovely hair natted from inattention,
her clothes stained from milk and baby,
her hands chapped from the raw wind of winter.
She'd hardly had time to recover from childbirth
when word had come that they were hunted,
and they fled with only a little bread,
the remaining wine,
and a very small portion of cheese.
Suddenly, the child began to make small noises.
The man drew his breath in sharply;
the woman quietly put the child to breast.
Fear.....long dread-filled moments.........
Huddled, the family stood still in the long silence.
At last the man breathed deeply again,
reassured they had not been heard.
And into the night continued
Mary and Joseph and the Babe.

Caroling Caroling!

Yes, it may be old fashioned...yes, it may make some of you cringe, or it may bring warm and fuzzies to some of you.  At any rate, our Sunday school class went caroling last night. One of my friends said, "I hate you one day of the year...this one."  hahaha...at least I get 364 other days!  

We drove in a caravan around town, delivering poinsettias and singing familiar tunes.  All this while a six year old, four year old, and two year old danced, sang a little, chased each other around in a circle, drank the resident's diet coke, ate a few marshmallows...

All this seems small...let's face it, we are small...the things we do sometimes seem to not matter.  But that is the point...we are small, but God takes what we offer and makes it better and bigger.

As we sang to one of our elderly church members, he began to wipe tears from his eyes. For some people, this time of year is bittersweet.  It brings back memories of the past...memories of goodness, of children, of spouses lost...

But we have the capacity to bring something small--a carol, a flower, a smile...to make a big difference in the hearts around us. Hearts that are waiting for a spark, for a new memory, for good news that we are able to give.

It matters.

Unexpected Joy

Does God ever catch you by surprise?  Do you ever have moments that make your heart so full that you feel your eyes well up with tears?  I love to watch my Daddy watch a Hallmark movie or music special on tv...he smiles as he watches and usually I can tell when his heart gets full.

Well, today God surprised me.  I teach.  I do what I do.  I yell sometimes.  I hug my kids. I want the best for them.  Sometimes they drive me absolutely crazy.  They had a dance today so you know they were all hyped out of their minds.  Well, I'm still trying to get work out of them..."Sit yourself down and get going!"  "Come on...you don't have to go to that party!"  Sound familiar?  In the middle of all of it, one of them starts singing...off key, but still.  He said, "Miss Saunders, you know this song?"  And in broken English he began to sing "Happy Birthday, Jesus."  Yes, the child chose the cheesiest Christmas song...but I pulled it up and three little 9 year olds sat around and sang Happy Birthday Jesus in broken notes and language.  I looked at him and his eyes were shining with tears. I almost lost it.  

God is moving...and Christ still comes...through music, through broken English, through yelling and caring, through school walls, through hearts that are softened toward the spirit of God.  Thank you, Jesus for putting me exactly where I needed to be today.

Running...

If you know me now, you know that I exercise pretty regularly.  I've had somewhat of a journey to get to this point...and by journey I mean that at one time I didn't believe in exercise!  ;)  In college, I would go on walks, more for the social value than anything.  I remember looking through the windows in the SAC gym and thinking there was no way I would be brave enough to set foot in there.  I also remember judging girls who actually did go there to exercise...yeah...not proud moments!  Such is life...

In Chicago, we lived off of around $10 a week per person for food.  And I lived with a house full of girls who loved to eat...so we didn't always make the best choices.  We went to "work out" for 30 minutes every now and then at the gym in our neighborhood...once again, more of a social thing.  More pounds...are you getting the idea here?  When I moved back to Georgia, I had a realization that if I didn't get myself back in order, health wise especially, it would only get harder.

Thus my journey...I started walking on a treadmill.  That was it.  Then I started getting on the eliptical.  The owner would always say, "Why don't you just run?!"  To which I would reply "No!  I will never run!  I hate it." 

Until one day...walking got too slow...the eliptical got old...and I wanted to test myself a bit.  So, I ran.  5 minutes the first time.  That was enough.  haha

But the next day, I ran again...and the next, and the next...until I was running around 5 miles a day.  I learned that it was physical, of course...but it was more mental...I could run just 5 more minutes.

I'm not just trying to bore you with my personal history of exercise...I read the account of the shepherds the other day...how the angel appeared to them and told them about this wonderful thing that had happened and told them where to find the baby.  But they had to make the decision to go...and when they decided to go and see this great promise fulfilled in a baby, they RAN!  They ran the whole way to Bethlehem...from the fields into the city.  We live in the country, so I imagine that it wasn't terribly close by...takes a little time to go to town.  And they ran the whole way.  Maybe it was adrenaline.  Maybe they were in great shape.  Maybe it was the sheer possibility of what they would see.  But, yes, they ran...

Have you gone for a run lately?  Sure, physically you can run and feel that rush of adrenaline and endorphins kick in...but have you been so excited about something God is doing, or will do, that you break out in a full out run toward it? Have you run toward Bethlehem yet this season?  It's time to lace up those shoes and get going.

Gifts

I hate shopping...Ask my Dad...he knows that to get me to a store, he must do one of the following:

a.  only go to one store
b.  feed me afterward
c.  feed me between stores

Yes, I know it sounds ridiculous.  For some reason, Christmas shopping isn't quite as bothersome to me.  Maybe it's because I've found the joy of online shopping.  But, I think it's a little deeper than that.  I like the anticipation of seeing a loved one's face when he or she opens the gift I took time to think about before purchasing.  I love that we know each other well enough to know what to get each other.  There is meaning in gift giving.

You know the three wise men, right?  Apparently they arrived when Jesus was a few years old....but they had journeyed to see this baby, this promised one.  Have you ever thought about their gifts?  They were lavish gifts, fit for a King...that was expected at that time...bring your best.  But I wonder, did they feel kind of foolish when they presented their gifts to a small child?  Did they have thoughts of "What is he going to use this for?  Is he going to chew on it?"  

Maybe that's the point...God surprised them.  God is still surprising us with how he comes, how he is at work, the people that he shows up in...And God accepts us and our gifts for what they are.  Gifts are gifts...God just wants us to come.

Elizabeth and Zechariah

Have you ever stopped to think about the role Elizabeth and Zechariah played in the birth narrative?  They were ancient, had long given up on having a baby...and yet, God fulfilled their hopes for a child, late as it was.  A former pastor shared with us in choir the other night that there were so many priests in that day and time that they would have only gone into the temple, into that sacred space, maybe once in their lifetime.  It just so happened, or maybe happened for such a time as this, that Zechariah went in and came out unable to speak at the news he received.  Because of his inability to even sputter, everyone knew that he had been in the presence of God.

God was making preparations...making sure that people knew that with God all things are possible.  And their son, John, was preparation himself.  Perhaps he inherited that from his parents, the ones preparing the way for the birth of the Christ.

Mary went to visit Elizabeth "and when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb.  And Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit, and she exclaimed with a loud cry, 'Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the fruit of your womb!  And why is this granted to me that the mother of my Lord should come to me?  For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy."  Luke 1:41-44

Elizabeth was ready...she heard what God was saying and felt what the Spirit was doing because she had made preparation in her very spirit.  And even as a baby, John recognized the significance of what was to come.

Am I that in tune with the Spirit?  Are we preparing the way for the coming of our Lord?  Yes, there will be a second coming and that way needs to be prepared, but I'm talking about a daily preparation...are we looking, eagerly anticipating how God will come and move among us?  

Watch for those leaps inside of you and rejoice!

The Angels and the Birth of Christ

Have you ever stopped to ponder the role of the angels in the birth narrative of Jesus? Were angels appointed to be the ones who proclaimed the birth of Jesus to Mary, or the ones who hovered over the Christ child?  Or were the hosts just hovering, all a part of the celebration of God coming to Earth?  I don't know, but I do know that they proclaimed "Great tidings for all people!"  They got to be the ones who declared the one who would save the world, the joy that came, the fulfillment of many prophecies and dreams.

I read an article today...here's an excerpt from it...

"There's more to their joy than our everyday garden-variety joy.  You see, their joy is not in their own salvation, forangels will never know the joy of their own salvation.  The joy they know is a joy in our salvation, a joy that has been welling up for literally millennia, since the beginning of time..."

The angels rejoiced in our salvation.  Their focus was on others instead of self...they experienced true joy because they saw beyond self and to the joy of others.  The news they had to proclaim was bigger than they could even imagine.  The news we hold in our hearts to proclaim is bigger than we can imagine...have we learned the joy of proclaiming it?