The Work Begins

Remember the song I quoted the other day?

After everyone leaves...after the excitement of a new baby settles down...the true work begins.  

"To find the lost, the heal the broken, to feed the hungry, to release the prisoner, to rebuild the nations, to make peace among brothers, and to make music from the heart."

I was walking around, getting ready this morning and had an epiphany...yeah, that's a Christmas miracle on Thursday of the week before Christmas.  I have a cold...I mean it's bound to happen this time of year with sniffling children who hug me face to face...and I didn't feel awesome yesterday, but we promised to go with the kids from church to sing at an assisted living home.  So, we had little people choir and then headed over there.  We sang and it was nice and they were appreciative and then we headed to the other section of the facility to "the bridge."  The Bridge is for alzheimer's patients.  So we walked in and there were about 15-20 people in a circle with one nurse.  We started singing and I almost lost it.  Some of them that hadn't spoken a word, even looked like they were asleep, perked up, sang every word, and one even read every word off of the song sheet and sang in his loudest, best voice.  We walked around after we sang and they held my hand, commented how warm I was (wonder why? ha), and said, "it's so good to see you."  They were happy, even for those moments.

Here's the epiphany I had this morning...we did the work of "releasing the prisoner" last night.  The people we sang with are in a prison of the mind.  Most of the time they are locked up in the past and can't make peace with the present. In those few carols, I saw their eyes open, their minds clear, and their spirits refreshed.

Thank you, Lord, that you use us in spite of ourselves. Thank you for reminding me that I have something to give and that there is more work to do.

Understood

Most of you know that I teach ESL...and no that doesn't mean that I speak another language fluently..I wish that I did, but alas, I don't.  My students are mostly from Honduras and Mexico, with a few Chinese and Hungarian students thrown in the mix. 

This time of year, I often take my students for granted.  They are nuts.  I mean seriously whacked out of their minds.  I asked one Monday, "Really?  Who are you?"  Perhaps if you have kids, you know how they are this time of year.  Anyway, today I showed a clip of Frozen as a reward for doing their work.  One of my classes is almost completely full of limited English speakers.  So...the song "Let It Go" came on and two of the girls ripped into it in Spanish.  It was hilarious and sweet all at the same time.  And I realized something...no matter the language, they had the same reaction as other kids that speak English.  They all dream.  They all love a good Disney movie.  They speak the same language of heart.

Did Jesus come just for you?  While it is personal--what Christ did for you, God sent Jesus for us.  God speaks every language.  God came for all people.  God knows each person, each heart...and God speaks to all.  

Look around.  Forget the politics, the problems, and everything in between.  Marvel at the beauty of God's creation in the dark skin, the pale skin, the round eyes, the moon shaped eyes...and give thanks that God made us all and loves us all. 

O Come Let Us Adore Him

“Countless days on a journey that led so far
Endless nights they traveled to follow the star
They did not find a palace, just a humble village home
And searching for a king, but finding a child, no crown, no throne.

Still they bowed down

Come let us adore him
Oh, come let us adore him
Oh, come let us adore him

Expectation turned to mystery
For nothing was like anything they dreamed
Anticipating the royal and those honored by this world
Instead they gazed in the eyes of an awe-struck peasant girl
Holding her child

Come let us adore him
Oh, come let us adore him
Oh, come let us adore him

The brilliant gold, the fragrant myrrh, the costly frankincense
Placed before him

Come let us adore him
Oh, come let us adore him
Oh, come let us adore him
Christ, the Lord”

I heard this song on Sunday while I was getting ready for church.  I’ve heard it before, but this time I listened to the verses.  The shepherds and the wise men came to see this promised one, this king, and they came upon a child, a peasant girl…

Here’s the thing…they could have walked away.  The shepherds could have turned around when they saw where the star led them…the wise men could have taken their gifts back thinking that a humble child wouldn’t need something so expensive and extravagant.  Even though what they witnessed was unexpected, they still bowed down and worshipped. 

How many times has the same thing happened to you?  You pray for something with expectation of how God will answer.  When you don’t get the answer you expected, do you walk away disappointed, or do you stop, bow down, and worship?

Oh come let us adore him….for unexpected answers, for giving us what we don’t deserve, for hardships that teach us, for giving us what we need instead of what we want…

Have you gotten on your knees to bow before the Christ child this Christmas?  And have you accepted the unexpected?

Caroling...

What do small children, songs, hot chocolate, Bojangles chicken, Pal's hamburgers, Koreans, old people, and all ages in between have in common? 

If you answered a night of Christmas caroling, then you got it!  :)

I think this was our fourth year of caroling with our Sunday School class...we had about 25 people this year turn out to share some joy and cheer with some of our older members from church.  This year was especially fun because the kids have grown up and can actually sing!  They were so excited...even spontaneously erupting into Christmas carols as we walked to the elevator.  One of the adults said, "wow...I'm impressed."  I told him I did my job if they remembered the songs, ha.  

Our children's minister and her husband joined us this year and it's their first Christmas with our church family.  At the end of the night, she commented about how much she enjoyed seeing generations interacting through song and how our group took care of each other's kids and cared for each other in such a loving way.  Here's the thing...we genuinely like each other...we love each other so it's natural that we love and nurture each other's kids.  I've now had almost all of my friend's kids in choir and nursery and I've gotten a chance to KNOW them and to truly love them.  

And I continue to organize these caroling trips, not because I want to torture Chad or just have hot cocoa with my friends...it's because I see  that something so simple brings joy to older people...but more than that, it teaches us to give and to teach our kids that they can give and be a part of making someone else's world a little brighter.  

Are our voices perfect?  No...Do they know all the words?  No...Are we perfect?  Nope...but we were willing and God used us...

Maybe that's the point...willingness to show up...and we are a blessing to someone else...and in turn, we become blessed.

Distance

I live about seven hours from "home."  I quoted that word because over the last few years, home has become this place in Tennessee.  I've gotten over not having a Georgia license plate and driver's license...but it was hard.  Anyway, I've lived away from home for a while now. 

I miss my family...I miss sitting in my mama's lap (yes, I still do that sometimes).  I miss my daddy's smile and comforting way he tells a story.  I miss watching my brother and sister in law lovingly and beautifully love each other and their baby girls.  I have missed first steps and first words of the best two girls ever made. I miss my sister's crazy laughter and not knowing why we started laughing in the first place.

But in spite of all the missing, I am fuller because I recognize that my love for them is bigger and greater than what I've missed.  I know I'm doing what God wanted me to do...that is love and testimony enough for the family that told me I could do anything and be anything and that I should do whatever God called me to do.

When I traveled across the world to Thailand when I was 22 years old and had no idea where I was on the map, I remember thinking about my mama and daddy and how they allowed me to go.  And I loved them even more for it.  

When I traveled across the world to China last summer, I got to the airport in Beijing and I was jet-lagged and overwhelmed and didn't know what to do...and it was hot and smoggy...and I started crying because I wanted Chris to be there with me to help me figure things out and give me strength. And during that time in China, I saw myself more fully and that distance helped me to know even more assuredly that I didn't "need" Chris to fulfill me, but I wanted him to be by my side.

Distance...Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for the census and had a child far away from the love and stability of their home.  And even after that, they weren't afforded the option of returning. Mary didn't have a mother's hand to hold as she birthed the Son of God.  But also think about the secondary characters...Mary's family...Joseph's family...Elizabeth and Zechariah.  Distance may have given them some perspective.  How could you let this happen, Mary?  We taught you to be a good girl, and here you are pregnant and not married yet.  And then the child comes...and they aren't there...they missed it.  Even though they didn't understand, I can imagine that Mary's mother still wanted to be there to witness that joy.  And all characters may have begun to understand their love for each other a little more fully.

What lengths have you taken to have perspective?  Do you need to take some time, some distance, or some space this season to truly see and feel the impact of God's love for you this Christmas season? Who has God gifted you with to love? Who has God gifted with your love?

This is Love

Do you ever just know that you need to write about something, or tell someone something?  It comes in that constant feeling within your spirit or words that keep going through your head.  Well, hopefully that doesn't just happen to me.  I've had this lyric in my head for the past three days...

"This is love; this is love
Incarnate King, begotten Son.
This is love; this is love
You choose to make your home in us."

Honestly, it's been a little annoying...if you don't know this about me, a song can get stuck in my head for a very long time.  Ask my mom...I get jingles stuck in my head and they never leave. Seriously, I can sing almost any commercial jingle from the last ten years.  Anyway, this line from this song didn't just play over and over in my head...I started thinking about the lyric.

This is love, God...that you choose to make your home in us.  Yes, Jesus came to a forsaken, dirty, busy place that was unexpected for the beginning of a King many years ago...but here's the thing...I am Bethlehem.  I am forsaken.  I am dirty.  I am too busy.  Even so, God chooses to come to this place...and he doesn't just stop in for a visit and quickly run away.  God dwells within this place.  God chose to be born within me...to stop and stay in this mess.  

Do you know that God wants to make a home within you?  No matter how dirty you are, how forsaken you feel, how busy you've made your life...God wants to dwell within you.  Do others know that their hearts are potential Bethlehems for Christ to dwell within?  Have we told them?  Do we really believe that it's possible?  A baby made it a reality so that we would all know that God was capable of redeeming the worst places.

God is able to redeem.  God can redeem our hearts and spirits even when we think we are beyond cleaning up.  Why do we try to make ourselves sanitized hospitals for God to be born when all he wants is our Bethlehem?

How Far?

Remember that quote from yesterday?

"Did you wrap yourself inside the unexpected, that we might know that love would go that far?"

Have you experienced the depth and width of love extended to you?  Love births a baby and gives you life.  Love gives her paycheck to pay for your college education.  Love picks you up when you fall off of the bicycle. Love pays for your breakfast every week while you're in graduate school.  Love rakes a yard.  Love protects.  Love says no sometimes.  Love challenges you to be more. Sometimes loving someone means letting them go.

We experience love in many ways.  We know love because we were first loved.  By a loving Creator.  By a mother and father who loved us enough to sacrifice time, money, and so much more.  By a family of faith who saw who we were and told us we could be more.  

And the unexpected love of a partner finds some of us.  Don't worry, you're not going to want to throw up after this.  It's just that choosing to love someone instead of love being gifted to you is a different ballgame. Yes, love is gifted to us by a partner, but more than that, they choose to love us in all things.  And in turn, we choose to love them. In the ugly, coffee-less mornings...in the joys of first holidays together...in the sadness of losing someone you love...in the every day "normality" of life...we choose to love.  

Chris was an expected, yet unexpected gift in my life.  He came at a time when I was kind of done...tired of looking and waiting and hoping.  And he surprised me.  We are very different, but in spirit we are very much the same.  We love people and relationships with others.  He has loved me through almost a year of life that has been full of joys and milestones and time away in foreign countries and big financial decisions...and I've messed up (I mean the normal mess ups, no biggies yet ha) and he has stayed by my side.

This is love.  We know love because we were first loved.  And now we know love not only because others love us, but because we choose to love.