Our world is full...full of people, full of busy people, full of uncertainty and violence. Our world is overwhelming to think about and to pray for...it's hard to know how to pray for this place, these people, for our own people. And yet, Christmas comes. The time has come for Mary to give birth to our Savior...and maybe that's precisely what we need. We need a Savior. We need some joy. We need hope to creep into our minds and hearts again. We need the Prince of Peace. We need unconditional Love to rule our world.
"Christmas comes every time we see God in other persons.
The human and the holy meet in Bethlehem or in Times Square,
for Christmas comes like a golden storm on its way to Jerusalem--
determinedly, inevitably. . . .
Even now it comes
in the face of hatred and warring--
no atrocity too terrible to stop it,
no Herod strong enough,
no hurt deep enough,
no disaster shattering enough.
For someone on earth will see the star,
someone will hear the angel voices,
someone will run to Bethlehem,
someone will know peace and goodwill:
the Christ will be born!"
-Ann Weems
Will you let this reality settle into your very being? We have a Savior. He has come! He continues to come...in fresh cut grass, in a baby's first cry, in a friend's embrace, in a million tiny moments we ignore each day...Christ is born again and again.
Friday, December 4, 2015
Thursday, December 3, 2015
Hope
The focus on Advent this week, this anticipation of Christ's coming, is HOPE. The definition of hope is "a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen." We have all hoped for something to happen in our lives, whether it be in the here and now, temporal, or whether it is something big that we feel will change our lives for the better. Two days ago I was swimming and we were doing a workout...my legs were burning and I was already feeling like lead in the water. I asked my friend, "with or without fins?" In my head I repeated over and over again, "please say with fins, please say with fins, please say with fins!' I didn't get the result I wanted, but I'm sure my legs are better for it...maybe.
I have friends here in TN that hoped and prayed and waited for a child. I know this is the story for many couples, but it doesn't make it less hard. I prayed for them, hoped for them, grieved with them, hurt for them...and it was hard to understand why someone's deepest desire was not met by our loving God. When our hearts are crying out for something that we feel will make us better or more whole, it's hard to hope...it's hard to believe that goodness will come for us too.
And yet, last October, Dana Claire entered our lives and continues to exude hope and joy every time I see her. I look at her and hope is reborn. She is a bright light to all of us. She is a precious gift and I don't think we could have imagined what joy she brings to life.
If we are all honest, there is something deep within our hearts that we ponder and wonder about...that we think may be realized one day. And sometimes darkness wins and we try to throw that hope away and just sit in our sulky places and whine about what isn't being fulfilled.
Maybe hope for us truly comes when we see hope realized in others and embrace it. We turn from our own deep longings in order to see how God is fulfilling the longings of our world.
When Mary went to visit Elizabeth, Elizabeth's response was not to brag about how she had become pregnant at such an advanced age, but to rejoice at what God had done in Mary. Elizabeth's joy came from realizing the hope of the world was near. Maybe that's the preparation we need in our own lives. Embrace another's joy today and it will become your own.
Wednesday, December 2, 2015
Being Able to Recognize Light
It struck me today that in order to know what light is, we have to be able to recognize darkness. It is in true darkness that we understand the importance of light. Light is what gives us hope in darkness. Light dispels darkness and fears. Fears subside as light pours into an area that was once full of darkness.
"Too often our answer to the darkness
is not running toward Bethlehem
but running away.
We ought to know by now that we can't see
where we're going in the dark.
Running away is rampant. . .
separation is stylish:
separation from mates, from friends, from self.
Run and tranquilize,
don't talk about it,
avoid.
Run away and join the army
of those who have already run away.
When are we going to learn that Christmas Peace
comes only when we turn and face the darkness?
Only then will we be able to see
the Light of the World."
This season don't give in to the urge to run. Don't give in to the need to tranquilize your feelings or thoughts. It's too easy to busy ourselves into not thinking about things that take time and effort. But you know as well as I do that those things are the things that are worthwhile. We have these moments, these days, these people in our lives...and they are fleeting. Don't sprint away from the light...embrace it. Sit in the darkness, shut your mouth, open your eyes, and step toward Bethlehem. It's a journey that will leave you forever changed...this season and beyond.
"Too often our answer to the darkness
is not running toward Bethlehem
but running away.
We ought to know by now that we can't see
where we're going in the dark.
Running away is rampant. . .
separation is stylish:
separation from mates, from friends, from self.
Run and tranquilize,
don't talk about it,
avoid.
Run away and join the army
of those who have already run away.
When are we going to learn that Christmas Peace
comes only when we turn and face the darkness?
Only then will we be able to see
the Light of the World."
This season don't give in to the urge to run. Don't give in to the need to tranquilize your feelings or thoughts. It's too easy to busy ourselves into not thinking about things that take time and effort. But you know as well as I do that those things are the things that are worthwhile. We have these moments, these days, these people in our lives...and they are fleeting. Don't sprint away from the light...embrace it. Sit in the darkness, shut your mouth, open your eyes, and step toward Bethlehem. It's a journey that will leave you forever changed...this season and beyond.
Tuesday, December 1, 2015
Anticipating
In this Advent season, let us go out in the darkness and look for the star, for it surely is shining. The light of God has never stopped shining, beckoning us to look, to follow, and to believe that it is most certainly shining for us. We have a journey to walk. We have a story to share. We have a life to live. We have these moments in our every day lives that can become moments that impact eternity. We are the shepherds in the fields, tending our lives, doing the ordinary, thinking that what we do doesn't really matter...and yet a star appears. We have to choose whether we pay attention or not, whether we leave the ordinary to see something extraordinary.
We are the wise men. We have gifts that are worth much. We have voices and abilities and resources. And we are called to offer them to our King. Will we hoard them, bury them, or let them lie dormant? Or will we journey to give them back to our King? We are Joseph...unsure and asked to do hard things that we don't understand. Will we walk away when it gets hard, or will we obey and see what God does? We are Mary. We hold something incredible within us. We ponder it. We marvel at this gift within us. But do we keep it to ourselves, thinking it's ours...it belongs to us...or do we share it with the world?
Their story is our story. How will we respond?
We are the wise men. We have gifts that are worth much. We have voices and abilities and resources. And we are called to offer them to our King. Will we hoard them, bury them, or let them lie dormant? Or will we journey to give them back to our King? We are Joseph...unsure and asked to do hard things that we don't understand. Will we walk away when it gets hard, or will we obey and see what God does? We are Mary. We hold something incredible within us. We ponder it. We marvel at this gift within us. But do we keep it to ourselves, thinking it's ours...it belongs to us...or do we share it with the world?
Their story is our story. How will we respond?
Monday, November 30, 2015
Advent...
Well, it's that time again...the season of Advent. Yesterday we celebrated the first Sunday in Advent, focusing on HOPE. We also participated in the Hanging of the Green service at church which is always a time of celebration and anticipation as the church is decorated as a community of faith comes together to sing, decorate, and just fellowship.
Looking back at the last year, it has been full of change. My sister got married two days after Christmas and we welcomes Henry James Taylor into our family at the end of September. Miley will turn 3 this coming Sunday. Chris was deployed to the desert for 2 1/2 months. Grandma turned 90. We now have 84 ESL students at my school. Change always comes, whether we are prepared for it or not. I've caught myself saying this phrase a lot...."it is what it is." Take it as it comes. Try your best to be prepared, but most of all, be prepared to just accept what is in the here and now.
As I think about Advent, the coming of Christ, I can't help but think of change and preparation. Change must come in our hearts and minds if we are to be prepared for the coming of Christ. I must move from a self-centered view of this season. I must accept what is in my life in order to see how God is (and has been) at work in and through me. Think about the people of Israel in those days...they had been waiting a long time, anticipating a king that they could really get behind, a king FOR THEM, one that was on their side, advocating for them. Don't you want the same thing? We already have that. We serve a God who wants goodness for us. We serve a God who already won the victory. Are you afraid that God won't come to you? Has bitterness gotten in the way? Are you buried in a sea of grief? Are you too busy to even look for the Christ child? Read these words from Ann Weems...
"Our God will be born where God will be born,
but there is no place to look for the One who comes to us.
When God is ready
God will come
even to a godforsaken place
like a stable in Bethlehem."
Open your heart and mind this Advent season. Let a sliver of light in. Pray for a softened heart to feel the anticipation of the season again. And wait and see how God comes to you and to those around you.
Looking back at the last year, it has been full of change. My sister got married two days after Christmas and we welcomes Henry James Taylor into our family at the end of September. Miley will turn 3 this coming Sunday. Chris was deployed to the desert for 2 1/2 months. Grandma turned 90. We now have 84 ESL students at my school. Change always comes, whether we are prepared for it or not. I've caught myself saying this phrase a lot...."it is what it is." Take it as it comes. Try your best to be prepared, but most of all, be prepared to just accept what is in the here and now.
As I think about Advent, the coming of Christ, I can't help but think of change and preparation. Change must come in our hearts and minds if we are to be prepared for the coming of Christ. I must move from a self-centered view of this season. I must accept what is in my life in order to see how God is (and has been) at work in and through me. Think about the people of Israel in those days...they had been waiting a long time, anticipating a king that they could really get behind, a king FOR THEM, one that was on their side, advocating for them. Don't you want the same thing? We already have that. We serve a God who wants goodness for us. We serve a God who already won the victory. Are you afraid that God won't come to you? Has bitterness gotten in the way? Are you buried in a sea of grief? Are you too busy to even look for the Christ child? Read these words from Ann Weems...
"Our God will be born where God will be born,
but there is no place to look for the One who comes to us.
When God is ready
God will come
even to a godforsaken place
like a stable in Bethlehem."
Open your heart and mind this Advent season. Let a sliver of light in. Pray for a softened heart to feel the anticipation of the season again. And wait and see how God comes to you and to those around you.
Tuesday, July 21, 2015
Summertime
Summertime, and the livin' is easy...
That's pretty much been it...we finished school at the beginning of June, I got deathly ill for 9 days, said goodbye to Chris, took a certification test, and headed south! I visited my family in Georgia and Florida for about two weeks. Let me tell you, it gets harder to leave them every time. Two nieces, 2 and a half and 15 months...next to impossible.
No one tells you what it feels like to have little people as an extension of you...or maybe they try, but it falls on deaf ears until it happens to you. These little people have my blood flowing through them...we belong to each other. Miley still looks into my eyes, hasn't seen me in months, and there is this knowing that occurs. She squints up her eyes and smiles broadly and it's as if she is saying, without words, "I know you. We belong together." You may be thinking to yourself, yeah right. But if you've experienced it, you know it to be true.
So what's the difference when we CHOOSE to belong to someone? Is it less powerful? Is it more powerful? Sappy-ness is not my goal here...Chris and I choose to belong to each other. Who he is and what he does matters to me, not because I just need to know everything or whatever, but because he has become a part of me, of my heart, of the person that I am. And yes, I am me. If you know me, you know that to be 100% truth. And Chris is fully himself...and maybe BECAUSE of that, there is depth and power in the fact that we choose to belong to one another. And through all of this, through our choices to love and to belong, we create family. We create a sense of belonging for ourselves, for our children, for future generations.
Church is similar...it's not building, or fellowship times, or a million other little "things" that we do...it is choosing to belong to each other. Who have you joined up with? Who have you looked at in the eye and thought, "I know you. We belong together." It's a beautiful thing when it happens. The Spirit of God reaches out and gives us family, invites us to choose each other.
That's pretty much been it...we finished school at the beginning of June, I got deathly ill for 9 days, said goodbye to Chris, took a certification test, and headed south! I visited my family in Georgia and Florida for about two weeks. Let me tell you, it gets harder to leave them every time. Two nieces, 2 and a half and 15 months...next to impossible.
No one tells you what it feels like to have little people as an extension of you...or maybe they try, but it falls on deaf ears until it happens to you. These little people have my blood flowing through them...we belong to each other. Miley still looks into my eyes, hasn't seen me in months, and there is this knowing that occurs. She squints up her eyes and smiles broadly and it's as if she is saying, without words, "I know you. We belong together." You may be thinking to yourself, yeah right. But if you've experienced it, you know it to be true.
So what's the difference when we CHOOSE to belong to someone? Is it less powerful? Is it more powerful? Sappy-ness is not my goal here...Chris and I choose to belong to each other. Who he is and what he does matters to me, not because I just need to know everything or whatever, but because he has become a part of me, of my heart, of the person that I am. And yes, I am me. If you know me, you know that to be 100% truth. And Chris is fully himself...and maybe BECAUSE of that, there is depth and power in the fact that we choose to belong to one another. And through all of this, through our choices to love and to belong, we create family. We create a sense of belonging for ourselves, for our children, for future generations.
Church is similar...it's not building, or fellowship times, or a million other little "things" that we do...it is choosing to belong to each other. Who have you joined up with? Who have you looked at in the eye and thought, "I know you. We belong together." It's a beautiful thing when it happens. The Spirit of God reaches out and gives us family, invites us to choose each other.
Monday, January 5, 2015
Journey
Sorry I didn't finish up my December writings up until Christmas...it was a little nuts with traveling and such and no computer to speak of, except for the tiny keypad of my Iphone, which isn't intended for long, thoughtful writing.
Anyway, over these last two weeks of vacation, I have been through so many emotions....happiness, joy, sadness, deep love, gratitude...and things have changed...the way we celebrate, two baby girls opening gifts and that being more important than opening your own gifts.
This is what I know...life is process. It is ever evolving...and so we must change. Sometimes it feels like I am watching life happen when all of these changes occur, and yet, I am IN it!
I had a soft heart this Christmas...I allowed God to soften my spirit to allow the Christ child to come again in my heart and make a difference. I cried. I felt. I laughed. I hugged and snuggled and prayed that those little girls know how much God and I love them. And because my heart was softened, I was able to see that the journey has not ended. Just as life is process and change, so is our journey of faith. It should not stay the same. It evolves. We change. We listen differently. We love more fully. We mess up and try again. If we are wise, we continue searching for the Christ child. We ignore the Herods of our day and we focus on the light.
God is light. Life is process. Faith is evolved. Amen. So be it, Lord.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)