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Archive for December, 2013

The Best of December 16 – 20

Posted in WONDER, tagged christmas, the best of december 16-20, the best of the week on December 21, 2013| Leave a Comment »

As this week wears down, as school is closed for the break, as the pressures of the Christmas season start to recede (or mount, as may be the case) my corner of the world was treated to snow.

It fell soft … and slow

reminding me that it is not in the hustle and bustle, not in the partying and celebrations,

that Christmas is found.

This weeks most viewed post was It’s not Fair. This is a post that reminds us that God’s hand has been in the planning of His method of redemption. Saving through His son, delivered by a human woman.

Searching for a Holy Night
(more reminders of the quiet of the season)

Why Mary?
(just a girl … but the girl that God chose)

The Husband of Mary
(Joseph, the man God chose to be Earthly father of the Son of God)

After the Festivities a Still Small Voice
(God’s choice, not the expected one)

And, although you could find this in the post just above, here is a song that reminds me, every time I hear it, of the gentle way God chose to save us.

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After the Festivities A Still Small Voice

Posted in christmas, GOD, WONDER, tagged a still small voice, act of God, advent, audrey assad, breath, christmas, do you hear what I hear, Ezekiel 37:6, first breath, Genesis 2:7, John 20:21-22, message, whisper, winter snow on December 20, 2013| 1 Comment »

Back on the first Sunday of December (the first Advent Sunday) I posted a guest post called Do You Hear What I Hear?

For me it was the message that God seemed to be continually whispering to me, as the Christmas season was approaching, as the chaos of the festivities kept getting louder and louder, as the focus I so desired kept getting drowned out. It was the message to “listen for the still small voice.”

Really the still small voice is barely more than a breath …

It is the breath of Genesis 2:7, “and the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul.”

It is the breath of Ezekiel 37:6, “I will attach tendons to you and make flesh come upon you and cover you with skin; I will put breath in you, and you will come to life. Then you will know that I am the Lord.”

It is the breath of John 20:21-22 , “again Jesus said, “Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.”And with that he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

And,

in the still of the night,

in a simple place for animals,

not an earthquake,

not a rushing wind

… not even a fire,

but through the still small voice of a baby

taking His first breath

still,

an act of God.

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The Husband of Mary

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged angel in a dream, christmas, GOD, Jesus, Joseph, Joseph husband to Mary, Mary, Matthew 1, sarcrifice on December 19, 2013| 3 Comments »

I cannot imagine the insecurities of Joseph, the husband of Mary (Matthew 1:16). The man was not only the earthly father-figure of the Messiah, but he was also married to the Virgin Mary, who was chosen by God, to be the vessel through which God would come to Earth! That, is alot to live with under one roof!

Really, I do wonder about Joseph. I wonder what kind of a man he was. I wonder what he thought about his virgin fiance being with child. I wonder if he felt like he was father to Jesus. I wonder if he felt his role was understated. I wonder if he felt it difficult to correct Jesus, as a child (or did he need correction?). I wonder if he felt used, unjustly treated, minimalised.

The Bible really says little of Joseph, but I do not think that his role is minimal, after all he was chosen, by God, to be the husband of Mary, the mother of Jesus as well as to do all that an earthly father does for his child. Joseph married his fiance (knowing that the child she was carrying was NOT his), worked to earn an income, helped to raise Jesus, and moved around whenever he had a dream telling him to.

Matthew 1:18-19 gives the main account of Joseph’s part in the birth of Jesus:

^“This is how the birth of Jesus the Messiah came about: His mother Mary was pledged to be married to Joseph, but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit. Because Joseph her husband was faithful to the law, and yet did not want to expose her to public disgrace, he had in mind to divorce her quietly …”

Being engaged to a pregnant woman during those biblical times was not a politically correct position to be in. He could have had her stoned (adultery), he could have left her publically, but he didn’t want her to ‘disgrace’ her (most of that time would think that it was she who disgraced him), so he planned to divorce her quietly.

Matthew 1:20

“But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit “…”

Joseph is one of the small, elite group of people of the Bible who have been given a message through an angel of the Lord. He did not ask for it, he had already made the honorable decision about what to do with his Mary, before any angel entered his dream world. He is also of the line of David, a royal line that was part of the big picture plan of God.

Matthew 1:21-23

^“She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.” All this took place to fulfill what the Lord had said through the prophet: “The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel” (which means “God with us”) …”

Joseph did not even get to choose the name of the child that his betrothed was to give birth too. Even that was not in his power or choosing … but, he did it!

Matthew 1:24

^“When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife …”

He married her! He did not divorce her quietly, but he took her to his home. This would increase suspicion that the child that Mary was carrying was his … he put himself in a position of public ridicule.

Matthew 1:25

“But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

Hum, how do I expand on this point … ? So, Joseph … a young man … pregnancy takes nine months … Joseph takes her home as his wife around three-four months … so they would be married, without consummating their vows for about four months before the baby was born, and then another two weeks after the birth (before her ritual bath). So, married? Yes. Joseph experiencing marital physical closeness? No. Enough said!

Joseph was a man, chosen by God, because God knew that Joseph was an honorable man, who (obviously) sought to ensure the validity of God’s plan. And really, I doubt he was full of insecurities … I expect that he understood what it was to fully seek God’s will for his life.

What an amazing man he was!

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Searching for a Holy Night

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged angels singing, bethlehem, christmas, christmas carol, imagining, Joseph, Mary, no room in an inn, Oh Holy Night, Oh night divine, shepherds in the fields, stars brightly shining, sweet hymns of praise, with child on December 17, 2013| 1 Comment »

images-10 At this time of year, I am looking for many things … free time, peace, relaxation, togetherness as a family, and a holy night experience.

This holy night experience is one which the Christmas Carol describes. It is one when “the stars are brightly shining” (that means no rain).

It is one that, if you go for a nighttime walk, you can almost imagine being there, in Bethlehem. The stars are brightly shining, and you follow quietly behind that young couple; he leading the beast who is as burdened as the young woman atop it, both feeling the weight of what they carry.

You see them enter the town gates, you see the relief flash on Joseph’s face, the relief that allows him to breath deeply, just as his lady beside him, breathing as the women in her hometown instructed her to, when the pains began.

As you follow along behind you feel the disappointment from the lack of vacancy in the first inn that Joseph inquired. Ah, but there are so many, he will just try again … and again … and … again.

There is no room for them. Mary tries to put on a brave face through the physical pains, feeling hope slip away. Joseph tries to put on a brave face, through the feelings of discouragement at not being able to provide for his increasingly suffering wife.

Finally, an option. An innkeeper offers a warm, dry, safe place … I wonder if Joseph felt the relief of finding a place, and the regret of having to tell his laboring wife that all he could find was a cave-like stable … I wonder if he felt thankfulness for the provision or failure that he was only able to offer a dirty animal refuge for the arrival of the son of God.

“Oh, hear the angel voices” … could Mary and Joseph hear and what was happening on the hillside outside of Bethlehem as it flooded with the light of the angelic chorus singing “sweet hymns of praise”?

As I imagine crouching in the corner of the stable, I try to read the expressions on the faces of the new parents. Their eyes filled with relief, and delight, no longer aware of their rustic conditions, no longer aware of anything except each other and the beautiful new child in their arms.

What were they thinking as they gazed into his eyes? Were their thoughts simply the thoughts of all new parents since the beginning of time, or were they looking at this child and seeing him as Christ?

Then the shepherds arrive, falling on their knees, telling their story of angels on the hillside. Praising his name, as the one who will “break the chains … cease oppression.”

If the new parents showed no acknowledgment of their son’s paternity and purpose earlier, I can almost imagine them looking at each other with wordless acknowledgment of what the other was thinking. Oh, the holy ground that they were on!

“Oh night divine,
Oh night,
Oh night divine”

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It’s Not Fair!

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged Angels, baby, chosen, Elizabeth, God chosen, importance, it's not fair, Jesus, Luke 1, Mary, Son of God, Travelling, virgin mary on December 16, 2013| 1 Comment »

God knows what He is doing, both now and always.

For instance, He knew what He was doing when Mary was chosen to be the mother of the Christ child … and not me.

Mary was “highly favored” (Luke 1:28), I on the other hand am … extra human in regards to my use of phrase like, “that’s not fair.”

If I were to have walked in the shoes of Mary, and been visited by an angel (that is big enough as it is) who told me that I, a virgin, was to be inseminated by the Holy Spirit and give birth to the Son of God (and not even have the honor of choosing the name of my firstborn) I would not have replied, “I am the Lord’s servant, may your word to me be fulfilled” (Luke 1:38).

Then off she goes to visit her cousin Elizabeth … if it were me, my intent would have been to flee the realities that were going on, and to bury my head in the sand, as the great ostriches do to avoid their problems. But no, there is no avoiding reality from her first words, when Elizabeth’s pre-born boy decides to do cartwheels at the sound of her voice.

And the unfair things did not stop there! After Joseph got his angelic visit, and he hoped on board, they had to head travel to be counted in the census that Caesar decided was necessary. So off the pair trod, Mary VERY pregnant, and the two undoubtedly still confused.

Then, upon arrival at their destination of Bethlehem, there is not a room left for them to find refuge, and for their baby to be born.

At this point I would have been looking up at those shiny stars and saying, “really God? Really? This IS YOUR son, could we at least have a place to bring Him into this world?”

God knew what He is doing, then and now. He does not ask any more of us than we can handle, and being the mother to the Christ child would definitely be more than I could handle.

I remember being a young teenager and saying to my God-loving grandmother, that ‘other’ denomination puts too much emphasis on Mary (parroting words I had heard, rather than what my own heart and brain deemed to be true). My grandmother, uncharacteristically firm and pointed in her reply to her only granddaughter said, “and we do not emphasize her value enough! If God chose her to give birth and raise His Son, she must have been a very special young woman.”

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Christmas = Happiness … right?

Posted in WONDER, tagged christmas, christmas = happiness right, greg laurie, wnd.com on December 15, 2013| Leave a Comment »

Christmas = Happiness

right?

I think we all know that that is not necessarily true. Those of us who celebrate Christmas from it’s historical and religious significance would say that happiness is not even the place between the goalposts.

As I read Greg Laurie’s commentary on www.wnd.com (WorldNetDaily), about Christmas and happiness, I found myself nodding in agreement and amen’ing his conclusion. Enjoy his well thought-out words.

“I like Christmas. At its very best, Christmas is a promise. It is enjoying time with family and friends … meals … laughing together … exchanging gifts … worshiping together. I think all of these are a glimpse of things to come, a promise of something better. It is really a promise of heaven.

Ever since childhood, I have believed in the promise of Christmas. I believed that Christmas spoke of something greater, of something more important. As a boy, I remember one Christmas with my mom when we were living in a hotel in Newport Beach, Calif. I woke up on Christmas morning excited about opening my presents. But my mom was passed out from a night of drinking, and the room smelled of alcohol and stale smoke. There was an artificial white Christmas tree, lit by a slowly rotating wheel that changed the tree from one color to another. I looked around and thought, It has to get better than this. I believed that Christmas spoke of something greater.

What Christmas really speaks of is that we can have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Really, that is the primary message of Christmas: God came to us. As Matthew’s gospel says, “So all this was done that it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the Lord through the prophet, saying: ‘Behold, the virgin shall be with child, and bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,’ which is translated, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:22–23 NKJV).

The message of Christmas is not “Let it snow” or “Let us shop.” It is “Let us worship.” Why? Because God is with us. The first Christmas gifts were not presented by the wise men to the Child. The first gift of Christmas was the gift of Jesus Christ from God to us: “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).

It is all about Immanuel, and it means this: You will never be alone in life again. Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our home with him” (John 14:23). That is an amazing statement. God the Father and God the Son are saying they want to make their home with you and me.

Jesus also said, “Lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:20). That is a promise to all people that we will never be alone again. Why? Because God is with us. Jesus said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5 NLT). If you were to translate that from the original language, it would read something like this: “I will never, no never, no never leave you or forsake you.” Christmas is about undoing loneliness. He will be with you on the happy days. He will be with you on the sad days. He will be with you on the hard days. He will be with you through all of your days. Then, he will be waiting for you on the other side to welcome you into glory. You don’t have to be afraid because God is with you.

Maybe this will be a difficult Christmas for you this year. Maybe your marriage fell apart and you are alone. God is with you. Maybe your kids have forgotten about you this year. But God hasn’t forgotten about you. God is with you. Maybe your parents have forgotten about you. But God your Father hasn’t forgotten about you.

Sometimes people have asked me how to get through the holidays after they have lost a loved one. Is there some book they can read? My answer is they don’t need a manual – they need Immanuel. They need to know that God is there. They need to lean into him. That is the essential message of this holiday season: that God came near. He came to this earth. He breathed our air. He lived our life. He died our death.

A song that is often sung at this time of the year is “I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,” written by the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow on Christmas Day in 1864. His son had run away the year before to join the Union army and had been severely wounded. Longfellow’s wife, Frances, had died in a fire in 1861. Wanting to pull himself out of his despair, he wrote down the words,

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old, familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

As he thought how bleak things were in the nation and how hard things were in his life, he wrote,

And in despair I bowed my head:
“There is no peace on earth,” I said,
“For hate is strong, and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!”

But then, gaining an eternal perspective, Longfellow wrote these words:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men.”

I love those words: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; the Wrong shall fail, the Right prevail. …” One day in heaven, all the wrongs will be righted. All the questions will be answered. One day, the promise of Christmas will be fulfilled in heaven.

If we put too much into the Christmas holiday itself, we will be disappointed. Christmas can’t deliver on its promises. It is not the fault of Christmas per se. It is really our fault. We have built it up so much in our minds that no single event ever could deliver what we really want. Christmas cannot bring harmony to our homes. Christmas cannot bring peace on earth. Christmas cannot bring happiness. But Christ can do all of this and more.

That is what we are longing for, deep down inside – not Christmas, but Christ. Not merriment, but the Messiah. Not goodwill, but God. Not presents, but God’s presence in our lives. Anyone or anything short of that will disappoint.”

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The Best of December 9 – 13

Posted in WONDER, tagged christmas, in the mood for christmas, saint nicholas, the best of december 9-13, the best of the week, the first family, the gateway to the soul, turn your eyes on December 14, 2013| 1 Comment »

So, if you are reading this, you have survived Friday the 13th … and if you are aged (like me) you didn’t even realize it until you awoke today!

December 13, 1988 was not a Friday, or a Saturday … it was a Tuesday. On that night, twenty-five years ago, I went on a first date with the man who is now better known as, the hubby. Twenty-five years ago …

I liked the gentlemanly things he did, like opening doors for me.

I liked the way he treated people, like they mattered.

I liked the sparkle in his eyes, like the light inside them was, itself, a living entity.

Our eyes are important! Some have said that they are the door, or gateway to the soul. This week, it was the post The Gateway to the Soul

which was the most viewed.

Also this week :

In the Mood for a Celebration
(our human Christmas parties mirror those of the first Christmas)

The First Family
(the unexpected first family of Christmas)

Turn Your Eyes
(the intimacy of eye contact)

Saint Nicholas
(the man behind the beard)

Blessings to you this day,
Carole

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Saint Nicholas

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged Believe, fictitious character, Giving, James 2:14-26, Love, Magical, pere noel, saint nicholas, saint nick, santa claus, sinterklaas, Wonder, works on December 13, 2013| 1 Comment »

It is the season of Saint Nick and he is everywhere. images-3

So, Santa is everywhere at this season of the year, and he is not new, and not North American. The story of Saint Nick goes back to the fourth century. In various times and his name has been Sinterklaas, Father Christmas, Père Noël and Saint Nicholas.

I admit that, as a Christian parent, it is not always an easy thing to try to empathize the birth of Christ, while at the same time all the world around me shouts of Santa Claus. It is a very difficult thing to try to teach of the greater value of the eternal gifts that Jesus brings while Santa Clause brings Barbie and Lego. Hubby and I have agonized over how to deal with Santa Claus in the life of our family.

When speaking with a teacher friend recently, she shared what she had been dealing with in her kindergarten classroom; two children who did not believe in Santa Claus, and whose mission it was to cast all those who did into a fiery pit. I have to say, her experience confirmed for me that the middle ground perspective on ‘the Claus’ that hubby and I chose to take was a wise one!

For us we chose to neither encourage nor discourage the belief in Santa Claus, just like we neither encouraged nor discouraged the belief in the Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny, Narnia, Secret Garden, or Fairy Tales. Those magical things, places and people take us to delightful, wonder-filled fictitious escapes into our imaginations that help us to grow and develop with with ability to dream.

But, Saint Nicholas was not a fictitious character, he was a very real person.

Saint Nicholas was a Greek Christian bishop in modern day Turkey in the 4th century. He was known for giving extensively to the poor, to children. His most famous gift is believed to be to a family with three daughters. The family was terribly poor and had no financial way to provide dowries for their three daughters of marrying age. Such a situation could result in these three young ladies being forced into slavery, prostitution. The story goes that Nicholas reached his hand into a window of the house, leaving enough money for the three to have dowries to marry. The story further goes that the money fell into stockings that were hanging by the window to dry … yet another rational for the tradition of Christmas stockings.

Although Nicholas was never officially canonized (the process that the Roman Catholic Church utilizes to recognize it’s saints), the day of the Feast day of St. Nicholas (December 6) continues. Much more can be read about Saint Nicholas.

To believe in him is delightful childhood, to know of the God-loving man behind the beard is essential for the imagination to take root, and blossom into putting that faith into our own works of love for others.

images-5

“What does it profit, my brethren, if someone says he has faith but does not have works?
Can faith save him?
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them,
“Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,”
but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith, and I have works.”
Show me your faith without your works, and I will show you my faith by my works.
You believe that there is one God. You do well. Even the demons believe—and tremble!
But do you want to know, O foolish man, that faith without works is dead?
Was not Abraham our father justified by works when he offered Isaac his son on the altar?
Do you see that faith was working together with his works,
and by works faith was made perfect?
And the Scripture was fulfilled which says,
“Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.”
And he was called the friend of God.
You see then that a man is justified by works, and not by faith only.
Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works
when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?
For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”
James 2:14-26

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Turn Your Eyes …

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged afraid, boat, Disciples, eyes, Faith, Hope, loaves and fishes, Matthew 14, peter, sea of galilee, the gateway to the soul, turn your eyes, walking on water, waves on December 12, 2013| 1 Comment »

The other day in my post, The Gateway to the Soul , I wrote about our eyes being the lamp of the body. Today I am focusing again on eyes.

In our household we have a variety of eyes. There is our ‘faux son’ (an International student who we parent while he is here) from China whose eyes are a deepest brown, almost to the point of black. My oldest daughter, son and hubby all have blueberry eyes, simply the bluest blue I have ever seen. My younger daughter and I have eyes that, although are blue, can change color, depending on our moods and what colors we are wearing.

There is not much sweeter thing in life, for me, than to look into the eyes of those I love, and see them staring back at me … of course if we are in the midst of battling each other we are still eye to eye, but it is not so pleasant.

Looking into another person’s eyes is truly an intimate act.

In the Bible’s story of Peter walking on the water to Jesus, we get to see the power of eye contact.

So, the disciples are out in a boat, after attending to more enormous crowds who had come to see Jesus … and they didn’t pack a lunch! But Jesus had compassion on them, and worked His magic, and voila … from two loaves and five fishes, a meal for five thousand!

Back to the boat … images

Jesus sent His twelve out in a boat on the Sea of Galilee, and he climbed back up to hill to pray, and be alone with His father (aka. Father-Son time), saying He would meet up with them later. I have to say, I really wonder how the twelve thought that He was going to meet up with them? Surely they did not expect Him to come prancing on top of the water? What were they thinking?

Later that night, they see a really bright light out on the Sea. Remember this is before lighthouses, so this was not a normal sighting! They thought it was a ghost, a spirit … something not good.

Jesus identified himself. Then Peter, oh Peter, said something like, “if it’s really you, tell me to come to you,” so Jesus invited him to catch some waves.

Peter stepped out of the boat, and was actually doing it, he had heard Jesus words, looked to where He was, and stepped out of the boat, “but when he saw the wind, he was afraid and, beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” (Matthew 14:30). Peter could not have “seen” the wind if he had not taken his eyes away from those of his Savior. His little faith was not in his fear, it was that he moved his eyes off the one who could calm the storm inside of him.

How often do I take my eyes off the one who can keep me afloat? In my relationships? My finances? My future? When I keep my eyes fixed on my only hope, I stay afloat. Bad things still happen, but I have the constant reminder that if my eyes are on Jesus, I will not drown.

When we can look into the eyes of another, we are trusting our view to the other person, we are in a sense making ourselves vulnerable, giving our time and attention to the other person. Looking into another person’s eyes is truly an intimate act.

images-2

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The First Family

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged christmas, concern, FAMILY, Isaiah 11:1-10, Isaiah 7:14, Jesse, Joseph, Mary, Matthew 1:24-25, righteous, seed, shoot, Stress, the first family, unwed mother, virgin on December 11, 2013| 1 Comment »

As I contemplate today about the first family, I am not referring to Will and Kate’s or Barack and Michelle Obama’s family, I am referring to the first family of Christmas …

images-7

This first family of Christmas was a unique family, one that was never before, and will not be again. Certainly there have been families that began with a teenage pregnancy, or a long trip (our honeymoon trip was a car drive from New Brunswick to Yellowstone National Park …), or concern for the future, or without a place to live, but never was there a family like this first family of Christmas.

Never was there a family who began from such simple means, with such great purpose.

Joseph was a carpenter, a respected, necessary profession in that time, but not an esteemed position in that society. It is a fair guess that Mary would not have been from a household that was ‘above’ that of Joseph, as marrying beyond your class or level in society would not have been acceptable. They were simple, average Jews, living within the expectations and laws of their place, time and culture. They were engaged, thinking of and preparing for their wedding day, but engagement was a little different than what we know of engagement today. To be engaged then meant that you were already married in the eyes of society, in the eyes of the synagogue, in the eyes of God. And, even though if Joseph had died, Mary would be viewed a widow. They did not live together … they barely spoke to each other, and certainly not alone.

Mary was a virgin.

This was written the book of Luke, and it was the fulfillment of the prophesy in Isaiah (Isaiah 7:14):

“Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign:The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.”

Joseph was a righteous man.

This meant that he obeyed the laws, followed the rules, was respected in the community. For him to choose to wed his pregnant Mary was to live his days as disgraced as she. His response to the angelic messengers who told him that the conception was from the Holy Spirit (relieving him of feeling disrespected by his betrothed) and the direction for Joseph to give the baby boy the name Jesus was evidence of just how righteous he really was, from the inside out.

“He (Joseph) did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife. But he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.” (Matthew 1:24-25) images-9

The entirety of the formation of this first family was in the hands of God, who provided the seed in Jesus, who grew into the life source of redemption for all of humanity.

Isaiah 11:1-10
“A shoot shall come out from the stump of Jesse, and a branch shall grow out of his roots.
The spirit of the LORD shall rest on him,
the spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the spirit of counsel and might,
the spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.
His delight shall be in the fear of the LORD.
He shall not judge by what his eyes see,
or decide by what his ears hear;
but with righteousness he shall judge the poor,
and decide with equity for the meek of the earth;
he shall strike the earth with the rod of his mouth,
and with the breath of his lips he shall kill the wicked.
Righteousness shall be the belt around his waist,
and faithfulness the belt around his loins.
The wolf shall live with the lamb,
the leopard shall lie down with the kid,
the calf and the lion and the fatling together,
and a little child shall lead them.
The cow and the bear shall graze,
their young shall lie down together;
and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.
The nursing child shall play over the hole of the asp,
and the weaned child shall put its hand on the adder’s den.
They will not hurt or destroy on all my holy mountain;
for the earth will be full of the knowledge of the LORD
as the waters cover the sea.
On that day
the root of Jesse shall stand as a signal to the peoples;
the nations shall inquire of him,
and his dwelling shall be glorious.”