December | 2013 | itsawonderfilledlife

Archive for December, 2013

In the Mood for a Celebration?

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged celebration, christmas season, in the mood, Luke 2:13-15, parties, shepherds in the fields on December 10, 2013| 1 Comment »

Some years it is easier to get in the mood for the Christmas season, and some years it is simply not something that comes easily. This year has been one that represents the later.

It is not that I do not like Christmas, or the extra trimmings that our society has added to it. It is not that I am sad or depressed. It is not even that I am abnormally busy (not being busy is the only abnormal that most people at my stage of life know).

This year just seems to be one of a lack of interest in lights, decorations, gifts and parties. This year I simply have one constant desire … just meditating on the birth of the Christ child.

I don’t want a modern single, teenage mom in stretchy jeans and braces … I want a young Jewish girl, betrothed to Joseph.

I don’t want to give and receive presents that are not needed (and possibly not even wanted) … I want wise men who came from the East.

I really don’t even want to go to parties, with food and drink piled high, I would rather stay home and research the original Christmas story, then write a post about what I have learned.

I just want a Silent Night, the First Noel and Away in a Manger … simple, special, sacred.

Yet, all around me is the noise of partying everywhere, complete with all the wrappings; excesses of food and drink, rooms full of people celebrating and no one aware that the celebration is about a baby. A baby born on a night when all around was noise, the noise of travelers traveling, complete with excesses of food and drink, and all the rooms were full. And no one was aware that way out in that stable cave in the rock, their Savior was being born, taking His first Earthly breath, drinking in His first drink, and his parents (on Earth and in heaven) celebrated.

Annunciation to the Herders, Govert Flinck 1639 But not just His parents. Out in the fields, a way off from the town of Bethlehem, were shepherds living and caring for their sheep, and out of nowhere angels appeared to the shepherds, and they too were celebrating, and praising God, while saying,

“Glory to God in the highest heaven,
and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:13-14)

And the celebrations continue to this day.

So, as we go through the motions of the worldly celebrations around us, like a people gathering due to a census, complete with all the trimmings. It is good to not forget what the shepherds did once the celebration came to them, from heaven,

“When the angels had left them and gone into heaven,
the shepherds said to one another,
“Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened,
which the Lord has told us about.””
(Luke 2:13-15)

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Christmas Movie Must See

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged 1944, battle of the bulge, christmas, christmas movie, Fritz Vincken, Hallmark movie, Linda Hamilton, movie, Noche de Paz, Redemption, silent night, Unsolved Mysteries, WWII on December 8, 2013| 2 Comments »

I do love watching Christmas movies. Last year, in a Christmas movie post called Christmas Movie Themes I came to realize that the movies that I had chosen all shared a common theme … redemption. The one I want to share today contains the same theme, and in such a beautiful, such a tender way.

It is a movie that is told to be based on true events. The details are such that it is almost unbelievable, yet my soul hopes and desires to dream that it could be so. According to Unsolved Mysteries, who had aired the story, it was true, and solved.

220px-Silent_Night_VideoCover The movie is called “Silent Night” and it is set in Germany, on Christmas Eve, in 1944, during the Battle of the Bulge. It is the story of a twelve year old German boy, Fritz Vincken, and his mother, who were staying in their cottage in the woods. That night, they had two sets of visitors, a group of three American soldiers looking for a place for an injured soldier, followed by a group of three German soldiers.

What follows is a retelling of that Christmas Eve night.

This Hallmark, TV movie, first aired in 2002, the same year that Fritz Vincken died.

Linda Hamilton plays Elizabeth, the mother of young Fritz, and she does so convincingly.

This is one of my most favorite movies of the season. It reminds us of common human experiences, and emotions, even for wartime enemies. It captures an impossible scenario, one of peace in the midst of war.

Check your local TV listings, as I am certain that it will be on this season. It is also available on Youtube, in parts, which you will see after watching the following trailer.

This is a link to a written interview with Fritz Vincken

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Best of the Week for December 2 – December 6

Posted in WONDER, tagged christmas, Christmas Lights, expected gifts, love came down, please put a penny in the old mans hat, singing from the soul, the best of, the best of december 2-6 on December 7, 2013| Leave a Comment »

This first week of Christmas brought a few wandering snowflakes and was chilly in my Northwest Coast. I am still awaiting the arrival of those first flakes that stay on the ground (and cause school administration to shake their heads, resulting in the phone tree and FaceBook being abuzz with the announcement of “NO SCHOOL TODAY”).

This week of Christmas themed posts resulted in Singing from the Soul being the most viewed.

Also this week :

Please put a Penny in the Old Mans Hat
(an old ditty with a great meaning)

Expected Gifts
(it is in the unexpected that delight can be the greatest)

Christmas Lights
(wonder in the eyes of the beholder … and aren’t we all beholders?)

Love Came Down
(God’s choice of using a Daughter of Eve as the most important vessel)

Blessings to you this week,

Carole

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Love Came Down

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged baby, Celine Dion, father / mother, fingers and toes, Josh Groban, love came down, love came down at Christmas, love for all, Mary, Mother, newborn, oneness, primal, Redemption, value, Women on December 6, 2013| 1 Comment »

A baby … a newborn baby … with ten fingers, and ten toes … images-8

When the doctor hands a newborn to the exhausted mom, she counts …

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 , 9 … 10 … t e n, complete.

It is as though there is some primal need to count and confirm the existence of all appendages, all phalanges.

When it comes to giving birth, and becoming a mom (I cannot adequately speak for what it is to become a dad) primal is the best word to describe the experience. There is nothing like becoming a mom to make a woman realize what it is to want to save every child everywhere in the world. Newscasts of missing children, sick children, violated children stir a primal response from us that was just not as strong, not as emotion-filled before the moment when we knew, instinctively, that we were a mom.

Sometimes I think that God, in His all-knowing wisdom and understanding of we human creatures, chose to send His son to us, born of a woman, so as to draw we females to Him and to ensure that we would feel, and understand, and KNOW that hope, and peace and redemption was for us too.

Finally, after years of women experiencing a devalued existence, they were not only offered forgiveness and atonement for sin, but it was also provided through the womb of a woman, granting the opportunity to be part of the deliverance of His people. There was a oneness with the Father God, sharing in His love and pride of His own son, as well as the sorrow and separation that the crucifixion delivered.

How many of us, as women, have seen the images of Mary on cards, in nativity sets, or in stained glass windows or how many of us have heard or read the Christmas story, causing us to wonder, as Mary did, about all that had been told to her, all that was happening, and what was to come.

I believe that God was making a point, for all the world to see, of just how valuable we daughters of Eve are to Him.

“Love came down, at Christmas …
Love be yours and love be mine …”

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Christmas Lights

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged Children, Christmas Lights, Creator, diwali, god shaped vacuum, Hanukkah, Isaiah 60:1-3, kwansaa, Light, Oh little town of Bethlehem, Wonder, Wonder-filled on December 5, 2013| 3 Comments »

images-1 At this time of year there is nothing more beautiful to see (other than snow falling … oh how I would love to see snow falling … maybe even snow falling that leads into a school cancellation … but, I digress) than a toddler or preschooler mesmerized by the lights of Christmas. Truly there is no more wonder-filled look than that!

The child stares into the lights, unable to break their glance. They are completely in awe, pulled into the mysterious power of color and light.

I tried so many times with our children to capture that look in a picture, but was never able to get it. As I looked through images online, I realized that I am not the only parent unable to capture that look of wonder, as there were so few photos available.

That light-memorizing wonder is one that parallels our innate wonder for light, but beyond the visual light. That “God-shaped vacuum” within us is one of longing to be filled by the light of the Creator of this world, of us. It is the light from our Creator that is contained in the brilliant lives of those who love Him, of those who allow Him to lead their lives.

Isaiah 60:1-3 says:

“Arise, shine, for your light has come,
and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.
See, darkness covers the earth
and thick darkness is over the peoples,
but the Lord rises upon you
and his glory appears over you.
Nations will come to your light,
and kings to the brightness of your dawn.

Our hearts are sensitive to the presence of light, and this is the season when light is celebrated. Ironically, not just among Christians, but also Jews (Hanukkah), African Americans (Kwansaa), Hindus (Diwali), and probably even more. We all long for the wonder of light to enter into our beings, so that we might all shine … as we were created to do.

“O little town of Bethlehem
How still we see thee lie
Above thy deep and dreamless sleep
The silent stars go by
Yet in thy dark streets shineth
The everlasting Light
The hopes and fears of all the years
Are met in thee tonight”

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Singing from the Soul

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged angels sing, angels we have heard on high, christmas, do you hear what I hear, hark the herald angels sing, holy ground, it came upon a midnight clear, oh come let us adore him, singing, Students, Work on December 4, 2013| 1 Comment »

images-5 The Christmas season is filled with many things from food, to gifts, to music, and it is music that had me wondering the other day.

Driving recently I was flashing back over the years of driving with students to various service projects, field trips and work experience businesses. It seemed that every memory, of every student I ever drove in my vehicle was accompanied by music … and singing.

To relieve the concern that those of you who have been reading faithfully for awhile now of the concern you must be feeling, I will assure you that I do not do the singing! I would fear that, in singing with my students, I might get sued for damaging the eardrums of those innocent and unassuming teens. After all, my voice is a choir voice … a really, really, really big choir, voice … if you know what I mean 😉 … but, I digress …

So, as I was flashing back, I heard the voices of my students over the years.

I heard the boy with Downs Syndrome who sang silly preschool songs with my son.

I heard the adolescent girls singing along with the group Starfield.

I heard the most beautiful rendition of “Holy God”, that the songwriter could not outdo.

I heard the adoring singing of a teen boy singing “Beautiful One” … not to God, but to another Educational Assistant in whom he saw the love of the God who the song was written about.

I heard the teenage boy who normally preferred choral music to the Taio Cruz “Dynamite” song he asked to play and sing to while driving to work each day.

I heard the teenage boy who preferred his ‘bad boy’ rep. but who always turned the volume up and sang along to Chris Tomlin’s “How Great is our God.”

And this week it was Justin Bieber’s “The Christmas Song.”

What a joy to hear their voices, comfortable to share them with me, as I listened with solemn stillness, appreciating the fact that my vehicle often became a place of unhindered holy ground. Through all of these songs, from such a variety of students, I have heard their voices, but also their souls shouting out through their singing.

It got me to thinking, to wondering about the music of Christmas. So much of the music of Christmas is a call for us to listen, beckoning, to join in …

“Hark, the Herald Angels Sing”

“Angels we have Heard on High”

“Do you Hear what I Hear?”

“Oh Come Let Us Adore Him”

and, maybe best of all,

“… and all the world send back the song which now the angels sing …”

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Expected Gifts

Posted in christmas, WONDER, tagged Chris Tomlin, christmas, Come Thou Long Expected Jesus, expectations, expected gifts, gifts, surprise, unexpected gifts on December 3, 2013| 1 Comment »

Gifts are a part of many celebrations at this time of year. images

Retailers are counting on us to spend, spend, spend towards their financial success (and our financial decline, which will eventually put them into decline as well … but, I digress). The signs are everywhere;
SAVE,
SALE,
LAST CHANCE,
DON’T MISS OUT!

The gifts we give are … well … expected.

And that expectation of receiving a gift from someone can devalue that gift.

Let me explain …

When we are dating, a gift, at any time, from that special someone, can melt our hearts! Even if it is not an exciting gift, we are able to receive it with such thanks, such delight, such surprise … because we were not expecting it. After years, and years, and years (speaking personally) in a marriage can mean that expectations are attached with gift giving. The giver might give expecting a certain response, and the receiver might receive expecting something that is not hidden under the outer wrappings.

Recently, my hubby received a gift. He has been coaching a group of boys on a football team, HE has been the GIVER all season … that was his role in the relationship with the boys. But at the recent year end banquet, the boys had a gift for him (as well as a number of individual gifts). This gift was and is so very meaningful to hubby, and he will cherish and keep it always. The gift came from an expected giver … it was unexpected, and it was delighted in by the receiver.

At Christmas time we celebrate the birth of the Christ-child. We sing:

“Come, thou long expected Jesus …”

Long expected …

I wonder if one of the reasons He was not well-received was that expectations had been built up to the point where the gift could not be received with the delight that the Giver had given?

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“Please Put a Penny in the Old Man’s Hat”

Posted in christmas, GOD, WONDER, tagged anne frank, Blessing, christmas, Christmas is Coming, edith nesbit bland, excesses, Giving, God Bless You, Harry Belafonte, homeless, Isaiah 9:6-7, old english poem, the goose is getting fat on December 2, 2013| 1 Comment »

Not until I met my hubby did I become familiar with the Old English Poem, turned song, “Christmas is Coming.”

It is not known how long ago the words of it were penned, but it is believed that the music was composed by Edith Nesbit Bland (The Railway Children, novel writer) in the late nineteenth century.

“Christmas is coming,
The goose/geese is/are getting fat,
Please put a penny
In the old man’s hat.

If you haven’t got a penny,
A ha’penny will do,
If you haven’t got a ha’penny,
Then God bless you.”

Believed to be written during a time a prosperity (as the goose/geese are getting fat), it is a reminder to give to the poor if you have the means, and if you are not able to give even a ‘ha’penny’ to give your blessing.

But what is the value of a blessing? Have you ever taken the time to say, with a smile on your face, a simple ‘hello’ to a lone elderly lady or gentleman? Or to a child in a shopping cart? Or … to a person who appears to be homeless?

images-10

I remember so clearly (may I never forget) the time my daughter and I saw a homeless man, with his cart, just sitting on the grass of a business one evening. We decided to go to the nearby grocery store and get him a few fresh food items (milk, fruit, a sandwich). When we returned with the food, I asked her to take them to him. She returned to the van with tears rolling onto her cheeks, “Mom,” she said, through sobs, “he said, ‘God bless you’ to me. I thought I was the one who was blessing him.”

“If you haven’t got a ha’penny, then God bless you.”

Our understanding of the Christmas season is one of excesses … excessive food, excessive spending, excessive busyness, and so on. This short, simple poem reminds us of the origins of this CHRISTmas season … it is one of giving. Christ was not born into this world to enable excesses. He, as a child, God’s own son was GIVEN as the Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6-7). He came as an act of giving, as an act of blessing.

images-11

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Just For Him

Posted in WONDER, tagged blessed are the pure in heart, christmas, lamentations 2, matthew 5:8, mercifuldays, nothing else matters, real, The Little Drummer boy on December 1, 2013| Leave a Comment »

MercifulDays is a blog that I love to read, because writer Justine (who describes herself as …)

“Australian. In America. Sister. Friend. Daughter. Wife. Mother. Writer. Teacher. Pastor. Artist. Traveler. Coffee-lover. GF DF SF Foodie. Inept but happy homemaker” simply writes to the beat of my heart.

She is not perfect, and she admits it! She struggles to do what she believes is right and good, and sometimes she hits the target, and sometimes … the target moves 😉

She is REAL …

The following is a blog post from earlier in November. When I read it I smiled, I sighed and my eyes leaked understanding. I also read hearing, from the recesses of my memories, a little Christmas ditty.

Read, and enjoy as your heart beats to Justine’s drum :

Each little ballerina was beyond ready to dance for their beloveds but traffic was terrible that night and everyone was late for an event no one should be late for. Ballet Recitals are important. They are so important to a child’s heart.

Eventually the room was all too full of parents and grannies and the show began. Group by group the music played and each little one faced their loved ones like sunflowers to the sun.

She was the tallest girl. Obviously the oldest of all the dancers. A little pigeon-toed and a little awkward. Not a little girl anymore. She stood with anxious eyes waiting for her music to start.

Suddenly the main door swung open and a tall bearded man appeared from the night’s rainy darkness. As if he was the cue, the music began. He stopped there on “stage” left. It was too late for him to get to the audience seating.

Her transformation was instantaneous. Her face became an incredible light of joy. Her eyes sparkled. Her smile beamed. Her daddy had arrived. Just in time.

That sweet young woman danced just for him. Just for her daddy. And his smile beamed back.

It was so desperately beautiful. Tears streamed down my cheeks and I held back sobs in that room of strangers as I watched someone else’s kid dance.

I know that feeling. When everything else fades away and nothing matters more than One. When I realize He is there with me. Watching me with His love. Watching my every move because I delight Him. And I can’t help but turn to Him. Like nothing else matters. Because nothing does.

This is how I feel about God. And this is how I want to feel about God every minute.

Dancing just for Him. Breathing just for Him. Living just for Him.

There is simply no one else who transforms me like He does. I need to remember to dance just for Him.

His great love is new every morning. Lord, how faithful you are! I say to myself, “The LORD is everything I will ever need. So I will put my hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:23-24 NIrV)