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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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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 …

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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.”

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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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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.

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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)

“Blessed are the pure in heart
for they shall see God.”
Matthew 5:8

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Slowly Cleaning Away Christmas

Posted in christmas, GOD, WONDER, tagged audrey assad, Chris Tomlin, christmas, christmas rush, Christmas Tree, cleaning away christmas, GOD, Memories, packing Christmas ornaments, slow, winter snow on January 8, 2013| 2 Comments »

images Christmas has been cleaned away from our house.

The tree is down and out on the deck, the lights are packed away, my collection of nativities are snug in their boxes, and I am thrilled with the cleanliness and order of my living room.

I have been accused of being too excited to un-decorate from the Christmas season. Perhaps it is because I start hinting at doing so just after opening all of the presents on Christmas morning? I do admit to loving the process, but not because I am putting away Christmas.

I think I have discovered that what I love about putting away the Christmas decorations is that I have all the time in the world to do it. I can look at each decoration with precious memories of who gave it to us, when and why. The tree in our home is not an interior decorator’s masterpiece, it is a conglomeration of ornaments of sentimentality, tossed on the branches by our trio of children who look at each and reminisce as they hang them precariously on the tips of the branches.

When we decorate for the season, it is a far more rushed affair! This year even more than others, as we struggled for so long to find the time to all go to get a tree from the tree farm. Finally, thanks to a ‘snow day’ on December 19th, we got the tree. Then, on December 22nd, I donned my grumpy pants, and told the men in our house that they had better get that tree in the stand and in the living room before I got home. Then, on December 23rd, I re-wore my grumpy pants and told everyone that they had better be home and unpacking the tree decorations that afternoon … or else! So, by December 25th, I was just thankful that it had gotten done.

And now it is all over. The hustle and the bustle, the wrappings and the unwrappings, the cooking and the eating (and the eating, and the eating).

As I admired each decoration, with memories and stories and love attached. As I placed each representative of the first Christmas story back in it’s packaging, the song of the season for me played again in my heart.

Although I was slow and negligent to prepare the outward elements of the Christmas season, my inner preparations and focus were perfectly clear all season long.

It stared in late November when I encountered this song, as though God himself set it to reverberate in my ears, my brain, my heart, just long enough to know that it was my focus of worshiping Him for this season.

As if to confirm my understanding of the earlier gift of this song from my Creator, as we sat to enjoy our Christmas Day feast together … snow was falling …

“Oh, You came like a winter snow
Quiet and soft and slow
Falling from the sky in the night
To the earth below”

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