At work I listen to Pandora. I have a station set for Contemporary Christmas Music. It has been amazing!! I just heard this song called "A Strange Way to Save the World". It fit with what I was studying in my quiet time this morning. I was questioning why God's plan is so different from ours and why it is so hard for us to just trust that He is in control and He knows the bigger picture. Can you imagine what Mary and Joseph were thinking? Really...God?? Why us? What is the bigger picture?? Here are the lyrics:
I'm sure he must have been surprised
At where this road had taken him
Cause never in a million lives
Would he have dreamed of Bethlehem
And standing at the manger
He saw with his own eyes
The message from the angel
Come to life, and Joseph said
Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade
Why Him, with all the rulers of the world
Why here, inside this stable filled with hay
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl
Now I'm not one to second guess
What angels have to say
But, this is such a strange way to save the world
To think of how it could have been
If Jesus had come as He deserved
There would have been no Bethlehem
No lowly shepherds at His birth
But, Joseph knew the reason
Love had to reach so farAnd as he held the Savior in his arms
He must have thought
Why me, I'm just a simple man of trade,
Why Him, with all the rulers of the world
Why here, inside this stable filled with hay
Why her, she's just an ordinary girl
Now I'm not one to second guess
What angels have to say
But, this is such a strange way to save the world
He save the world with a baby. And we limit Him?? Only 5 more days until Christmas. Waiting....expecting...trusting....loving....
Tuesday, December 20, 2011
Monday, December 19, 2011
Christmas 3 - Family
A lot of the stress that comes around the holidays revolves around families. This is the time of year that we put all different kinds of personalities into one house for hours and expect everyone to be happy. Or better yet, we have to work around everyone's crazy schedules to even set a time to all get together. For many, this is a time when anxiety creeps in with just the thought of holidays.
I understand this completely. We are blessed to have both sides of our families here in Augusta. And for all of Matt's family (he has 2 older brothers), everyone including the sister-in-laws have all of their family in town. So...it makes things a little complicated getting together. Now, mine and Matt's work schedules do not help with the entire mix!! It is always crazy trying to figure out when we will meet, would works with everyone's schedules, and trying not to hurt anyone's feelings.
For others you are coordinating which set of parents should come into town. If you invited her parents for Thanksgiving then you should only invite his for Christmas. Or if we invite both then will they complain because they are getting to spend quality time with the grandchildren. Sound familiar yet?
Or maybe you just want to spend Christmas alone because it is easier. The pain is easier to deal with.
We do all this for what? To rush through the dinner and opening gifts before running to our next destination? To put on a happy face and pretend we are all one big happy family that gets along only this one day? For each family it is different but this is how it tends to feel.
Was this feeling so different many years ago. I am sure there was family drama going on. You could only imagine what Mary and Joseph's parents were thinking. They weren't even married yet and having to deal with the criticizing and not feeling as if they were living up to their parent's expectations. The stress that they had to be feeling at that time. Joseph not knowing how he would provide for his wife and child for that night. Mary scared to death!
So you see, the first Christmas wasn't without stress and anxiety. But the birth of the Baby Jesus brought immediate Peace. Peace that we now have. None of those that were there that day were perfect, except for the baby.
We don't need to pretend that we have it all together (I am not suggesting WWIII on Christmas day either!!). We need to stop trying to please everyone and worry about pleasing the One that matters.
Join with me in starting to pray now (because if you are like me, then it takes a few days for God to work on my heart!) that God will remind us that He gave us our families, just like He gave Jesus both Mary and Joseph. Pray that He will take away the worry and anxiety and past feelings for certain family members. Let this Christmas be the first one that is solely about the One that has given you new life. Don't let bitterness and an unforgiving heart overshadow Christ this Christmas.
Well...I better start praying now :) Lots of heart changing to do!!!
I understand this completely. We are blessed to have both sides of our families here in Augusta. And for all of Matt's family (he has 2 older brothers), everyone including the sister-in-laws have all of their family in town. So...it makes things a little complicated getting together. Now, mine and Matt's work schedules do not help with the entire mix!! It is always crazy trying to figure out when we will meet, would works with everyone's schedules, and trying not to hurt anyone's feelings.
For others you are coordinating which set of parents should come into town. If you invited her parents for Thanksgiving then you should only invite his for Christmas. Or if we invite both then will they complain because they are getting to spend quality time with the grandchildren. Sound familiar yet?
Or maybe you just want to spend Christmas alone because it is easier. The pain is easier to deal with.
We do all this for what? To rush through the dinner and opening gifts before running to our next destination? To put on a happy face and pretend we are all one big happy family that gets along only this one day? For each family it is different but this is how it tends to feel.
Was this feeling so different many years ago. I am sure there was family drama going on. You could only imagine what Mary and Joseph's parents were thinking. They weren't even married yet and having to deal with the criticizing and not feeling as if they were living up to their parent's expectations. The stress that they had to be feeling at that time. Joseph not knowing how he would provide for his wife and child for that night. Mary scared to death!
So you see, the first Christmas wasn't without stress and anxiety. But the birth of the Baby Jesus brought immediate Peace. Peace that we now have. None of those that were there that day were perfect, except for the baby.
We don't need to pretend that we have it all together (I am not suggesting WWIII on Christmas day either!!). We need to stop trying to please everyone and worry about pleasing the One that matters.
Join with me in starting to pray now (because if you are like me, then it takes a few days for God to work on my heart!) that God will remind us that He gave us our families, just like He gave Jesus both Mary and Joseph. Pray that He will take away the worry and anxiety and past feelings for certain family members. Let this Christmas be the first one that is solely about the One that has given you new life. Don't let bitterness and an unforgiving heart overshadow Christ this Christmas.
Well...I better start praying now :) Lots of heart changing to do!!!
Christmas 2 - White Christmas
I was watching White Christmas last night and it spoke to me in a different way. I love all of the singing and dancing and just the simplicity of the movie and the times. I am not sure if I never listened to the words of the songs before but last night one song hit me pretty hard.
It is late at night and 2 of the characters cannot sleep so they go to the lobby of the resort. There they sing this song:
"When you are worried and you can't sleep, try counting blessings instead of sheep. Then you'll fall asleep counting your blessings."
This is the week of Christmas and I know that I have been (and still am) worried about the schedule of Christmas events, if I got all the right gifts, if my families at IHNA will have Christmas, and the list goes on and on. I have begun losing sleep and it takes me a LONG time to fall asleep now. This song said it perfectly. If we focus on all of our blessings, it makes it hard to be worried and stressed.
This morning I was stressed beyond words because everyone and everything in my house was running slow. Elizabeth went to bed last night at 6:45 and I had to wake her up this morning at 8:10. She took FOREVER to eat and my phone was just not working right. I found myself getting VERY stressed. I had to take a deep breath and count my blessings: my child loves to sleep; I can provide a warm bed and food for her to enjoy; my phone works and I am spoiled because it has internet on it; even though my house is cold this morning, there is so much warmth all around.
Take a deep breath. Look around at what God has provided for you and be thankful. Thank Him for what He did so many years ago when He sent His son in the form of a baby.
I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!
It is late at night and 2 of the characters cannot sleep so they go to the lobby of the resort. There they sing this song:
"When you are worried and you can't sleep, try counting blessings instead of sheep. Then you'll fall asleep counting your blessings."
This is the week of Christmas and I know that I have been (and still am) worried about the schedule of Christmas events, if I got all the right gifts, if my families at IHNA will have Christmas, and the list goes on and on. I have begun losing sleep and it takes me a LONG time to fall asleep now. This song said it perfectly. If we focus on all of our blessings, it makes it hard to be worried and stressed.
This morning I was stressed beyond words because everyone and everything in my house was running slow. Elizabeth went to bed last night at 6:45 and I had to wake her up this morning at 8:10. She took FOREVER to eat and my phone was just not working right. I found myself getting VERY stressed. I had to take a deep breath and count my blessings: my child loves to sleep; I can provide a warm bed and food for her to enjoy; my phone works and I am spoiled because it has internet on it; even though my house is cold this morning, there is so much warmth all around.
Take a deep breath. Look around at what God has provided for you and be thankful. Thank Him for what He did so many years ago when He sent His son in the form of a baby.
I LOVE CHRISTMAS!!!!
Friday, December 9, 2011
Christmas 1
Confession: this whole blogging thing is time consuming!! Sorry that I haven't updated as much as I was in the beginning!
So I have decided that I am going to do a little series on Christmas in between "My Life" blogs. I have been doing a lot of soul-searching lately and I wanted to share some of these things with you.
Every year for what feels like every Christmas of my entire life, I hear people reminding me about "the real reason for the season". You hear phrases like "many times we are too busy, selfish (fill in the blank) and we miss the real reason for the season". I never realized how true this statement was until this year. Matt and I have decided not to exchange Christmas gifts this year. Don't get me wrong, I would to say it is because we have discovered the real meaning of Christmas and we are going to give everything away or something humble like that...it is simply for financial reasons, we would rather give gifts to Elizabeth and to our nieces. As selfish as this act still was, it has taken away the stressors of also buying for the adults in our lives which has given me more time to focus on this Holiday Season.
Recently, I have been overwhelmed with God's love and how He continues to love me even when I am so unloveable. This made me think even more about Christmas. God loved me so much a million trillion gazillion years ago that He sent His son to live a human life like mine, to feel pain, to suffer, to love, to experience life, because He loves me that much. Romans 8 has really spoken to me about the kind of unconditional, unfathomable love He has for us. I encourage you to read it sometime.
For those of you that know me, you know I love music and Christian music speaks to me sometimes more clearly than the scriptures. I keep hearing this song on the Christian radio station and the chorus has been in my head all today. Here are the lyrics:
So I have decided that I am going to do a little series on Christmas in between "My Life" blogs. I have been doing a lot of soul-searching lately and I wanted to share some of these things with you.
Every year for what feels like every Christmas of my entire life, I hear people reminding me about "the real reason for the season". You hear phrases like "many times we are too busy, selfish (fill in the blank) and we miss the real reason for the season". I never realized how true this statement was until this year. Matt and I have decided not to exchange Christmas gifts this year. Don't get me wrong, I would to say it is because we have discovered the real meaning of Christmas and we are going to give everything away or something humble like that...it is simply for financial reasons, we would rather give gifts to Elizabeth and to our nieces. As selfish as this act still was, it has taken away the stressors of also buying for the adults in our lives which has given me more time to focus on this Holiday Season.
Recently, I have been overwhelmed with God's love and how He continues to love me even when I am so unloveable. This made me think even more about Christmas. God loved me so much a million trillion gazillion years ago that He sent His son to live a human life like mine, to feel pain, to suffer, to love, to experience life, because He loves me that much. Romans 8 has really spoken to me about the kind of unconditional, unfathomable love He has for us. I encourage you to read it sometime.
For those of you that know me, you know I love music and Christian music speaks to me sometimes more clearly than the scriptures. I keep hearing this song on the Christian radio station and the chorus has been in my head all today. Here are the lyrics:
"Follow the star to a place unexpected
Would you believe, after all we've projected,
A child in a manger?
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mother's shawl -
Just a child -
Is this who we've waited for? 'cause...
How many kings step down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
And how many gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that is torn all apart
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Bringing our gifts for the newborn Savior
All that we have, whether costly or meek
Because we believe.
Gold for his honor, and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he will suffer
Do you believe?
Is this who we've waited for?
All for me...
All for you..."
Would you believe, after all we've projected,
A child in a manger?
Lowly and small, the weakest of all
Unlikeliest hero, wrapped in his mother's shawl -
Just a child -
Is this who we've waited for? 'cause...
How many kings step down from their thrones?
How many lords have abandoned their homes?
How many greats have become the least for me?
And how many gods have poured out their hearts
To romance a world that is torn all apart
How many fathers gave up their sons for me?
Bringing our gifts for the newborn Savior
All that we have, whether costly or meek
Because we believe.
Gold for his honor, and frankincense for his pleasure
And myrrh for the cross he will suffer
Do you believe?
Is this who we've waited for?
All for me...
All for you..."
I am so blessed even when I feel I have nothing. I am so loved even when I feel so unloveable.
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