As Christians, we have devoted our lives to God. He takes us through our yearly seasons with endless blessings and more grace than we could ever ask for. But more than this, he takes us through our seasons of life. Whether this be our highest highs or lowest lows, he doesn’t “sit out.” He doesn’t make it to be with us once or twice a year. He is there continuously. Matthew 28:20 “… lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world”
While we can never do anything to deserve His mercy and grace, we need to be celebrating, worshipping, and being near to Jesus all year round. Not just when it’s convenient for us or when we’re in the holiday spirit.
“Jesus is the reason for the season” is a quote that hasn’t always sat right with me. While I 100% agree that Jesus should be celebrated and worshipped, the fact of the matter is, Jesus is the reason for every season. This means summer, fall, spring, winter, the Christmas season, and our seasons of life.
During this time of the year, many people find themselves in churches for the first time in months to celebrate this holiday. And while this is an awesome thing, this should be happening every first day of the week year round. Hebrews 10:25, “not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another…”
I had something totally different to post today, but God woke me up with a new message on my mind.
Don’t let perfection steal your connection.
Tonight we host our small group, and I am so excited. The kids are going to have cookies and cocoa and decorate ornaments, and the adults will be talking about Jesus.
Sounds pretty magical, right? And in true hostess with the mostess fashion I want it all to be perfect.
Herein lies the problem.
Herein lies where the devil can sneakily slither in stealing all of my Christmas spirit without me even knowing it. Here’s where I – and I know I’m not alone – can go from mommy magic to mommy monster.
I want my house to be perfect tonight. Guess what – nothing’s perfect but Jesus.
I want the food to be perfect tonight. Guess what – nothing’s perfect but Jesus.
I want. I want. I want.
Y’all, we are talking about Jesus tonight. What could be more perfect? When I remind myself of that fact all of the stress of planning an event just disappears- as it should.
Ladies, here is your challenge: Don’t let the hustle ruin your bustle. Because in the words of Maggie Marino, “No one’s inspecting your baseboards, Mom.”
Let Jesus be your perfection. Not your house. Not your cooking. Not anything else.
Just Jesus.
“A merry heart does good like medicine.” – Proverbs 17:22
“And the tongue is a fire. The tongue, a world of unrighteousness, is placed among our members. It stains the whole body, sets the course of life on fire, and is itself set on fire by hell.”
James 3:6 (CSB)
I know what you’re thinking. This is the perfect verse for Christmas. I mean, what says sweet baby Jesus, tinsel and twinkles, family and fun, better than the thought of our tongues being set on fire by hell? There may be better scriptural choices for Christmas joy, but if you’ll give me a moment I promise to deliver some advent-worthy wisdom through these words of James that fits this season like a glove.
When I reflect on this year, there have been good things, but those were often overshadowed by hard things. Pandemics, politics, racism, and hate crimes have filled our news feeds. And with all of this going on in our world, of course we talk about it. We use our words on social media, in the grocery store, at work, in our social circles, and in our homes.
And let me be the first to say, my words have not always been good. I have said things behind someone’s back in frustration that should have been spoken with wisdom and gentleness to the involved party. I have reacted emotionally to social media posts, forgetting I do have the choice to keep on scrolling. I have said things that were too harsh to my husband and children. And I have too often left unsaid things that should be spoken. Things like “I was wrong,” “I forgive you,” “I’m sorry,” “I love you,” or “I appreciate you.”
And I thought as I read this verse, maybe you have, too.
James says when we allow unrighteous words to fall off our tongue it starts a fire from the pits of hell. Pretty powerful picture he is painting, isn’t it? Our words can start a fire that Satan would love to fuel. And the more tongues he can recruit, the bigger the flames get. Before we know it, we’ve got a big blaze that’s hot, awful, and destructive. I believe this is what we have witnessed too much of in the last year, wagging tongues setting everything around us ablaze.
My husband is a firefighter and often points out nuggets of fire safety. One thing he taught me is that in a forest the best protection a homeowner has against a forest fire is to have a clearing around their home. The gap between the trees and the house is about more than aesthetics, it can preserve the structure if a fire occurs. Additionally, watering around the house in that gap provides further protection. Interesting how a small gap, a stop in the fuel, and a dousing of water can stop the spread of fire.
This Christmas, at the end of this fire-filled year, we have the opportunity to stand in the gap. We can douse ourselves in godly wisdom and pour it out to the world around us. We can speak a word of kindness, or maybe even an apology to that person who has irritated us all year, tell our loved ones how much they mean to us, and choose words that are fire-stopping. Who knows, maybe something you say in kindness will ignite a new flame, and more people will see and know the Jesus we celebrate this time of year.
What an opportunity we have this Christmas. How are you going to use it?
Forest Gump’s most famous line says, “life is like a box of chocolates–you never know what you’re gonna get.”
But I KNEW what I was going to get when I was pregnant with my first baby! I found out I was having a boy, and my mind was immediately filled with visions of a rough and tough, baseball cap-wearing mama’s boy who spent all his time outside climbing trees, riding his bike barefoot, and getting into all sorts of trouble around the neighborhood. Bless it.
My boy loved to read books before he knew what a letter was. He doesn’t like hats–especially baseball caps. He used to run up and down the soccer field singing praise songs while his precious little curls bounced up and down the pitch. His love of video games far exceeds his desire to be outside, although he has become a lot more competitive on the soccer field!.
I’m pretty sure he has only climbed one…maybe two trees in his life. My boy. My amazing, wonderful, brilliant, funny, athletic, creative, thoughtful, caring boy…is not AT ALL what I expected. He’s better than I ever could have imagined or prayed that the Lord would gift to me as a mother, and I couldn’t be more thankful for him.
The Jews living at the time that Jesus was born had expectations of a Savior that would come and defeat their Roman oppressors and free them from political, physical, and financial strife. They have visions of a mighty conqueror who would be rough and tough, politically powerful, and would eventually sit on an earthly throne. Oh man. God had something so. much. better.
Jesus, God’s only Son was sitting at his Father’s right side, already on His throne in Heaven and chose to leave that place to come to earth and be born as a baby…in a stable…surrounded by farm animals…and put in a feeding trough to sleep. Yeah, not exactly what people were expecting.
So why is this better than the earthly conqueror for which so many had hoped before Jesus arrived? Philippians 2:6-8 tells us that Jesus, “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!”
God could have sent Jesus as an adult in the form of a powerful military leader, a revered political ruler, or even a prominent and wealthy king; but instead, God sent his one and only son to be born as a humble, innocent, vulnerable human child who would stub his toe and scrape his knee, be tempted in every way, get hungry and thirsty, laugh, cry, mourn, and celebrate.
Jesus knows how it feels to lose a loved one. Jesus knows what’s it’s like to be betrayed by someone trusted. Jesus knows what it’s like to really, really, REALLY not want to do something, but knows that he must do it out of obedience to and trust in his father’s will. Jesus left his throne in heaven to be born as a baby so he could know us fully and then make sure we had a way to live with him forever.
His quiet entry, exemplary life, and humble submission was the most amazing way. It’s not what was expected, but it’s better than anything I could have ever imagined or prayed that the Lord would gift to me as a sinner, and I couldn’t be more thankful for Him.
I love words, which is odd considering I have horrific ADHD and truly struggle when it comes to focusing in and actually reading or studying anything that doesn’t spike that hyper focus reaction. Nonetheless, words have always come so easy to me. Well, at least in the sense of using them to write stories or running my mouth.
I thought about this as I tried to do my Bible study because if not for that love of words and the meaning they carry I truly do not believe I could get through this task. I am a (insert the number that we don’t speak here) year old woman and I have never ONCE gotten through an entire devotional. I think the fact that I am reading someone else’s thoughts on the words holds me back here.
I have always been so far outside the box when it comes to thinking that I rarely understand inside the box thinkers thought processes. I have to dig in and pick the words I am reading apart and figure out for myself what is going on in the text. Instead I end up just picking a book in the bible normally at complete random and digging in to see what words jump out and grab me and what thought comes to mind when they do.
So today the word today that jumped out at me was hope – that lead me down the path of researching how many times it was used in the Bible. The answer – 129 times. In the whole Bible! To which I thought “hmmm… that doesn’t seem like a lot to me…” So my next thought was, “what about faith?” The answer – 458 times to which I thought, “ok, so clearly that’s an important one.”
My next thought was, “what about love?” 551 times!!! So clearly when the good book says “the greatest of these is love” it means it. Love is such a missing word in the thought process of 2021. I see so many closed off to the idea completely.
The importance of love your neighbor is completely driven by greed. I’ll love my neighbor if… they are nice to me first… if they look like me… if they vote like me… if they believe like me… if they deserve it. The list really goes on and on with this conditional form of love we are surrounded by these days. When my focus was drawn here it was a completely inward look at my own love. I see so many failures in my love that I literally had to drop my head in shame.
The lack of action is so often the most visible action of all to those in need of love and grace. When we see them and don’t act to show kindness and love they can see that and they feel that. So many people feel unseen in this world, and the idea that I am adding to this problem just breaks my heart a little.
Am I doing this intentionally of course not, but my own selfish desire to just go home and be left alone and “stay out other people’s business” – well, that in itself is an action. That is me choosing to not see their need for talk, or a smile, or a kind word. That is me CHOOSING not to see their pain. I have this running fear that what I have to say won’t matter in the big picture of it all – that my smile won’t help them. Why would anything I say or do for them matter?
I’m no one…
Well, the words fear not – those words were used 365 times in the Bible. That’s 1 reminder each day of the year that I am someone to God, and that He does have a plan for my love for others. God doesn’t see any one as a no one. He sees us as chosen.
So, I say get out there and love someone today.
In that moment when you see them and something stirs in you, maybe take that as a God wink saying, “Hey, can you help me out with this one and show them my love through you?” What a gift you will be to that person God has in mind for you today…
Trish
So now faith,hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
-1 Corinthians 13:13
P.S. See how that scripture was ended? Period. That word means to mark the end of a declarative sentence. The kids today would say “periodT” meaning “done – that’s it. Aren’t words fun!!!
Chris Tomlin did what he does best once again when he published “He Shall reign Forevermore” in 2015. Bringing a worship song to life.
What a beautiful time to reflect on the true meaning of Christmas. There’s a little bit of Heaven everyday. Christmas time, there’s a whole lot of Heaven everyday. When I thought of Christmas, I had three things come to mind:
Giving
A King
New Beginnings
Giving – Christ was the example of giving from the very beginning. Giving life to an unborn Savior. Giving Mary and Joseph a child. Giving his one and only son. A Father who still gives today. As you receive a gift this year, or perhaps give a gift, think of all the many things Christ has given you over time.
A King – A leader and protector. A King who knows all and sees all. A King who loves. Preparing a kingdom for his people, the ultimate gift of eternity.
New Beginnings – I love this one. Life is full of new beginnings. Or we dream of having a new beginning. What’s a better fresh start, or new beginning than the birth of a Savior? A new beginning for our world. To save our world.
May you be reminded of the gift of Jesus Christ this season. The new beginning He gave us that very night. Thank you Jesus, you are the ultimate gift.
I was so excited for Christmas. I mean what kid wasn’t?
The lights, the parties, the sweets, but mostly the presents. I mean I was only six years old so
of course those were the things that were important to me.
I remember the wrapping paper – red and green stripes. I remember the tag – to Daisy from Mom & Dad. And I remember the excitement of tearing into that gift.
Then I remember being absolutely angry.
It was a cracker box. What?! After all of these weeks of shaking it and staring at it and dying to know what was inside of that pretty red and green paper – it was seriously a cracker box.
So I threw a fit. I mean I was mad mad. And you kids don’t know anything about this but back in the 80’s parents didn’t put up with that mess.
My mom quickly grabbed the cracker box and handed it over to my sister. She opened it and inside was the soft, pink romper that I had been hoping for.
But the gift was no longer mine.
Y’all, isn’t that what we do? God gives us a gift from the heart. Something that we’ve longed for. Something that He knows will be just perfect for us – and we reject it. We reject it because we can’t see past our own assumptions.
This Christmas my hope is that we can all see and embrace the gifts that God has handpicked just for us. Maybe that gift is singing or writing or hospitality. Maybe that gift is cooking or carpentry or cleaning.
Whatever that gift is – thank Him. He handpicked it just for you. Trust God that it’s a good one – no matter what it looks like to the human eye. After all, how lucky are we to have a God that cares about us that much.
“As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace:” 1 Peter 4:10
You would think that after living through a pandemic things would slow down and find a steady pace. If that were true, why does this holiday season feel so hectic already? I have found it to be considerably hard to hush the hurry. Even post pandemic, our culture in a society where we jam pack as much as we can into the most sacred of sacred holidays at the cost of our peace and finances . We are constantly pressured to purchase even if it means going into debt and shop till our bank account literally drop.
If that wasn’t enough pressure, we are also expected to attend or host the greatest of greatest holiday parties. Favorite Things Party, Ugly Christmas Sweater Party, White Elephant Exchange, Sock Exchange. The simple, harmless act of Christmas parties was to see our family and friends and break bread together in light of our Savior’s arrival. Now even holiday parties are squeezing money out of us, packing our calendars and stealing our sanity.
If it’s something that we can pencil in to our agenda, and find a reason to buy a new dress or sweater and spend more money, then why not it’s Christmas right? Christmas has become a marketer’s dream and a retailer’s gold mine, and we fall for it every year, don’t we? The hurry and hustle during this season feels like it gets more and more intense each year and I can’t help but think it’s a ploy to distract us from the Holy in the holiday, Jesus.
For a child will be born for us, a son will be given to us, and the government will be on his shoulders. He will be named Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Eternal Father, Prince of Peace. Isaiah 9:6
This year my goal for my family and for my soul is to hush the hurry our world has created around this Holy Holiday. That means not going outside of our means to send loved ones presents or to buy something just because it’s on sale. It means not going to every single holiday party I get invited to so I don’t have to buy one more dress, one more ugly Christmas sweater or one more gag gift. I am committing to attend two parties, and I will attend them with a thankful heart and cheer in my spirit. I refuse to stack my calendar so full to the point where I over exhaust myself and neglect to feed my soul. I want my soul and spirit to be filled with reflecting on our Wonderful Counselor, and our Mighty God.
I want to encourage you to imagine what it would look like to hush the hurry of the holiday in your heart, in your calendar and in your home. For me that means implementing reflection and meditation. It means setting a tight budget for what I spend this season and not over stretching myself to attend a party. It means journaling my prayers of thankfulness. It can look like a lot of different things to different people and that’s okay. Let’s make this Christmas different and not fall into the trap of hurry. This season, find the Holy and not the hurry.
Expectation: a strong belief that something will happen or be the case in the future.
Luke 2:11 – Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.
I struggle so much with the month of December, the expectations threaten to steal all my joy in this season. There are lost expectations and grief from missing loved ones. I’m constantly managing others’ expectations (or my own guesses about them) as I try to buy the perfect gifts and cook a great meal. I’m expecting to see the whole family, attend parties and visit with people who have no one to celebrate with. It’s the most wonderful and overwhelming time of year! I carry all the pressure of these expectations that honestly, even in my best most “got it together” year I could never meet. It’s so easy for me to get distracted by comparisons, become disappointed and forget what the season is truly about.
I have heard the Christmas story all of my life and each year I ask the Lord to teach me something new from this story. Today, as I sit reading it again in my house that’s under construction with all of my stuff packed away, God is speaking to me about expectations!
When Jesus was born, the people were waiting, looking, expecting a messiah, a king, someone to deliver them, overcome evil and rule in peace. God defied all expectations. He sent a baby….born in Bethlehem- in a barn…to live a perfect life, to die a horrible death and rise again on the 3rd day! He chose a young, young woman named Mary, and a carpenter named Joseph to be His parents. We would have expected Jesus to be born in a palace, or the best the world could offer, but God chose a stable, a dirty barn with animals! What did Mary think? She was expecting to be married, not have a baby in a barn with animals and hay! What about Joseph? He was expecting to marry his bride, not become a father. But, they were obedient, and they loved. They put their expectations aside and obeyed God.
God’s gift for you may not be packaged the way you expected it! God has such a beautiful plan, wrapped in ways you could never dream or expect! Our lives may look and feel like that messy barn. You may think God has brought you to the wrong place, and surrounded you with unexpected guests – like Mary. But God’s presence changes everything and fills our hearts with hope and joy! Like Mary & Joseph, let’s surrender our expectations and embrace His presence.
“Do not be afraid” is the angel’s message over and over. To me, in this season of my life His message is: don’t be afraid, let God work, surrender my expectations. I commit this Christmas Season to the Lord, and I’m asking Him to establish my thoughts and plans.
Expecting blessings, choosing the Joy of Jesus, & expecting my Savior’s return,Mary
There is something so warm and comforting in the tradition of rereading the Christmas story each December. It’s a story that is so familiar because we see movies, watch plays, and attend candlelight Christmas Eve services each year that celebrates the birth of Christ. However, in the familiarity of the gospel story there is always new revelation to discover as we dig into scripture. One of these rhema words, you know those moments the Holy Spirit is speaking straight to your soul, came to me a few years ago as I read Luke 1:26-36. The angel Gabriel comes to Mary. Scripture clearly lets us know that she is betrothed and a virgin. Since we have never experienced a culture where there are arranged marriages, allow me to give a little background. What Luke was communicating to his audience was that she was in covenant with someone, the bride price and the dowry had been paid but the wedding day had not occurred yet. She was in a season of preparation for her groom and while his job was to build a place for her attached to his family’s home, her job was to prove her purity. This was a vital part of this honor-shame way of life.
Going back to the narrative, Gabriel appears to Mary and says, “Rejoice, favored woman! The Lord is with you.” The next part is what really stuck out to me. It says, “Mary was deeply troubled by this statement, wondering what kind of greeting this could be”. This seems so odd. In our western American-dream culture we would immediately be wondering what amazing blessings we were about to receive with this newly announced favor! Would we be getting that dream job, dream home, dream man? Would we be so favored to have a large platform to influence millions of people? I think we would be dancing and celebrating our victory. But Mary was not only troubled, she was deeply troubled. The angel goes on to speak over her that she will conceive and give birth to a son. His name would be Jesus and He would be great. He would be called Son of the Most High and His kingdom will have no end. Again…wouldn’t that be incredibly exciting? That would be even bigger and better than a social media platform or a dream job! To a 14 year old girl in the east those words meant something entirely different. In an honor-shame culture it would mean that she was potentially about to be publically divorced and shunned by the entire community because no one would believe she was still pure.
This weight would be far too heavy for any young girl to carry, but Gabrial states in verse 35 that the Holy Spirit would come upon her. The Holy Spirit will give us the power we need to accomplish our God given calling. Mary responds so bravely and full of faith “I am the Lord’s slave, May it be done to me according to your word.” What a response. She chose without hesitation to walk in obedience and humility no matter what the cost would be. I have to stop here and evaluate my own heart and life and I invite you to do the same. Do I respond the same way Mary did when I am asked to make a great sacrifice for the kingdom? Do I quickly give up the favor bestowed upon me in order to take a safer path? Do I fully trust Him enough to pick up my cross to follow Him? I mean a cross is heavy, and has splinters and leads to TORTURE! Am I ready for the highly favored life? I want with everything within me to say “I am the Lord’s slave.” I have the Holy Spirit living inside of me, and so do you if you have chosen to follow Jesus. So what are we waiting for! Here we are Lord, use us.
Rays of Sunshine inc 