You know, I have no idea how or when it happened, but at some point in the last few years I crested out of the “herd of very tiny kids” phase. I was very definitely in it for years – and as I look at Liz right now, I very clearly and vividly remember being in the thick of that phase. But somehow I’m not in it anymore. The moments of coming up the stairs to find the entire second floor under a heavy dusting of baby powder, or coming downstairs to find the sofa slicked down with hand lotion and cinnamon have drifted into the past. In fact, at this very moment I have told the kids they need to pick up – and, wonder of wonders, they’re actually doing it!
Seven years ago, almost to this very day, I was enormously pregnant with baby number four. And I had a one-year old, a two-year old, and a four-year old (each with more than his or her legal share of ingenuity) who spent all their free moments teaming up and egging each other on to commit evil deeds.
On one particular Friday in late December we had a Christmas party to attend, and Ben was giving finals until about 6:30. So I got the three kids all decked out in their new Christmas dresses and ties and so forth, made the hors d’oeuvres to take, and got myself ready to head out as soon as Daddy showed up. No doubt I had had to launch that project at about 1:45 in the afternoon, because I was so hugely Continue reading ‘An Uplifting Memory’
I’m trying to give you a short summary each week from the sermon, a few gleanings that I found particularly satisfying. But this week I was so convicted that I just wanted to come home and go to bed. But instead I had to hear it all again in the second service (being a devoted wife of the minister). But, thankfully, we had a time of confession again in the second service, so I managed to press on and through. Here are the few highlights I have selected for you, and I hope you will be encouraged.
The basic thrust was this: Look out. Look sharp. Christmas is coming, and it is not all about you. The text was Colossians 3:12-17 and the idea that the minister was expressing to us was that we should take a hint from the past seventeen Christmases where we fell on our faces and do a little preparation this year. After all, it will be here on Friday. And, as he put it, there it is on the calendar, leering at you. Continue reading ‘Get Dressed for Christmas’
“The angels knew what was going on even if no one else did. They grasped the bizarre reality of Shakespeare stepping onto the stage, of God making Himself vulnerable, dependent, and human — making Himself Adam. And so, in a more appropriate sense, they arranged a concert and put on what was no doubt the greatest choral performance in planetary history.
Were the kings gathered? Where were the people with the important hats? Where were the ushers, the corporate sponsors?
The Heavenly Host, the souls and angels of stars, descended into our atmosphere and burst in harmonic joy above a field and some rather startled shepherds. Continue reading ‘The Greatest Choral Performance’
With two new babies on the way, we will soon have, Lord willing, fifteen grandchildren: ten girls and five boys. I have thirteen stockings to fill this year (unless a little someone makes an unexpectedly early arrival….then it will be a quick trip to find stocking #14). The 2010 Christmas celebration will involve a full fifteen. Hard to imagine! A few years back I decided that I could not manage to keep filling stockings for the grandkids. Afterall, I reasoned, they were coming so fast that it was just too much to keep up with. And with their parents also giving them stockings, it was really unnecessary. So I was planning to quietly phase them out. But then, out of the blue, Knox asked me one day, “Nana, are you doing stockings for us this year?” So without even pausing for air, I said, “Of course I am, Knox.” And I have never looked back. It is quite delightful. And, yes, lots of the stuff I put in them is entirely unnecessary. But God gives us “unnecessaries” all the time. Like the flickers (woodpeckers) out on my fence. And the pink winter sunsets. And the red berries hanging so colorfully from the bare branches of the Mountain Ash. And the powdery snow falling quietly on the trees. Who needs all that stuff? Totally redundant and perfectly wonderful. God stuffs our stockings full of unnecessary pleasures and over-our-quota goodness day after day. Oh, to be like Him.
I have a great deal of admiration for Mary, the mother of our Lord. I do not pray to her, or through her, or any such thing. That is idolatry. But I admire her like I admire Sarah or Elizabeth or Abigail. One of the striking things about Mary is her courageous loyalty. Consider her famous response to the angel Gabriel: “Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word” (Luke 1:38).
Mary’s first allegiance is to the Lord. She submits to the angel’s message, calling herself the Lord’s handmaid. And this is no minor thing. She has been greeted in a startling way with startling news. And no sooner has the angel departed than she “arose” and went “with haste” to her cousin Elizabeth. She obeys quickly, loyal to God and to His messenger. She is teachable, responsive to God’s leading, loyal to His command.
Later she is loyal to her husband Joseph who is himself a loyal man, faithful and responsive to God. He is “raised from sleep” and “did as the angel of the Lord had bidden him, and took unto him his wife” Continue reading ‘Mary’s Loyalty’
I know I’ve busted out this recipe before, but I feel compelled by Holiday cheer to share it with you again. I think the last time I posted it, they were all pastels and it was Easter, so I assume that makes it fair game to repeat. We had the Christmas Ladies’ Fellowship last night, and it is now a little tradition to decorate cookies together. Anyway, this frosting is a charm to work with, and we put it into those little squirt bottles z9you can buy in cake decorating sections) to make the whole process easier, cleaner, and consequently more fun! If you get busy with multiple colors and some toothpick dragging through the wet frosting (move fast or it might start getting crunchy spots on you) – it is even more fun to play with. Either way, these cookies freeze well, and the frosting keeps well, making it very easy to use multiple days as an Advent surprise (ask me how I know). Continue reading ‘Christmas Cheer’
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