Christmas
is about Eternal Life.
By faith
made alive,
registered in heaven,
given a new name
in the Lamb’s Book of Life.
No eye has seen
no ear has heard
no mind conceived
what God has prepared for those
who love Him.
In the heavenly city
whose builder is God
which is to come
on the Day when the Lion of Judah appears
at the sound of the trumpet!
When we got married I eagerly looked forward to starting new traditions and continuing many from my childhood. Certain cookies, a particular style of stockings and always a freshly cut real tree were automatic transfers from my single life to my married life. When our kids were little we began a tradition of focusing on the giving of each gift. Each person opened one gift at a time while everyone else watched. It made Christmas Day last till noon or after. Over the years we added Dad’s special Christmas Eve dinner that he and the girls prepare. Recently the girls have started wearing Santa hats while they cook; a new twist.
But I did not anticipate that someday Christmas would not happen at my house any more. I don’t remember when it happened, but a couple of years ago I realized we’d had our last family Christmas at our house. During our youngest child, Laura’s, junior and senior years of college we realized that none of her older siblings could come home for Christmas, She ‘demanded’ a change of venue. She said it would be terribly boring to spend the day with just her parental units, as she called us. So we made plans to go to one of our married son’s or daughter’s homes for the holidays. And that has now become our new Christmas tradition.
Christmas
is about Jesus.
The Son,
the only son of God.
The Word
in the beginning.
Creator of all things.
The Lamb,
the image of the invisible God.
In Him all the fullness of deity dwells.
In Him all things hold together.
He is
the same yesterday, today, and forever.
In all things made like us.
The Light
of the world.
Christmas is not about nostalgia or memories. Christmas is not “for children,” nor is it about creating “a spirit of giving” or a “season of cheer.” Christmas is a celebration of heaven-sent, life-altering, world-changing truths. God came to us. He became like us. He lived to redeem us, and He died to save us. Christianity alone is the story of how and why God came to earth.
For many years I've felt that there wasn't a need for another book on Christmas or even additional Christmas products because of the over-commercialization of this important holiday. It seemed to me rather unnecessary to add to the glut of seasonal stuff.
But I have felt there is a need for Christmas cards that aren't sappy or nostalgic or trite, ones that clearly express the heart of the Christmas message in a new and fresh way. And so I began designing a series of Christmas cards based on the "un-Christmas" verse, John 3:16, for a creative and different look at Christmas. Drawing on my many years of inductive Bible study, I wrote a series of poems with phrases taken directly from God's Word. From there I began to do some simple watercolor illustrations to visualize the phrases of John 3:16–––a heart for "God so loved," a globe for "the world," and a wrapped gift for "that He gave," and so on.
The cards graduated to a book with the seven phrases from John 3:16 with each part of the verse accompanied by a short story. The result is a beautiful book that is strongly biblical. It was a wonderfully fun and creative project to undertake.
What Really Happened to my Family this Thanksgiving
Currently 5/5 Stars.
December 9 By Barbara
There is a proverb that says, "The best-laid plans of mice and men often go awry." This year my Thanksgving plans did not happen as I'd envisioned.
Only two of our six adult children were coming to our house for Thanksgiving this year. But between them we still had six grandkids ages 9, 8, 5, 3, 20 months and 8 months. And five were boys.
Thinking through the logistics of who would sleep where, what we'd eat, and when we'd read the Thanksgiving story occupied my thinking off and on for several days. Finally I decided that, for the sake of everyone's sanity and ability to participate in our annual traditions, we'd have a really nice dinner on Wednesday night shortly after everyone arrived. Then we'd take a break for the older kids to play and for the parents to get the little ones ready for bed by 8 p.m. After that, I assumed we'd have a nice evening with a special dessert, coffee, and a peaceful time reading the story with the three older grandchildren, followed by all of us sharing what we were most grateful for this year.
I can’t imagine a world without post-it notes. How would I remember anything? There are pads of notes all over my house, in my purse, in my car, and notes stuck on random books and walls. I have no excuse to forget anything. But I still do.
We’ve always been a family of notes. When the kids were little I tucked notes into their lunches. When they went away to camp or on a trip we stuck love notes in their suitcases. Sometimes a family member would find a note on their pillow. Some of the notes were reminders but most were words of encouragement and love. When my Dad died unexpectedly I found several loves notes stuck to my pillow from our twins who were small at that time. They wanted me to know they were sad for me, and they took time to encourage me.
Our master bathroom is tiny. You can barely turn around in it. But one wall is oh, so special. There are about fifty different faded post-it notes stuck on old faded wall paper.
Each one is a love note from my husband. Included are:
“Thank you for making our bed 9,238 times.” “You are my favorite friend.”
Several weeks ago I went to visit my parents for the day. It was my mother’s 83rd birthday.
I have so much to be grateful for with them, and I am. They are both still able to get around on their own power. They both still drive which does make me a bit nervous. And both are still sharp mentally which is a huge gift. They spend a lot of time reading the daily paper and various books. My dad, who is 87 and still plays golf weekly, has recently been reading a fat economics textbook he checked out of the library! If I ever do that everyone will know that I have lost my mental faculties!
But the sure and steady signs of decline are increasingly evident every time I go visit. My dad can’t stand up straight anymore and moves with painful difficulty every time he gets out of a chair. My mom has had a hard year beginning with a bad fall on my front porch last January that took five months of recovery, and now she’s living with a herniated disc that has delivered constant pain since early June. She has been so active and healthy for so long that to see her unable to do anything but sit is hard to watch. Her legs swell badly and her strength is waning from the inactivity. It makes me so sad to watch their bodies fail them knowing nothing can be done to stop it. Yet in spite of it all neither of them complain–––another huge blessing.
I drive home each time, mourning for them and for me because I know I will lose them both in time, and because I know I am headed where they are currently. Because I am theirs genetically I know I will experience much of what I am seeing in them. When I was in my 20s, 30s, and 40s it was easy to deny the inevitable because it seemed so far away. Now it is on the near horizon. The signs are beginning already.
