Archive for December, 2009
Christmas, with all its glitter and joy, is for many a season to get through as quickly as possible… Though I am a wife an a mom with a full house, I am humbled by the fact that many around me are lonely. Loneliness is not a sin. Feeling the desire for companionship and intimacy with someone is a beautiful reflection of being made in the image of God.
I struggle with loneliness occasionally and wonder if what I experience is just a taste of the daily desires that so many people live with. The desire to be with someone can tempt us to “wander in the desert” searching for anything to satisfy. Other comforts, relationships, whet our appetite but are not truly satisfying. Searching for intimacy, we settle for idolatry.
God has been reclaiming His place in my heart, my view of what “Father” looks like. I have been growing in a richer understanding of the presence of God, and feeling a deep joy of seeing Father God as my precious dad. Clinging to my Dad’s leg, like a toddler, my heart is starting to comprehend the intimacy I can have with Abba.
Psalm 121 is great comfort for the lonely heart. As our shadows are always with us, so is our God. In the details and empty spaces of our days, God is present.
1I lift up my eyes to the hills.
From where does my help come?
2My help comes from the LORD,
who made heaven and earth.
3He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
4Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
5The LORD is your keeper;
the LORD is your shade on your right hand.
6The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
7The LORD will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
8The LORD will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore.
He is our Companion, Keeper, Help, and Comfort. If you are feeling lonely and empty, know that the Lord is with you.
How many strangers have walked up to your kids, “What do you want for Christmas?” Or even well-meaning family members…We can easily think that Christmas is mostly about gifts. Especially, in America. Commercialism can over–ride the meaningfulness of it. Our hearts can be so captured by the season that it the “joy of the season” actually can eclipse Jesus all together. The hoopla can become an idol that we stroke, full of our expectations and lists.
As with many things, God teaches me through the calling of motherhood. The fog of Christmas gets clearer as I am compelled to give my children an appetite for worship. As I check toys off the list, I should all the more be looking at my list for their hearts. Do I have a list of each child’s heart needs, where they are at with Jesus and how I can love them? It is more valuable eternally for me to pay attention to that list. Pointing them to Jesus is the greatest gift I can give.
Have you ever made a list of free things you can do with and for your family and children that exhibits service, humility, training in Godliness? A list that– is a worshipful response to God, stewarding relationships not with things but with heart? Make time think and pray about your family and seriously write down how you can love them more this year. With each item, ask yourself, “is this free, sacrificial, will they feel loved, does this point them to Jesus, does this cultivate our relationship unselfishly?”
Christmas is a beautiful season, but it is also a season to reflect on various areas of our hearts that God is moving in. Drawing nearer to the Savior is such joy! WE do that through worship! Just as he sent the greatest gift to us, Jesus, we are called to recognize and respond in worship all year round. The busyness of of the season distracts us all from treasuring Jesus.
As Mary with her new baby– king Jesus, treasured the events in her heart, let us respond to Christmas in our hearts.
Luke 2:16So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. 20The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.
I have felt urged to remember – how is God revealing Himself to you this Christmas? Are you worshiping Jesus in what you are doing? Are you distracted with much? Who are you trying to please? When you go about your activities, what are you motivated by? Do you feel the weight and joy of the task of shepherding your children?
Is your heart tender to Jesus? Are you hurried, distracted, thinking about tasks and purchases?
If those same strangers, asked YOU, “What do you want for Christmas?” What would you say?
God became a man, Jesus. The Incarnation is unfathomable. Let’s not miss Jesus in Christmas.
Written by Dr. John Piper for Children-
The Poor Man and His Cow
And the Rich Man and His Wall
Based (very loosely) on a story in T. H. White’s The Once and Future King.
Once upon a time there was a very wise old man named Job. In his old age God gave to him a daughter whom he named Jemima, which means little dove. He loved his little girl and she loved her daddy.
One day Job decided to go on journey and asked Jemima if she would like to go along. “Oh, yes,” Jemima said. “I would love to go along.”
But Job said, “It will be a journey that takes us several days. So we will be staying each night wherever people will have us. So I can’t promise it will be nice. But God will take care of us. He always does what is right. He always meets the needs of those who trust him.”
Jemima smiled and said, “And even if things go bad, God makes them turn for good. Right, Daddy? Just like the little poem that you taught us:
When things don’t go the way they should
God always makes them turn for good.”
“That’s right, Jemima,” Daddy said, “and there’s another little poem you need to learn. It goes like this:
When things go better than they should
For people who are bad,
Remember, if they stay that way,
At last they will be sad.”
And so they started off on their journey and walked all day. At sundown they saw a little cottage and knocked on the door. A very poor man and his wife and baby lived there. Job asked if he and Jemima could spend the night there before they continued on their journey in the morning.
The poor man and his wife were very happy to let them stay. They gave Job and Jemima their own room and made them a simple supper. The special treat was fresh milk from their only cow. This was how the poor couple made a living. Their cow gave good milk and they sold it for enough to live on.
In the morning when Job and Jemima got up they heard crying. The cow had died during the night. The poor man’s wife was crying, “What will we do? What will we do?” she sobbed. The poor man was about to cut the cow into pieces and sell the meat before it spoiled. But Job said, “I think you should not cut the cow in pieces but bury him by your back wall under the olive tree. The meat may not be good to sell. Trust God, and he will take care of you.”
Then Job and Jemima went on their way. They walked all day again and were very tired when they came to the next town and noticed a fine home. They knocked on the door. A very wealthy man lived in this house and they hoped that they would not be an inconvenience to one so wealthy.
But the man was very gruff with them and said they could stay in the barn. He gave them water and bread for supper and let them eat it by themselves in the barn. Job was very thankful for the barn and the bread and water and said to the wealthy man, “Thank you very much for the bread and water and for letting us stay in your barn.”
In the morning Job noticed that one of the walls of the house was crumbling. So he went and bought bricks and mortar and repaired the hole in the wall for the wealthy man. Then Job and Jemima went on their way and came to their destination.
As they sat by the fire that night Jemima said, “Daddy, I don’t understand the ways of God. It doesn’t seem right that the poor man’s cow should die when he was so good to us, and that you should fix the rich man’s wall when he was so bad to us.”
“Well, Jemima,” Job said, “many things are not the way they seem. Perhaps this once I will tell you why. But after this you will have to trust God.”
“The poor man’s cow was very sick, but he didn’t know it. I could taste it in the milk. Soon he would have sold bad milk and the people would have gotten sick and died, and they would have stoned him. So I told him not to sell the meat, but to bury the cow under the olive tree by his back wall because the Lord showed me that, if he dug the grave there he would find a silver cup buried from long ago, and sell it for enough money to buy two good cows. And in the end things would be better for him and his wife and child.”
“When we spent the night at the rich man’s house, I saw the hole in the wall and I saw more than that. I saw that hidden in the wall from generations ago was a chest full of gold. If the rich man had repaired the wall himself, he would have found it and continued in his pride and cruelty. So I bought brick and closed the wall so that the man would never find this treasure.”
“Do you see, Jemima?”
“Yes, Daddy, I see.”
“So never forget, Jemima, many things are not what they seem. But if we trust in God,
When things don’t go the way they should
God always makes them turn for good.”
But if we turn away from God and are unkind and selfish, then the other saying will come true:
When things go better than they should
For people who are bad,
Remember, if they stay that way,
At last they will be sad.”
And that’s the way it was with Jesus. It seemed like he was unimportant because he was born in a small unimportant town, not a big city. He was born in a stable, not a palace. He was laid in a manger, not a fine bed. He was a carpenter not a famous statesman. He had a small group of friends, not a great army. And worst of all, he was killed like a common criminal on a cross.
But many things are not what they seem. He was the Son of God, the Savior of the world. He rose from the dead. He is alive today and rules over the world and King of kings and Lord of lords. And everyone who trusts in him will have all their sins forgiven, and will be able to say,
When things don’t go the way they should
God always makes them turn for good.”
Posted on 14 December '09 by trisha, under Christmas. No Comments.
Re-posted from DesiringGod.org
1. What’s the most common mistake people make in trying to develop a system for productivity?
There are a lot of wrong turns that people make here, but I think the biggest one is that they simply seek to make their system capture and organize their existing work. We shouldn’t first ask “what things are vying for my attention and how do I organize them?” Instead, we should first ask “what things are most important for me to be doing and how do I make sure that I am able to move ahead on them?” The former is reactive and the later is proactive.
2. In the last three months, what has been the most helpful insight that has helped you be more productive?
Peter Drucker’s comment that “effective executives put first things first and do one thing at a time.” My workload has been larger than normal the last few months, and that makes it tempting to splinter myself and move on too many fronts at once. Drucker reminds me to avoid this trap. First, you don’t have to do everything. Instead, identify what is most important, and start there. Second, build momentum by doing one thing at a time, bringing it to completion, and then moving on to the next thing (what’s best next). You might think this makes it take longer to do things, but it actually saves time. The scarcity of time is precisely the reason we need to do one thing at a time.
3. In a nutshell, what is the most important and fundamental principle for being productive?
I would actually say: realize that you don’t have to be productive. By this I mean: your significance does not come from your productivity. It comes from Christ, who obeyed God perfectly on our behalf such that our significance and standing before God comes from him, not anything we do. Then, on that basis, we pursue good works (which is what productivity is) and do so eagerly, as it says in Titus 2:14.
When it comes to day-to-day application, the main principle is this: The key denominator of effectiveness is not intelligence or even hard work, as important as those are. It is the discipline to put first things first. You need to operate from a center of sound principles and organize and execute around priorities. This means that instead of prioritizing your schedule, you schedule your priorities.
Posted on 14 December '09 by trisha, under Productivity. No Comments.
This book is great. I would say it is good for 5-10 year old children. We are thoroughly enjoying reading it nightly with our advent candles lit. After dinner, the kids are enthusiastic about the advent candles and reading the chapter from Jotham’s Journey.
Jotham throws a fit and rebells against his dad and runs away. His sin has consequences. He is lost for a while and journeys through many families and suffers much. He realizes his sin and grows in his faith.
We’ve had great talks with our kids, inspired by little Jotham’s journey. A great devotional opportunity to teach our kids and provoke gospel thoughts.
Posted on 11 December '09 by trisha, under Book Reviews. No Comments.
You’d hardly expect to find old St. Nick in jail. But St. Nicholas is more than a children’s Christmas legend. He was flesh and blood, a prisoner for Christ, bishop of the Mediterranean city of Myra.
What do we know about the real St. Nicholas? He was born, ancient biographers tell us, to wealthy parents in the city of Patara about 270 A.D. He was still young when his mother and father died and left him a fortune.
As a teen-ager, Nicholas’ humility was already evident. He had heard about a family destitute and starving. The father had no money for food, much less the dowry needed to marry off his three daughters. He was ready to send his oldest girl into the streets to earn a living as a prostitute.
Under the cover of night, Nicholas threw a bag of gold coins through the window of their humble dwelling. In the morning the father discovered the gold. How he rejoiced: his family was saved, his daughter’s honor preserved, and a dowry for her marriage secured. Some time after, Nicholas secretly provided a dowry for the second daughter. Still later for the third.
But on the third occasion, the girls’ father stood watching. As soon as the bag of gold thudded on the floor, he chased after the lad till he caught him. Nicholas was mortified to be discovered in this act of charity. He made the father promise not to tell anyone who had helped his family. Then Nicholas forsook his wealth to answer a call to the ministry.
At the nearby city of Myra a bishop supervised all the churches of the region. When the bishop died, the bishops and ministers from other cities and villages — Nicholas among them — gathered to choose a successor.
Nicholas was in the habit of rising very early and going to the church to pray. This morning an aged minister awaited him in the sanctuary. “Who are you, my son?” he asked.
“Nicholas the sinner,” the young minister replied. “And I am your servant.”
“Come with me,” the old priest directed. Nicholas followed him to a room where the bishops had assembled. The elderly minister addressed the gathering. “I had a vision that the first one to enter the church in the morning should be the new bishop of Myra. Here is that man: Nicholas.”
Indeed they did choose him as bishop. Nicholas was destined to lead his congregation through the worst tribulation in history.
In A.D. 303, the Roman Emperor Diocletian ordered a brutal persecution of all Christians. Those suspected of following the Lord were ordered to sacrifice to pagan gods. Nicholas and thousands of others refused.
Ministers, bishops, and lay people were dragged to prison. Savage tortures were unleashed on Christians all over the empire. Believers were fed to wild animals. Some were forced to fight gladiators for their lives while bloodthirsty crowds screamed for their death. Women suffered dehumanizing torment. Saints were beaten senseless, others set aflame while still alive.
Yet persecution couldn’t stamp out Christianity. Rather it spread. Third Century leader Tertullian observed, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.”
Those who survived Diocletian’s torture chambers were called “saints” or “confessors” by the people, because they didn’t forsake their confession that Jesus Christ is Lord. Nicholas was one of these.
Finally, after years of imprisonment, the iron doors swung open and Bishop Nicholas walked out, freed by decree of the new Emperor Constantine. As he entered his city once more, his people flocked about him. “Nicholas! Confessor!” they shouted. “Saint Nicholas has come home.”
The bishop was beaten but not broken. He served Christ’s people in Myra for another thirty years. Through the prayers of this tried and tested soldier of faith, many found salvation and healing. Nicholas participated in the famous Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. He died on December 6, about 343, a living legend, beloved by his whole city.
St. Nick of yuletide fame still carries faint reminders of this ancient man of God. The color of his outfit recollects the red of bishop’s robes. “Making a list, checking it twice,” probably recalls the old saint’s lectures to children about good behavior. Gifts secretly brought on Christmas eve bring to mind his humble generosity to the three daughters.
Yet if he were alive today, this saint would humbly deflect attention from himself. No fur-trimmed hat and coat, no reindeer and sleigh or North Pole workshop. As he did in life centuries ago, Bishop Nicholas would point people to his Master.
“I am Nicholas, a sinner,” the old saint would say. “Nicholas, servant of Christ Jesus.”
by Dr. Ralph F. Wilson
Posted on 7 December '09 by trisha, under Christmas. 1 Comment.
I have been challenged recently by my husband to think of compassion and mercy not just during the Holidays, but all year round. And, as the I look outside and see frost on the windows, we are reminding our children of many people in our city without a warm home, or food to fill their tummies. As we all see needs at Christmas, I am provoked and grateful for a Savior that provides compassion and mercy.
How can I safely and age- appropriately teach and train my children to embrace their culture not just for the coolness of Seattle but lovingly observe and act when they see needs? Our children are paying attention to our actions and words. Whether it is seeing their dad go back in to a restarant with the lingering homeless man to buy him a meal or having a stock pile of “Cliff” bars in the glove box of the car for the street corner beggar, our kids are taking in how we respond to those in need.It is our responsibility to shepherd our children in mercy.
I want to teach them compassion Biblically. And, at Christmastime I want them to grow in gratitude for the countless blessings of family, shelter, and provision. My heart aches for the lonely, homeless, and suffering. As I look around at the many blessings in my life, I am humbled by God’s great love. I want to share it. But, more importantly want to act. God is Holy, Perfect, and Amazingly MERCIFUL to me. Out of this experience in my own heart, I long to share the Gospel of Jesus with others.
We see a lot of homeless wonder in to Mars Hill each week, and some stick around to learn and receive help. Other faces leave and we don’t see again and we wonder where they are now. Many suffering come to Redemption Night and/or go through Redemption Groups and by God’s beautiful grace are transformed by His love.
Here are a few: a womens’ transitional home: http://www.elizabethgregoryhome.org, and a Christian home for the homeless: http://www.ugm.org
Colossians 3:12
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.
Luke 14:13-14
But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.
I am challenged and inspired to pray about how this momma (me) can embrace this culture’s needs, with a heart full of burden, and missional passion. Wanting to share Christ with this culture, through mercy and humble acts of service…
Posted on 5 December '09 by trisha, under Christmas, Humility. No Comments.
“Have you discovered that Jesus sometimes gets lost in the middles of the hustle and bustle of His birthday party? Would you like to be able to keep your children’s focus on Jesus and also join them in the wonder of the celebration”
I bought this book two years ago. My favorite activities to do with my kids are the Candy Cane Reindeer and the Happy Birthday Jesus Cake. The cake has different elements symbolizing Gospel Truths. FUN stuff is in this book!
Mostly, I like it for the topical journey it takes you through: lights, trees, advent wreath, caroling, santa claus, etc. Merry Christmas!
Posted on 2 December '09 by trisha, under Book Reviews, Christmas. No Comments.
