The Christmas That Was and Still Is

Oh this week between Christmas and the new year. It's brutal. So disorienting. Does anyone even know what day it is? Number or name? My lesson learned and note to self: take this week off work in every year to come. 

Many I know have moved on from Christmas or are ready to. I grimace when I hear that trees are down or coming down and decor packed up for another eleven months. "The weather is so warm; a good time to get the lights down before they freeze into the ground or onto the house." Reasonable, but here in the northeast we haven't had a kickin' snowstorm yet!

What's the rush? Take it down for what?

I may or may not have said to my husband a few days ago, "I still have to make a popcorn garland for the tree!", to which I received an over the top of the glasses look and question, "still"? 

I kid. 

I think.

It's clear I'm not done or ready to move on. (I never am at this stage.) Too much went on in the month of December and it happened too quickly. (Always does.) Abrupt endings don't work for me. I must process and savor it with a journal and pen and thanksgiving, surrounded by pine trees, white lights and Christmas carols. Throw in some orange cranberry bread and candles lit, and you have one content girl. 

Technically, Christmas is still going you know. I saw a meme on Instagram last night that made me smile, hi five the air and shout Amen!

Keep Calm 

It's Still Christmas 

Until Epiphany

Yes it is. Happy 6th Day of Christmas to you this fine Saturday morning! We have six more days of celebrating to go. Oh that we actually celebrated all twelve starting on the 25th - maybe someday. A girl can dream.

One thing I love is an Advent devotional that lives on for a few days after Christmas. Enjoy this excerpt (dated 12/30) with me.

"One of the [strangest] things about our own topsy-turvy time is that we all hear such a vast amount about Christmas just before it comes, and suddenly hear nothing at all about it afterwards. Everybody writes about what a glorious Christmas we are going to have. Nobody, or next to nobody, ever writes about the Christmas we have just had. I am going to plead for a longer period to find out what was really meant by that Christmas; and a fuller consideration of what we have really found."*

Can I get an amen? And let's change that.

Maybe we could just take a minute or two and remember December and our Advent waiting and wondering. 

• What did we experience? 
• How did God show up? 
• What did we learn? 
• What should we write down to repeat next year? 
• What do we not want to forget to tell our littles for years to come? 
• Did we start a new tradition? 
• Do we need to write a thank you note? 
• Did we forget someone? Not too late to bring a gift, schedule a visit, send a card.

The girls at work asked me what I was going to do this weekend and I said, I need a whole day to myself. I plan to sit, to remember, to pray, to confess, to ask, to write, to think, to dream, to wonder, to listen, to wait, to plan. 

To wrap 2023 up in my journal and my heart and start 2024 with new goals (don't recoil from this awesome action word!) and rhythms to implement.

"It would behoove us to remember that an ending is also a new beginning, a chance to be born again. The object of a New Year is not that we should have a new year. It is that we should have a new soul and a new nose; new feet, a new backbone, new ears, and new eyes. Reality, as designed by God, testifies to this truth: darkness precedes dawn. Sleep precedes wakefulness. Every morning His mercies are new, as the day is new, as we are new. The land endures the harshness of winter in order to be reborn in the vigor of spring. Everywhere we look, nature is rehearsing resurrection, preparing for the day when all things will be made new, when measurable time gives way to immeasurable eternity."**

You see why we need more days after Christmas Day? I needed that reminder this morning and tomorrow and the next. Maybe you did too? I pray for all that awareness in my life in the new year. 

Savor with me one more time before you say goodbye to Christmas 2023 and turn the calendar page to 2024 what this God of ours - so deserving of our honor - has done for us:

Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets, 
but in these last days He has spoken to us by His Son,

whom He appointed the heir of all things, 
through whom also He created the world. He is the radiance of the glory of God 
and the exact imprint of His nature,

and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. 
After making purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high..." 
Hebrews 1:1-3

you know it is a good verse
when it makes the pantry door

Father, as one year comes to a close and a new year is upon us, I'm looking for your help in controlling my emotions which can be all over the map this last week. Sometimes eager to put the current year with its pain and regrets in the rear-view mirror and move to the next with rose colored glasses; and other times quick to put the brakes on reminiscing with fondness the goodness of the past year, not in a hurry to move on quite yet. This verse reminds me that Jesus is the radiance of your glory, the exact imprint of your nature and He upholds the whole universe - past and future in His hands, making Him worthy of my trust. His kingdom will have no end, so I have nothing to worry about and nothing to fear in the year ahead. You make all things new. In this new year, put to death the things in me that need to die and make me new - able to receive your love in new ways and give it to others in new ways too. 

With eyes fixed on Jesus who looks exactly like You, I pray these things with a thankful grin.

Amen.

P.S. I know you keep untold volumes of snow (Job 38:22). Can we have some?

___________

*A Winter's Tale by G.K. Chesterton p.131

**same as above p.128

The Gift of December Darkness

These dark mornings, I love them so. Some can't deal with this December feature, but I weirdly look forward to it all year. I've found a kindred spirit in author, Barbara Mahany. She's written a book called "The Stillness of Winter" and I read it annually. It's not an Advent devotional, but she mentions this glorious season. Sometimes someone else puts your words on paper better than you ever could.

If I didn't have a job to go to each morning, I would call a friend and extend an invitation to come over for coffee and some cranberry orange bread (recipe found in this wonderful book) and read the following selection. I mean, I have to share it with someone it's so good. 

So, here it is for you. Enjoy.

"I am practicing Advent. Really practicing. Paying attention. Giving in to the season in ways that wash over me, seep into me, bring me back home to a place I may never have been.

Like a child this year, I have a just-opened sense of these days.

I am, for the very first time, not counting down. Not ticking off days and errands to run like a clock wound too tightly.

Instead, I am counting in a whole other way. I am counting, yes, but the thing that I'm doing is making count each one of the days. I am counting the days in a way that takes time. That takes it and holds it. Savors it. Sucks out the marrow of each blessed hour.

I am this year embracing the darkness. I am kindling lights. I am practicing quiet. I am shutting out noise and filling my house with the sounds of the season that call me.

 I am practicing no. No is the word that I' saying to much of the madness. No, I cannot go there. No, I cannot race from one end of town to the other. No, I will not.

I am practicing yes.

Yes, I will wake up early. Will tiptoe alone, and in quiet, to down in the kitchen, and out to the place where the moon shines. Where the early bird hasn't yet risen. But I have. I am alone with the dark and the calm, and I am standing there watching the shadows, the lace of the moon. I am listening for words that fill up my heart. It's a prayer and it comes to me, fills my lungs, as I breathe in cold air, the air of December, December's most blessed breath.

Yes, I am redressing my house. I am tucking pinecones and berries red, in places that not long ago were spilling with pumpkins, walnuts and acorns.

I am waking up to the notion that to usher the season into my house is to awaken the sacred. It is to shake off the dust of the days just before. To grope for the glimmer amid all the darkness.

December, more than most any month, can go one of two ways.

One trail is all tangled, all covered with bramble. You can get lost, what with all of the noise and all of the bright colored lights.

But December, if you choose, if you allow it, can be the trail through the woods that leads to the light, far off in the distance.

The darkness itself offers the gift. Each day, the darkness comes sooner, comes deeper, comes blacker than ink. It draws us in, into our homes, yes, but more so, into our souls.

It invites us: light a light. Wrap a blanket. Sit by the fire. Stare into the flames, and onto the last dying embers. Consider the coming of Christmas.

I am, in this month of preparing, in this month of a story told time and again, listening anew to the words. I am considering the story of the travelers, the Virgin with Child, the donkey, the man with the tools, the unlikely trio, knocking and knocking at door after door.

I am remembering how, long, long, ago, I winced when I heard how no one had room. Open the door, I would shout deep inside. Make room. Make a room.

I didn't know then I could change it. I could take hold of the story; make it be just as it should be.

But I do now. I know now.

I am taking hold of that story, the way that it's told this December. I am, in the dark and the quiet, making the room that I longed for. For the three in the story, yes, but even for me.

I am preparing a room at the inn. The inn, of course, is my heart."

Ah, this is Advent. See what I mean? So good. Makes you want to get up earlier now, doesn't it?

Trust Me, It's Not Too Early

Finally, Halloween has passed, and we move closer to the good stuff. Daylight savings is over, which means we are on to cozy season: casseroles, candlelight, and pajamas at 6pm - or earlier.

I realize it's only the beginning of November and we still have Thanksgiving in front of us to celebrate. I really do. And you know I wholeheartedly practice delayed gratification - insisting on enjoying the season you find yourself in, not rushing the next. However, some require a smidge of advance planning to be ready for the first day of the new season.

What in the world am I talking about? Advent, of course, observed and honored during December - every day leading up to Christmas. In my mind, Advent brings the sacred to its rightful prominent position in our annual traditions. If we're not careful, we can let American hoopla eclipse - or replace, God forbid - the religious foundation, history and emphasis.

That's what started my journey toward Advent. One year during the frenzy of gift purchasing, decorating, baking and celebrating party after party (even multiple church events), I whispered a prayer to Jesus, "Does any of this matter to you? Are we doing this right? How could we celebrate your birthday in a way that honors and pleases you?"

My quest for something deeper led to a Christian bookstore where I purchased my first Advent devotional. Morning by morning through the month of December I soaked myself in the story of Jesus' first advent, His appearance on earth recorded from Genesis to the Gospels. It was glorious. So meaningful! So intentional! So clarifying.

The next December I bought a different devotional. Before I knew it, new family traditions started to take form and some old dropped. Any store-bought calendars with candy in daily slots went in the garbage - not Advent. 

The following year, I found Advent devotionals for the whole family, age appropriate. And on and on I could go (stop me sometime and I'll tell you all about it). 

Soon enough I learned a portion of celebrating Advent was looking back, and another component is looking forward to Jesus' second advent yet to come; the one we are longing for this very minute. It is good to position these events prominently in our minds this time of year. So good and necessary.

Advent is a slowing of pace to make room, to prepare our hearts for the coming of the Messiah: the baby who came to save us from our sins, to give us new life, eternal life with the Father. I've come to believe it's a crucial portion of Christmas celebrating, spending a whole month, not merely a Christmas Eve service or birthday party for Jesus, captivated by the sacred story. There's so much more to experience!

My obsession with sacred holidays has grown and widened as I study the formal church calendar (Advent - Christmas - Ordinary Time - Lent - Easter - Pentecost - Ordinary Time) seemingly lost to this present generation, rarely observed as it once was. It's intriguing and spiritually stimulating. I highly recommend we all educate ourselves to engaging in these practices on the regular.

So, why am I writing about this in November? Because Advent is one of those holidays that requires us to prepare....to prepare! 

 

In short, I'm tapping you on the shoulder and whispering that it may be too early to start Christmas shopping, but it's definitely the right time to choose an Advent guide for your journey this December now, lest it sneak up on you. Time is of the essence.

You may know by now I announced here and on social media in October that I wrote an Advent devotional this summer. It's a combined work of love; my years of Advent experiences and reflections along with my daughter-in-law Brittany's beautiful artwork on the cover and throughout the pages. We are excited to offer it to you.

Many of my friends and co-workers are buying copies for family members and friends to give as gifts to those they are spending Thanksgiving with or just for plain old "Pre-Christmas Gifts" (one of the chapter titles) to be given by December 1st when the season (and chapter one) starts. Such a fun idea! 

Regardless, for you or for others, just remember, December will be here before you know it, so don't wait too long. 

You can order a few ways. It is available on Amazon. But, if you order it from my website, I will know (and be so happy to see your name!) and will sign your copy and add a personal touch. If you are local, contact me for a personal delivery with no shipping charge. Also, I would love to give a discount for multiple copies. 

Either way, if you decide to spend Advent with Jesus and me this year, I hope you love it. I have been and will be praying for you for this truly is the most wonderful time of the year.

How Should We Age?

I finally had some extra time in the car this week to listen to a podcast I've been eager to hear. It was an interview with an author I dig, and the subject was aging; a Theology of Aging to be precise. That phrase grabbed my attention as, unless I'm going to live a decade into my hundreds, I'm well past the halfway point of my life and I am always looking for instruction on how to live wisely to the end.

Unfortunately, my poor husband - always a champ to listen to what I suggest - had to suffer with me through too much drivel about outward appearance and the myriad of ways women vainly try to drink from the fountain of youth at nearly any cost (botox, really?). Not a proud to be an American moment if you know what I mean.

Eventually, some gold nuggets were unearthed, like the possession of wisdom and experience among the mature as a gift and responsibility to share with those coming behind. 

There was talk about how older women struggle to know what their significance to the church is once they've "aged out" of certain ministries. Discussion continued regarding whether or not the younger generation values the wisdom of the older in this forever young culture. Perhaps some insecurity rises and the olders question their contribution thereby giving little; not putting themselves out there for fear of rejection. That's one consideration.

Scott and I lowered the volume and resumed the conversation, moving into the subject of retirement and subsequent shift of priority and commitment to church ministry once this crowning age has been achieved. 

My mind darted to the ever-popular bucket list. You know that list middle agers compile of must-do adventures to experience before their life is over (kick the bucket). Often the checklist is reserved for retirement. Delayed gratification, right? Wink wink to you longtime friends and readers.

The older I get the more exotic these lists seem to become in certain circles. Have you noticed? 

I, too, have been thinking about retirement in recent days more than I ever have but not eagerly; rather in uncertainty more than anticipation. Not only because my husband has reached a certain decade when retirement usually commences (ahem) and some of our friends have made their move, but also because I find it elusive. 

Sure, I look forward to a time when work doesn't dominate my weekdays and I can do whatever I want with my time. Traveling sounds fun and I am excited for the freedom to spend longer stretches of time with my children and grandchildren. There's no sin in that as far as I can tell, but still, I have some concerns.

I have no bucket list. It wouldn't take me long to compile one I'm sure, but I'm not there yet. I fear the nature of such a tally. I'm still wondering about the post-career day-to-day. I worry about myself - I am so self-centered by nature; something I fight daily. How can I be sure in retirement I won't flip an American culture switch and begin to live out the last of my years focused on my own agenda of enjoyment and pleasure dulled to a former passion to serve the Lord and the church with gusto? Who will I be living for?

Back to the discussion in the car, could detachment of the olders on a regular basis, who possess the wisdom and experience the youngers need, be a missing piece in the health and strength and growth of our churches? Are they aging as the Lord would have them in relation to their church family, constantly investing their knowledge and experience of Jesus? Or have they adopted the cultural norm of "you do you" even if it leaves gaps meant to be filled by them?

In my experience when I ask someone close to retirement what their future plans are, often dreams point to a hobby or activity they've longed for - usually of the self-gratifying sort. Something they haven't had the time to engage in while being driven by work and career demands.

You can imagine my delight and thrill when recently, a man in our church who is in his last months of full-time employment, told me he is looking forward to having more time to spend at church helping out and working on projects that need to be taken care of. Wow! What a breath of fresh air. Yes! So countercultural! I wanted to hi-five but was afraid I'd spook him.

Now, before you take offense, I'm not taking shots at anyone looking forward to much deserved rewards from a lifetime of hard work. You go for it! I am certainly not suggesting retirees shouldn't travel or go on long planned trips. You have earned rest and recreation. Send pictures!

But for how long? Is it a new lifestyle or could there be a way to scratch that itch and still stay connected in a meaningful, mentoring way to the younger generation in your church and community? Because here's the thing, your gifts don't stop being needed for the Body to function as Jesus intended for His glory to be displayed in the Church. 

The younger generation need you for so many things. Even if they don't ask. Even if it doesn't look like it. They are watching. They are learning. You are influencing. 

Paul in his letter to Titus makes God's will for older men and women crystal clear: 

"But as for you, teach what accords with sound doctrine. Older men are to be sober minded, dignified, self-controlled, sound in faith, in love, and in steadfastness. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanderers or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good, and so train the young women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled, pure, working at home, kind, and submissive to their own husbands, that the word of God may not be reviled. 

Likewise, urge the younger men to be self-controlled. Show yourself in all respects to be a model of good works, and in your teaching show integrity, dignity, and sound speech that cannot be condemned, so that an opponent may be put to shame, having nothing evil to say about us. 

Declare these things; exhort and rebuke with all authority. Let no one disregard you."*

Yes! Now these are the kind of influencers who are needed! Reminds me of several longtime friend couples who regularly schedule local ministry and mission trips into their calendars, who are investing in their local church when present and when away. I love how they are doing this, leading the way.

It seems like this is another area of life to be asking ourselves if we have subscribed to an American cultural worldview, or the opposite - a biblical worldview. (Hello, Romans 12:1,2, I see you looking at me.) So much is at stake. We older men and women, this isn't the time to check out, we have to take up our place and teach, train and model all that the above passage exhorts.

I've been studying Colossians this last month or so (I highly recommend, so much goodness here) and Paul, its author, also gives us something here to consider on the subject:

"Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth."**

He's teaching a continuous ongoing effort of regularly assessing whether our ambitions and lifestyle are consistent with the ultimate goal which God has called us to - where Christ is. We live for heaven.

I love how Eugene Peterson translates it in the Message version:

"Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up and be alert to what is going on around Christ - that's where the action is. See things from His perspective."**

A Biblical Theology of Aging. Has a cool ring to it. I feel motivated to get this right. No botox required.

*Titus 2:1-8, 15

**Colossians 3:2, ESV and The Message

What I Did This Summer

So, I have something to tell you.

In our (extended family) when one declares such an announcement, the first follow-up question one unnamed member (ahem), may or may not be known to ask is: "Will this be the long or short version?"

How rude.

You see, the thing about this family, we are long-winded. If you've been reading this blog for a while or know me at all, you are probably thinking, "no joke". That said, do you want the long version or the short?

I'll try to hug the middle line.

I've had a dream for years. Friends have encouraged me to chase it for even longer. But instead the dream has been safely tucked away in scores of journals - and my heart - for more than a decade and a half. 

You could say I've been stuck. In the comfort zone? Or the land of making excuses?

When questioned "why don't I pursue it?", a frequent reason I gave was, "I don't know how to begin."

I prayed and asked the Lord about it often, bargaining, "If you'll just send me someone who will take me by the hand and show me the way, I'll do it!"

Well, this summer He did.

But first, He taught me a little something about Himself. 

Believing my dream was given to me by God, I received some helpful instruction from Bruce Wilkinson's book The Dream Giver:

"Your dream is meant to be about more than itself or you. A God-given dream brings you together with what God wants to do in the world through you."

Oh.

So, all of the reasons I give (excuses) why I'm not pursuing my dream are actually about me (fear, comfort zone). And if God gave me the dream, it is because it's part of His bigger dream for His mission in the world and my part in it (mind blown emoji). And only I can fulfill my dream (purpose!). Grand conclusion: if I don't attempt and complete my dream, part of God's bigger dream won't be accomplished.

Whoa.

The only appropriate response was mine that day, "Yes, sir."

Soon, He gave me a lunch date with a longtime friend who has affirmed and tried to motivate me toward my dream for longer than I care to admit. She listened to my laundry list for the umpteenth time but brightened up when I read from my journal what the Lord recently revealed. Then she looked me in the eyes saying something like, "Are you telling me you're ready to move forward (finally)?" I nodded.

Effortlessly, she doled out a list of about five specific action items and a deadline. Boom.

--side note: type A wackos dig deadlines!--

Fast forward about eighty days (seemed much longer), the deadline arrived last month, and my dream came true. I finally accomplished what dozens of friends and some acquaintances have been telling (daring?) me to do for so many years....

I wrote a book!

And I'd like to share it with you.

This is Wonder in the Waiting: An Advent Devotional

If you don't know what an Advent devotional is, I'll write about it more here in the coming days. For now, just know it was written for you. It's a book meant to be read in the month of December, one chapter a day, to highlight the sacredness of the Christmas season.

You should also know my daughter-in-law, Brittany Burtis, offered her artistic gift in creating the cover and illustrations inside. Don't even get me started on the gloriousness of this older/younger woman project.

So, if you would like to have your own, please order it from my website at   angelaburtis.com. 

If you live local, you can contact me directly to avoid postage.

If you would rather buy them in quantities of 5 or 10 or more because you think like me and desire to give them as Thanksgiving Day favors, or pre-Christmas gifts, or for your Book Clubs, Bible Studies, Sunday School classes or friend/family groups (great idea!), please send me a message at amburtis@yahoo.com and I will be happy to give you a special discounted rate!

There's one important thing important to know about this book today - you'll need to have it by December 1st when the first chapter begins.

Lastly, if you are one of those lovely friends who has written or spoken to me, "you should write a book", I heard you, and I thank you for encouraging me.

A dream come true.

And if you read it, I hope you love it.

P.S. Believe it or not, this was the middle-length version of the story. Take me out for coffee or pie if you want ALLLLLL the glorious details.

One more thing, my book is available on Amazon too, but if you order it from   my website, I will sign your copy and add a personal touch.

To Pray Like This

Early while it's still dark, before anyone knows whether the sun will shine brightly or be hidden by clouds for the day, and a few minutes before the neighborhood rooster announces its morning, I find my way first to the coffee pot and then my favorite space to pray.

Last Christmas, two of my kids chose a book off my wish list and presented me with The Valley of Vision, a book of Puritan prayers and devotions. Often, I begin reading one of these prayers to the Lord as I warm up my own thoughts to say. 

Today was no different but the selection proved not merely a beautiful invocation to breeze through wishing I could dream up my own such prose. No, this one was not a prayer to offer without much thought; it required an honest probe inside with conviction and resolve. 

Look at this:

Holy Lord,

I thank thee that many of my prayers
have been refused -
I have asked amiss and do not have,
I have prayed from lusts and been rejected,
I have longed for Egypt and been given a wilderness.

Go on with thy patient work,
answering 'no' to my wrongful prayers,
and fitting me to accept it.
Purge me from every false desire,
every base aspiration,
everything contrary to thy rule.

I thank thee for thy wisdom and thy love,
for all the acts of discipline to which I am subject,
for sometimes putting me into the furnace 
to refine my gold and remove my dross.

Deliver me from every evil habit,
every accretion (increase) of former sins,
everything that dims the brightness
of thy grace in me,
everything that prevents me taking delight in thee.*

I stared at the words and read them again. These confessions are so God-centric; more about a humble understanding of God's character than a disappointed (fit-throwing?) child who hasn't gotten her way.

 When was the last time I prayed like this?

I mean, have I thanked the Lord for intervening and preventing me from marrying the boyfriends I thought were a sure thing? Absolutely! Many times, over the years, in fact.

But what about this week and last month? What about the things I want right now and am, in fact, begging God for? Do these requests reflect a desire for Christ's character to be developed in me or the person for whom I'm asking? Do I wish for God's kingdom to be built and advanced through the circumstance; for Him to be glorified in it? 

The proper response is to consider what's underneath these petitions. Might I be asking amiss or appealing from my own lusts or selfishness - not in harmony with God's will? If so, I must repent. Will I then thank Him if He refuses, trusting He always has my best interest at heart and also those I pray for? 

If not, I will wait. Waiting is good. Hard, yes, but it does deep work that is necessary for a genuine faith. Recently, I took up the challenge to pray this way: "Lord, I know you're never in a hurry. So, I'm just going to leave this here with you. You take your time. Do with it what you think is best when you want to. I trust you." 

Oh boy! That didn't come out quickly or easily, but the more I practice, the more comfortable it becomes. Our God is trustworthy with everything that concerns us. 

How do I know? Paul tells us in Romans 8:31, 32: 

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son 

but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?

Make no mistake, when one has put their trust in Jesus and taken up a permanent place in God's family, you can ask for anything in prayer. Feel free. But as we grow to know Him, our prayers should reflect that understanding and ultimately, His heart for us as His children.

I think I'll just sit here awhile as I shape my own prayers today from this springboard, grateful for the challenge to remember to whom I'm speaking - a heavenly Father, full of steadfast love, wise in all His ways.

*Valley of Vision, p.138, 139

The Hugger

 Do you remember those old Pier 1 Imports commercials - usually popping up during the holidays - sporting the theme "find what speaks to you"? In each fifteen or thirty second spot, the selected products would "say something" charming and cute to the female shopper (why always a woman I wonder) and she would scoop up the irresistible item. One of my favorites was a stuffed owl I think that when making eye contact with the shopper, said, "Careful, I'm a hugger." and in the next frame, she was hugging it and taking it to the register. In our home, I would immediately side-eye to my husband with a silly grin, he would predictably roll his eyes, our kids giggle. Good marketing.

Last weekend I accompanied my husband to his high school reunion. He graduated from a very small private school, so we expected an intimate gathering. I didn't expect to know too many. I don't mind sitting on the periphery taking the opportunity to be more of a spectator at events such as these; a lot can be learned by observing.

One man in particular caught my attention and held it most of the night. One of my husband's childhood friends, a stocky, burly fellow I've seen at many get-togethers over the years. This particular night this friend with a big heart greeted each classmate as they arrived, or as he noticed them, with a hug. Not a half-felt side hug, but a full on, head down, bear hug. Everyone got one - including me - who he only knows as my husband's wife. I happily received it. He then, with steady eye contact, asked, "How are you?" taking all the time in the world to hear their answer.

As I watched each exchange, I was immediately convicted in my heart from a passage in the Bible I've been studying this summer in the book of Philippians. The Apostle Paul teaching:

"So, if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others." Phil. 2:1-4

In my Bible I have written next to this passage: I should show love, compassion, and tenderness - that I've experienced from Christ - to others without reserve or discrimination. 

My husband's friend nailed it. He demonstrated love without reservation or discrimination. Everyone felt the love he had to give, and I think it's safe to say that his love originated from the love he, a longtime Christ follower, has experienced in Jesus.

Also, in my notes: This should mark all my relationships. **needs work**

Lesson learned, be a hugger.

Summer Splurge

We seem to have passed the half-way point of summer. It's funny how everyone has an opinion about the speed in which time goes. Those who dream of the heat all year long lament "it goes too fast." While those who can't stand the humidity and high temps are dreaming of a pumpkin spice latte and sweater weather right about now.

I don't like to rush any seasons because I love the beginning of each one and usually ready to see them go too. I know they'll be back. That's the beauty of living where I live, we get them all - with gusto. So I don't mind letting each one show off its glory and also do its work even if uncomfortable.

Which brings me to why I'm writing today. Just a quick post to recommend a book. I mean, we all need a great summer read, don't we?

One of my goals for 2023 is to revisit and reread the books that have marked my faith journey of three plus decades. Some are classics and some are newer publications. All have challenged and changed my life. In January, I scanned my bookshelves and easily grabbed about twelve titles and stacked them on a chair. Every month I read one or two and reminisce.

A few weeks ago, I laid eyes on one hardcover that makes me swoon whenever I see it always remarking, "I love this book so much." I knew I had read it at least twice, but when opening the cover was surprised to see in my handwriting 2017, 2018, and 2019. Wow, three times! 

I remembered an author I dig who claims to read several favorite books every year for reference and reminder. I'm usually skeptical of this kind of thing, worried I might get sick of reading one too much, kind of like overplaying a song, you know?

Still, I couldn't resist. I hadn't read this favorite author in a few years, so I decided to indulge. Even told a few people who think I'm weird, "I'm going to treat myself to Mark Buchanan. I haven't had his voice in my head in a while."

Spiritual Rhythm is about seasons. Both physical and spiritual. The brilliant author blends them both in a way that makes this seasonally obsessed soul well, obsessed! It's funny when you read a text repeatedly how it hits you a different way each time (different season maybe?). Also, hello Bible, I'm looking at you too.

Anyway, I could go on and on, but if you're looking for a descriptive, instructive, delightful, and deeply insightful volume on what each physical season of the year looks like - winter, spring, summer and fall - and what you should do (and not) during its turn on the calendar pages, I can't recommend this enough.

And, if you dig faith-based books, MB masterfully connects the spiritual seasons of the heart with beauty and in ways that are very helpful in understanding our lives especially as we grow older and want to get the important things in the right order.

A lot of words up there to basically say, for (maybe) your final summer splurge, treat yourself to this book. Read it slowly. Savor it. Put it into practice.

And by all means, message me and tell me all about it.

You may find yourself in need of this trusted companion over the years as you move from season to season in your spiritual life. 

An Easter Gift for You

This Easter weekend is so tricky, isn't it?

To live "in the story". To pay attention.

Like today for example: Silent Saturday. It's a sacred day. We would do well to rest, as God and Jesus did, as the disciples, the women, all the Jewish folk observed Sabbath rest. Be still, be quiet, wait, watch. Trust. Don't worry or fret. No mindless chatter or activity.

Yet here I am, doing laundry, changing over winter curtains to spring/summer, running over to church to set up for tomorrow's Resurrection breakfast, hanging wreaths, prepping coffee pots. Next, I'll run to the store to make sure we have all the fixins for Scott to make his "famous" lemon pie (aka Joanna Gaines' famous lemon pie), his new empty nest hobby.

I was still this morning for a few hours early. I finished my Lent devotional. I prayed. I thanked God for the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I thanked Jesus for dying on the cross for my sins. I marveled that He raised Himself from the dead and lives today. I cried a little when I thanked Him for being my Savior and inviting me to join His family. For my secure position in it.

I have a few cards on which I've typed a series of statements that I review and state aloud in prayer a few times a week. A practice of "preaching the Gospel to myself". I've often heard messages encouraging this but wasn't sure how to go about it - so didn't for a long time - but often wondered if I was missing something important.

At the end of every year, I become the most annoying member of our family, like clockwork. I virtually chase everyone around inviting (alright, alright, insisting) each grownup consider taking on something new, or letting go of something unnecessary or unprofitable, or perhaps adding a spiritual discipline (birthday gift for Jesus, maybe?) in hopes of placing themself in a position for spiritual growth for the next twelve months. (Notice I never call it a new year's resolution or goal - nobody digs that.)

What made this past New Year's different, was that my grown kids were home in my house. 24/7 access. Can you picture it and feel their excitement? This time I had an extra request of them. I asked for their input into one of my NY endeavors. I asked my three and their spouses, "What book(s) have you read that really marked your faith? You know, helped you grow and consequently respond in such a huge, line-in-the-sand kind of way that you recommend them to others or refer back to them again and again?" I want to read what they are reading. 

One title was given by all three of my kids. Turns out it was required reading when they attended Word of Life Bible Institute. It's a small, ancient little thing - A Gospel Primer for Christians by Milton Vincent. 

I found a copy in a basket of devotionals next to my morning chair, dusted it off and began in January. Part 1 is 31 readings called Reasons to Rehearse the Gospel Daily and Part 2 puts them in a brief list form which this Type A listmaker is most grateful for.

I was hooked right away and I tell you I understand the Gospel on a much deeper level now though I've been walking with Jesus and studying the Bible for 39 years. AND I get what preaching the Gospel to myself means practically and have a list in which to do it! Finally!

This list has enhanced my prayer time in many ways; what I talk to God about, what I ask Him for, what I don't need to ask Him for, and simply my level of gratitude and understanding. So good! 

As if all this wasn't thrilling enough, as I was making these discoveries, I said to my husband, "I wish I had a laminator so I could print these out, laminate and keep in my Bible." 

You're not going to believe what he said.

"The church has a laminator." 

My whole life changed in that moment. 

So did his.

Obviously, I can't print and laminate all of you a copy, but if you're interested in this game changing practice of preaching the Gospel to yourself every day, I'm just going to leave this list here for you. 

Read it regularly. Read it slowly. Maybe only a few lines a day. Really let it sink in. Change the pronouns so that it becomes prayer. 

I guarantee it will get you out of any funk you find yourself in, bring you encouragement on your worst day, change your complaints or entitlement to gratitude, take your eyes off self and put them on Jesus and others, give you a clear understanding of who God is, how He feels about you and what your purpose is, and just overall fill you with the fullness of joy Jesus died to give you. 

That is what we're celebrating this weekend, isn't it?

Happy Easter, dear friends. He is Risen!

Preaching the Gospel To Myself Everyday

My God is immense beyond imagination. He measured the entire universe with merely the span of His hand.

He is unimaginably awesome in all of His perfections, absolutely righteous, holy, and just in all of His ways.

He has also been unbelievably good and merciful to me as the Creator and Sustainer of my life.

Every breath, every heartbeat, every function of every organ in my body is a gift from Him.

Every legitimate pleasure I experience is a gift from His loving hand to me.

All that I am and all that I have I owe to Him and to His goodness.

My life in every way is, and will continue to be, utterly dependent upon Him in whom I live and move and have my being.

This wonderful God is the most supremely worthy Object of admiration, honor and delight in all of the universe.

He has created me with the intention that I might glorify Him by finding my soul’s delight in Him and by living in joyful obedience to Him in all of my ways.

Yet I could not have failed this great God more miserably than I have.

Instead of giving thanks to Him and humbly submitting to His rule over my life, I have rebelled against Him and have actually sought to exalt myself above Him.

Going my own way and living according to my own wisdom, I have broken countless times either the letter or the spirit of every one of God’s Ten Commandments.

Thinking myself to be wise, I have shown myself to be a fool; and because of my arrogance, God has every right to damn me to the everlasting experience of His terrifying wrath in the lake of fire.

So as for myself, apart from Christ I am bound by the guilt of my sins and also bound by the power of sin, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures.

Apart from Christ, I am so utterly deserving of and destined for eternal punishment in the lake of fire, completely unable to save myself or even to make one iota of a contribution to my own salvation.

However, what I could not do, God did – and in doing it, He did it all, sending His own Son into the world to die on the cross for my sins, thereby showing me unfathomable love.

God loved me so much that He was willing to suffer the loss of His Son, and even more amazingly, He was willing to allow His Son to suffer the loss of Him at the cross.

Jesus loved me so much that He was willing to lay down His life for me. No one could ever love me more or better than Jesus.

On the third day after Jesus’ death, God raised Him from the dead, thereby announcing that His death was completely sufficient to atone for every sin that I have or will commit throughout my lifetime.

God then exalted Christ to His own right hand, where Christ now reigns from on high, granting salvation and forgiveness to all who call on Him by faith.

Now when my time came and I placed my faith in Jesus, God instantly granted me a great salvation.

He forgave me of all my sins, past, present, and future.

He made me His child, adopting me into His family.

He gave me the gift of the Holy Spirit, who gives me God’s power, who pours out God’s love within my heart, and who tenderly communicates to my spirit that I am a child of God and an heir of eternal glory in heaven.

In saving me, God also freed me from slavery to any and all sins.

I no longer have to sin again, for sins’s mastery over me has been broken!

In saving me, God also justified me, and being justified through Christ, I have a peace with God that will endure forever.

In justifying me, God declared me innocent of my sins and pronounced me righteous with the very righteousness of Jesus.

God also made complete peace with His future and present wrath against me by Jesus, who bore it upon Himself while on the cross.

Consequently, God now has only love, compassion, and deepest affection for me, and this love is without any mingling of wrath whatsoever.

God always looks upon me and treats me with gracious favor, always working all things together for my ultimate and eternal good.

God’s grace abounds to me even through trials.

Because I am a justified one, He takes mastery over every trial and forces it to do good unto me.

When I sin, God’s grace abounds to me all the more as He graciously maintains my justified status as described above.

When I sin, God feels no wrath in His heart against me.

His heart is filled with nothing but love for me, and He longs for me to repent and confess my sins to Him, so that He might show me the gracious and forgiving love that has been in His heart all along.

God does not require my confession before He desires to forgive me.

In His heart He has already forgiven me; and when I come to Him to confess my sins to Him, He runs to me (as it were) and is repeatedly embracing and kissing me even before I get the words of my confession out of my mouth!

God does see my sins, and He is grieved by my sins. His grief comes partly from the fact that in my moments of sin, I am not receiving the fullness of His love for me.

He even sends chastisement into my life; but He does so because He is for me, and He loves me; and He disciplines me for my ultimate good.

I don’t deserve any of this, even on my best day; but this is my salvation, and in it I stand.

Thank you, Jesus.

Live in The Story

Today is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. Some of you know this because you've already been engaged in this sacred season through fasting, praying and giving to the poor these past six weeks.

But this week things are ramping up. Can you feel it? Today, we remembered Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem on an appointed donkey. He sat on the lowly animal and rode into the busy city while the crowd erupted into 'messianic joy' as one author put it. Men, women and children waved palm branches and laid their cloaks down for the donkey to trample over, a king's welcome. That's something. It would seem they knew who He was and what He could do for them. The Old Testament prophets said it would happen this way.

I walked that downhill road four years ago when I had the tremendous privilege of visiting the Holy Land. It's a narrow path, not like American parade routes two car lanes wide. No, anyone on the street could probably have reached out and touched Jesus if they wanted to. I want to.

What especially struck me this morning as I listened to my favorite Preacher read the familiar Bible verses was that Jesus received all the praise and affection and joy from the multitude knowing that every single person waving their branch, shouting their cheers would turn on Him - some violently - in the next few days. All of them.

Still, He loved them. Loves them. Loves you. Loves me. 

He willingly died for all sins - past, present and future. 

Jesus factored in all of my sins before He ever offered salvation to me, and I said yes. Ah, this is why we need sacred holidays and times of remembrance. 

My husband invited our people to live in The Story this coming week leading up to The Big Day, Easter Sunday. Something significant happened each day in Jesus' life this Holy Week so long ago. He overturned tables in the Temple, He washed His disciples' feet, He spoke last words, He prayed, and so much more. 

Now, I'm inviting you too. Enter the narrative every day. It's not hard to do. Read the Gospels. Stop at the end of each day. Pick it up the next. Consider where you would have stood. Participant. Spectator. Worshiper. Scoffer. Believer. Doubter. Feel the emotions. 

We can all do it. We should. Feel the weight of Jesus' suffering - and His willingness to take it upon Himself because of love for you. Remember the cost. Believe the love. Consider your response.

Go to church services. Especially Good Friday and obviously, Resurrection Sunday. There's no more important place to be, I promise.

There's a lot to think about between now and then. If we're going to give it the weight it deserves and an appropriate response, it's going to take some time. I hope you will join me in clearing out needed space and turning down distracting noise and unnecessary activity to live in The Story this week and ask God to show you the wonder in something new or something familiar.

 I'd even love to chat with you about your findings.

P.S. The songs! Listen to the songs. For those of you my age and older, dust off those Sandy Patti cd's. Play them loud and proud. Sing with gusto. Was it a morning like this? Who will call Him King of Kings? Unshakeable Kingdom, anyone? How about I've just seen Jesus? All of them!

If you're really hip, you can just ask Alexa to play them. She'll do it. Ask me how I know.