Christmas

Christmas is a powerful time of year.  More people commit suicide during this time, wars have stopped for Christmas day, people forgive and lose the chip on their shoulder sometimes.  Why?  I don't personally care if everyone is talking about Santa and his reindeer.  People like to hear Church bells on Christmas eve.  Oh sure!  There are a few out there that are so cranky about it that they hate anything that has to do with it.  But why?  Why does it have the  power to affect people so?   Ramadan does not bother me at all, and neither do lots of other holidays that are for people of other religions. 
It is said that Christ wasn't even born in December and I think that is accurate.  Not knowing the actual day of His birth we humans cannot even take a day in our calender and say it is more holy than others because of what happened upon it.  So where does this power come from?  How are we affected so greatly by it?  It can't be the shopping frenzy because in WW II those soldiers hadn't seen a store or Christmas tree.  Is it perhaps because "...there is no other name under Heaven given by which we must be saved" (ACTS 4:12)?
We are celebrating the most powerful, and loving being in the universe.  On a day that is perhaps no more different than any other except that we are choosing to think on our Savior's sacrifice of coming to earth for us and internalize His act and His person?  What would happen if we choose to do that on a more regular basis?

Poems

In days of old Poets were renowned for expressing the heart and soul like none other could.  I can't say that I love every poem written or that I even understand them all.  But there is truly something stirring in verses from the heart and soul.  My favorite poet is Miss Adelaide Ann Proctor.  She lived in the 1800s and had a lot of influence under a pen name.  Her poems have stirred me for years and I am thankful that God saw fit to inspire her in such a way; so I am sharing one of her poems with you for Thanksgiving.  


Strive, Wait and Pray


STRIVE;  yet I do not promise
The prize you dream of to-day
Will not fade when you think to grasp it,
And melt in your hand away;
But another and holier treasure,
You would now perchance disdain,
Will come when your toil is over,
And pay you for all your pain.


WAIT;  yet I do not tell you
The hour you long for now
Will not come with it's radiance vanished,
And a shadow upon its brow;
Yet far through the misty future,
With a crown of starry light,
An hour of joy you know not
Is winging her silent flight.


PRAY;  though the gift you ask for
May never comfort your fears,
May never repay your pleading,
Yet pray and with hopeful tears;
An answer, not that you long for,
But diviner, will come one day;
Your eyes are to dim to see it,
Yet strive, and wait, and pray. 

Life can, um, er, Inhale vigorously…

Life, like boot camp, is never survived well alone.  There are numerous people out in the world today that were at Lackland AFB, Texas with me the summer of 1996 and I couldn’t have done it without them!  Boot camp is hard and one of the things it teaches is that even if you are a star student you will not do well without your fellow Airman.  I have always been a “just do it” kind of girl so this was a very new lesson for me to learn.  I could iron shirts and nylons (yes, we did that, no wrinkles allowed!) like nobody’s business!  I could get underwear into a perfect flat square or shave all the “wooly-boogers” (technical military jargon) off of socks.  But I can’t shine boots worth beans.  Okay, that lesson wasn’t so hard and the obvious solution occurred. 

There were many days though that I just wasn’t sure I had what it was going to take.  We were not allowed to speak to each other during Physical Training or while in the chow line.  But more than one Airman at Lackland that summer risked wrath and punishment to encourage me.  It became a habit with all of us.  There were 700 Airman in our class alone, not to mention the other 2 classes at training at the same time.  We were vigilant with our training but we were all suffering together and we respected each other for it.  We pulled each other through, there was no other alternative!

Why this walk down memory lane?  We are all suffering in this life.  God promises us that in His word and one doesn’t need to look far to see the truth of it.  God does let us know how to make it to the finish line though.  He has left scriptures that remind us to encourage our brothers and sisters.  Romans 12:15 talks about joining in the sadness of the sad and partying with the folks who have something to celebrate.  Then we have another passage.

“So let’s do it, full of belief, confident that we’re presentable inside and out.  Let’s keep a firm grip on the promises that keep us going.  He always keeps His word.  Let’s see how inventive we can be in encouraging love and helping out, not avoiding worshiping together as some do but spurring each other on, especially as we see the big Day approaching.”  (Hebrews 10:25 MSG)

So, what is it that we can say or do to encourage folks?  I’m sure you have ideas and if you don’t mind I would love for you to share some of them. 

If any of you are like me though, and you need encouragement right now yourself, God Himself has a message for you…  Turn in your Bible to Isaiah 54:10.  If you can, read the whole chapter.  God is talking to His people about how they will come out of bad times, How God Himself will bring them out!

This photo intrigues me - being a connoisseur of Autumn splendor I wanted to get the leaves in the water up close.  But something else has occurred to me besides pretty leaves.  The sunlight on the top leaf is very harsh and glaring, but you can see a difference in the part of the leaf that is under water.  The water diffuses the light and causes the leaf to look more vibrant.  On the rocks you can see where the water has allowed the light through more in some places than others, as it chooses.


Life is harsh and sometimes we feel blinded and washed out, bleached really.  We can become a sad comparison to who we were created to be, and perhaps was at one time.  Jesus is the living water and He can and does diffuse the harshness that comes at us day by day.  Although what I just typed is very true you might be thinking, "well, there is no "Lake Jesus" that I can physically dive into and I'm feeling bleached and worn out!"  So what now?  How about an analogy:


When I think of the most enjoyable and fulfilled time in my life I think of when I was falling in love with the man who would  become my husband.  I was in college and everything went through the filter of falling in love.  I cared about my grades but if I had one bad test or if someone became angry with me it didn't sink into my core.  There was a truth that I kept with me all day long.  He would find me on campus and flash me a winning smile that was just for me,  sometimes give me a note to let me know what he was thinking.  He loved me and he believed in me, no matter what.  Maybe I had a bad test, but he was there and thought well of me and that was more important.  Maybe someone treated me rudely but his believing in me meant more. 


What if we could use God's love to diffuse life the same way my new love did for me?  The same way the water diffuses the light for the leaves, only on a bigger scale?  The fact that I was falling in love with the man I was going to marry didn't change any of the circumstances of my day to day life, and it didn't make problems go away.  They just didn't matter as much as his affection.  Christ goes to bat for us every day and He believes in us, cares for us and wants the best for us.  Allowing God's love to shield us and diffuse life's harsh realities is a choice.


"There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love." (1 John 4:18 MSG)

χάρις

χάρις, pronounced "khä'-rēs"
Charisma, another word meaning the same as "charis", is said to be:  the spiritual condition of one governed by the power of divine grace.  I have to wonder sometimes if I am truly "governed by the power of divine grace".  I would love to speak of my spiritual condition being characterized by charis, but where is my proof?  Hmmm.  I can tell a cheap sweater from a true Angora mix by how it feels.  The physical sensation of Angora is a tough one to mimic, impossible truly. Cheap fuzz is no substitute for the tummy fur of one very fluffy bunny.  So how do we know if we are trying to be cheap fuzz or if we are the real deal and God simply must scoop us up in His arms because we are as relaxing to Him as when one of us needs to pet our kitty?  


I know for fact that this is possible for all of us!  The Bible says that Christians "perish for lack of knowledge".  I certainly don't wish to be part of that particular Biblical Statistic!  Yet, there are 1836 pages in my Bible.  How is one to download all of that in relevance into organized brain compartments to be pulled out and used on a daily basis?  We simply have to turn into ladylike versions of Indiana Jones.  Take a clue, a problem, a question and pursue it until we have satisfied ourselves with the truth.  Then go order a Cubano  coffee at our favorite cafe and contemplate what God has put into our psyche.  


Being a lady of charis is not easy, but then Indiana Jones didn't always have it easy either.  Poor chap.  One thing for sure, life will never be dull.