The room begins pitch black.
Out of the darkness, this song, Immanuel, begins to play.
The Christ candle shares its flame with hand-held candles throughout the room. As the song progresses, the room transforms from dark to light.
Fears melt, hope flickers, and heart-bent knees bow.
Without fail, Michael Card’s music has been a part of every Christmas celebration I’ve planned over the years.
God with us. Oh, what a glorious truth!
Thank You, Jesus.
These three little guys nailed it in their most recent commercial: It always seems that the best holiday tradition begins in the kitchen.
So, what’s your favorite kitchen-driven tradition?
I had a tough time coming up with a favorite as both grandmothers were amazing cooks. I wish I’d spent more time (okay, time) watching them whip up their goodies, but alas, I was too distracted by batter-laden spatulas to care.
However, I came up with a winner: My grandmother’s peanut butter fudge. Few things compare to the gritty crunch one experienced with every delectable bite.
Your turn! Do you have a favorite holiday food that stirs up sweet memories for you?
Peering from my window I see:
High shadows from children’s swings being swung in the City Park.
Teenagers playing hoops.
A man sitting on a bench alone, head hung low
never raising his head to acknowledge those passing by.
Is his heart as barren as the trees surrounding him?
People drive past — most at the speed of light, others singing merrily as they cruise by.
Where are they going?
A few spot me perched in my upstairs window and wave, most are oblivious to the fact that a house is standing nearby.
All this while Beef Burgundy simmers on the stove downstairs. No wonder I never finished the post I began two hours ago.
Aren’t you thankful the Lord never sees us as a distraction?
Christmas reminds us once a year of dynamic truths that can launch every day to heights never imagined: God is with us. He resides within us. He watches over us. He is intimately acquainted with us. No one knows us better—or loves us more. No one.
“She’s so cute…and she hasn’t even done anything yet,” a friend said after seeing Piper’s most recent picture.
My response? “She doesn’t have to.”
As the words fell from my lips, the Lord whispered neither do you.
Piper doesn’t have to speak, smile, or giggle to win more of my affection. She has my heart clinched tightly in her tiny fist—no matter what. There’s nothing she could do to make me love or accept her more.
As God’s children, we’ll find ourselves both delighting and grieving the heart of our heavenly Father—but His love for us? It wavers not.
Jumping through hoops of perfectionism, perhaps unknowingly, in hopes of gaining more of God’s love or attention will eventually bring us to the point of exhaustion. Refreshment, rest, and a deep abiding joy is ours when we choose to embrace that which is already ours as a Christ follower—God’s unfathomable, magnificent, and unconditional gift of love.
No hoops required.
1 John 4:9-10 “This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (NIV)
