MERRY CHRISTMAS!

 

From our hearts and hearth to yours, have a

and a Happy and Blessed New Year!

I will be taking a much needed break from blogging until after the New Year.  Thanks to each and every one of you for all your kind thoughts and comments during 2025.  See y'all in 2026!

Shine the Light

 

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness a light has dawned. ~Isaiah 9:2

Lord, make me an instrument of thy peace.  Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. ~St. Francis of Assisi

Christmas is the season of light and life.  As we retell the story of Jesus' humble birth in a stable, our hearts swell with gratefulness.  We celebrate God becoming one of us in order to save us all from sin and death.  So many reasons to rejoice and praise rejoice and praise our Lord and King!

If you are a baby boomer, you've seen plenty of changes over the years and made countless Christmas memories.  Some are exquisite treasures to unwrap as we reminisce about days gone by.  Others may evoke a melancholy when we remember the dear ones we love who are no longer with us.

I dare say that most of us experience both types of these memories at Christmas.

Last year, Danny finds a box of ornaments that he remembers from his childhood.  I don't personally have any ornaments from that long ago, the the ones my parents and grandparents placed on the tree looked a lot like these.

I find myself waxing nostalgic for those days when these fragile orbs sparkled in the lights strung on the tree.  I suppose they would be classified as vintage now.

And speaking of vintage, Danny also salvages a toy fire truck he played with as a kid and places it under our tree.

I know that's a bit unorthodox, but it matches the red firetruck ornament that his sons used to hang on the tree each year.

He thinks the grandchildren, who will be visiting after Christmas, will get a kick out of it, and they probably will.  And take a look at which not-so-old ornament is hanging right above the truck?

Some of you will instantly recognize the Tunnel to Towers logo and know the incredible work this organization does.  It's a noble charity that both Danny and I are proud to support.  Founded by Frank Siller whose little brother, a firefighter, died attempting to rescue people from the Twin Towers on 9/11, Tunnel to Towers helps families of firefighters, police and veterans who are injured or killed in the line of duty.  They provide mortgage-free, and when necessary, handicapped-accessible homes for these selfless heroes.

Not just in this season of hope but all year round, this organization is shining the light of hope in what would otherwise be a dark time of grief and despair for those families of the injured or fallen in the line of duty.  Would you like to join in their efforts?  You can!  For only $11 a month, you can support Tunnel to Towers and help them continue to do good for our brave men and women in uniform.  Their website is www.T2T.org if you wish to shine the light of Jesus into the lives of so many deserving patriots and their families.

As we reflect upon and give thanks for the greatest gift ever given to us in Jesus, may we open our hands and hearts to give love to others this Christmas season.

Amen!

The Greatest Story Ever Told

 

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ~John 1:1

I'm a hopeless bibliophile.  The photo above proves it beyond a shadow of at doubt. (And these are by no means all of the book-filled shelves in the house.)  Believe it or not, I've managed to give away some books over the years because, although they are entertaining at the time, I have no interest in reading them again.  Danny has the patience of Job when it comes to allowing such a collection to swell our downstairs shelves.

Last week, I'm in that same room putting away the last of the Thanksgiving paraphernalia, when my eyes are inexplicably drawn to a thin, spineless book squeezed between two others.

What in the world?  Curiosity, of course, wins the day.  I pull the tattered book from the shelf and to my utter surprise, this is what greets me.

I am truly confounded.  Where did this book come from?  I have no memory whatsoever of buying it from any used book shop or yard sale.  I carry it upstairs and show it to Danny.  No, he's never seen it before.  We open it to the first cover and find this inscription:

Janet with love from Aunt Nealie.  Christmas 1940.

Neither of us know a Janet nor had an Aunt Nealie.  Reason tells me that I must have picked up this tiny volume at some time or another, but to have no prior recollection, especially for a book this old defies logic.

Why was my attention grabbed by this non-descript, backless book on the shelf?  And right as Christmas is upon us?  My conclusion?  It's a God-incidence!

I begin reading The Life of Our Lord straightaway.  Although some of the language Dickens uses from the KJV might be confusing for today's children with its thees, thous and thys when he quotes from scripture, that can easily be amended while reading aloud to your children or grandchildren.  Since our grand-girls will be visiting the day after Christmas and staying until the second of January, that gives us the perfect opportunity to enjoy some reading sessions together.

You may be wondering, too, why Mr. Dickens did not want his account published as were his other books.  Here is what the foreword says:  A few hours before he was stricken with the attack which caused his death a day later, Dickens wrote a letter to John M. Makeham, who had accused him of irreverence in a passage of "The Mystery of Edwin Drood."  The final paragraph of that letter, perhaps the last word written by Dickens, contained this statement:  "I have always striven in my writings to express veneration for the life and lessons of Our Saviour, because I feel it and because I rewrote that history for my children - every one of whom knew it from having it repeated to them - long before they could read and almost as soon as they could speak.  But I have never made proclamation of this from the housetops."

The long and short of this is, Charles Dickens didn't want what he referred to as the ". . . best book that ever was or will be known in the world" to be thought of as anything less than that.  The best!

And that's precisely why he wrote it for his own children that they might understand the magnitude and majesty of Jesus' coming into the world to save us all.  It is, after all, the greatest story ever told.

Amen!

The Coming of the Lord

 

He who testifies to these things says, "Yes, I am coming soon."  Amen.  Come, Lord Jesus. ~Revelation 22:20

The Lord is coming, always coming.  When you have ears to hear and eyes to see, you will recognize him at any moment of your life.  Life is Advent; life is recognizing the coming of the Lord. ~Henri Nouwen

As we enter the highly anticipated season of Advent, have we quieted our souls and prepared room in our hearts for the imminent coming of the Lord?  Are we, as Nouwen states, recognizing Jesus' presence not just in this season, but in all the ordinary moments of our lives?

And if we're not living in a perpetual state of expectancy, then why aren't we?  What would it take for us to do so?

Advent invites us to slow down, to sit in stillness, to allow that feeling of waiting with expectancy to fill us once again.  Is that easy to do in the hustle-bustle of the holiday?  No, but we should make every effort to accept God's invitation to come away with Him for a while and find rest as we prepare for the miracle of miracles, the birth of our Savior.

My prayer for you, my friends, is that you will heartily embrace this season with its promise of hope, joy, peace, and love.  The coming of the Lord Jesus is right around the corner.

Amen!

Do you have any special Advent traditions?  Please share in the comments.