faith
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The 12 blogs of Christmas #12: Packing up Jesus
It’s that time of year again. Time to put Jesus in a box. Pluck him off the shelf and swaddle him in tissue paper and stash him in the basement until next year. Christmas is over, right? And this final blog post is kinda late, right? Reason #1: I had the stomach flu. Reason #2: I meant it to be “late”. If the 25th marks the day we celebrate Jesus’ birth, he’s a whopping 4 days old and now it’s kind of like… party’s over. Thanks for coming. Now everyone go home. Here’s the thing: babies grow. And grow and keep growing and walk and talk and go on to…
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The 12 Blogs of Christmas #10: Old Eyes
She is old. She is weathered. Life has not been easy. She spends her days and nights in the temple. She understands prayer, she’s familiar with fasting, and she is waiting for something big. She is Anna. Anna the prophetess. One of the most (to me) obscure, intriguing characters in the account of Christ’s birth. Little baby boys were carried in and out of the temple all the time, to undergo a ceremony according to the law of Moses. Anna must have had seen hundreds of babies pass through the temple doors. But when her eyes fall on this baby she immediately knows. This is it. HE is it. He’s…
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The 12 Blogs of Christmas #9: Disillusionment
Disappointment has a sister and her name is disillusionment. Mary certainly doesn’t come across as disappointed with the unexpected direction her life abruptly took (“My soul glorifies the Lord!”) but as a girl turned mother turned wife, I wonder if she was a wee bit disillusioned. Maybe there’s a better word for my life isn’t going how I thought it would. Interrupted? Pushed off course? God loved Mary, clearly. Chose her to play one of the most significant roles in His-Story. And Mary’s response? Let it be done to me as you have said. Faith and obedience join hands. So for all of her obedience and faith shouldn’t God… I…
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The 12 blogs of Christmas #7: Ponder
(This is a re-post. *First Ponder was written shortly after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Connecticut in Dec. of 2012) Today is a snow day. A perfect day to ponder and lately, I’ve been pondering what it means to ponder…. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) Mary did not endure packed Wal-Mart aisles. She wasn’t in charge of baking the Christmas ham, didn’t stress over gingerbread cookies or family coming over or finding last minute stocking stuffers. She wasn’t hunting down the scotch tape or waiting in line at the post office, or figuring out what to wear or…
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Christmas Paradox
Paradox enhances any story and the Christmas story is paradox at its best. Maybe unexpected is a better word, as in Who would have thunk it? or Say what?! Lots of people were waiting for the messiah but his entrance wasn’t like anything they were expecting. A few Christmas surprises: The glorious becomes an embryo. Remember Moses? Remember how in the Old Testament God gave him a glimpse of His Glory, but only a glimpse, because if Moses were to see all of God’s glory he would die? Well now all that glory is condensed and concealed in the most hidden of places—Mary’s womb. Vulnerable. Dependent. Entering the world, like…
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The 12 Blogs of Christmas #3: Light
I have found the hot spot in my house and I never want to leave. My loveseat is drenched in sunlight and I’m as warm as toast, even though it’s frightfully cold outside and the clouds zoom through the sky like boats on a lake. It is one of those rare and wonderful days where I don’t need to be anywhere for a few hours. I’ll grocery shop later. I’ll throw in a load of laundry later. Right now I’m all about basking in this light. I’m staying put. So is the dog it seems. From this spot I’ve worked on my computer, done a little reading, made a phone…
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The Twelve Blogs of Christmas: #2 Peace
I have lost the A in PEACE. The stockings are hung by the chimney in aggravation because my mantelpiece bears a typo: P E C E. So reads my stocking hangers. Rearranging them only renders further nonsense: CEEP. PEEC. ECEP. There isn’t much you can do without that A. I kind of need that A. Oh where oh where is that wayward A? Somewhere in my basement, no doubt, to be uncovered when I’m packing up the stockings. Decoratively speaking, I have been robbed of my PEACE. Peace is an illusive thing. Almost indefinable. Is peace the absence of war and conflict? But what if conflict or war leads to…
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Drop the Chicken Bone
My dog ate a chicken bone yesterday on our walk. I don’t know how she found it buried under the stratum of ice, but, presumably, her nose led her to it. She dug it up, ate half of the frozen thing, and growled at me when I tried to take it away. She got half, I got half. I suppose that’s fair. While she was chomping down her half, I stood on the sidewalk shouting things like, “Drop it! You don’t want that! That might taste good now but that’s going to hurt coming up (or out)! You stupid, stupid dog! Drop it!” (Please don’t call The Society on me…
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First, Ponder
Today’s a snow day. A perfect day to ponder and lately, I’ve been pondering what it means to ponder…. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. (Luke 2:19) Mary did not endure packed Wal-Mart aisles. She wasn’t in charge of baking the Christmas ham, didn’t stress over gingerbread cookies or family coming over or finding last minute stocking stuffers. She wasn’t hunting down the scotch tape or waiting in line at the post office, or figuring out what to wear or what dish to bring to what party. Mary was pregnant. And she was a virgin. Which made her prime suspect for public and…
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Hold the Mustard
The other day I spilled an entire container of mustard seeds. That tiny spice container with the red cap may look small, but don’t be fooled–it holds 7 million tiny yellow buggers just dying to get out. They bounced from my cupboard to the counter to the floor, and kept bouncing like a jillion miniature ping-pong balls. Plink! Plink! Plink! Plink! Hooray! We’re free! If it hadn’t been such a grumpy day—where everyone in the house was mad at everyone else for no good reason—I might have smiled. Or laughed. I should have because really, the sound they made splattering everywhere was just so happy, so cute. But in the…