Category: Advent

Advent Begins

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Ready or not…here I come.

Classic line from a child’s game, right?

I think it’s the perfect way to start our journey of Advent.

Readiness. How is one to get ready? Are we ever really ready?

We rush around getting ready for “Christmas” by buying, baking, and decorating. We’re experts in the “rush and hurry” department.

But in our hearts and minds, in our homes, and in our actions, have made room to receive this amazing give that is full of promise and saturated with peace?

He’s coming ready or not. Let’s be ready.

Loving and giving God, giver of all gifts. You know what is on our list, but you know what we truly need. In this season where the focus is often on the trappings and externals, we want to focus (oh how hard that is) and make room for the gift of your son, your self. May the mystery of what that is and how that is unfold and bring us into deeper trust and faith. Show us the path that leads to readiness and help us to walk in it. Amen.

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Protecting Baby Jesus

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I found this on my Facebook news feed. It seems a little boy was concerned when he heard the pastor describe Herod’s rage and plan to kill all the baby boys born around the same time as Jesus.

This was his solution. Baby Jesus needs protecting.

And maybe that’s not such a bad idea. Have you heard? Thieves are stealing Baby Jesus from nativities everywhere.

Watch this

Companies are offering insurance. People are putting GPS tracking devices in statues so they can find Jesus.

Have you been trying to protect Baby Jesus?

The question sounds ridiculous until we think about how we also try to protect God. How in the world would we do that, you ask.

Have you ever decided not to take your needs to God because they’re too small to matter or too big for Him to handle?

Have you pulled a “Sarah” and provided God with your plan to help Him out–and get what you want when you want it rather than waiting on His timing?

Do you ever protect God’s reputation from ridicule or scrutiny by leaving him out of your conversations and choices?

Perhaps rather than “protecting” Him, we would be better off knowing Him better. If we had a clearer perspective on who He is and how he sees us:

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth!
    Your glory is higher than the heavens.
You have taught children and infants
    to tell of your strength,
silencing your enemies
    and all who oppose you.

When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers—
    the moon and the stars you set in place—
what are mere mortals that you should think about them,
    human beings that you should care for them?
Yet you made them only a little lower than God
    and crowned them[e] with glory and honor.
You gave them charge of everything you made,
    putting all things under their authority—
the flocks and the herds
    and all the wild animals,
the birds in the sky, the fish in the sea,
    and everything that swims the ocean currents.

O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! (Psalm 8, NLT)

That God doesn’t need me to protect Him. But, I definitely need him!

How about you?

 

 

 

I Just Don’t Think Like God

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There was a time, early in my ministry, when I felt like God was nudging me toward a position in a state far from home and everything familiar.

Nothing about the potential move made any sense at all.

My husband and I traveled to Wisconsin from Ohio, interviewed, and talked the long trip home about how God couldn’t possibly want this for us.

We couldn’t call the district superintendent until Wednesday. Three days after we returned home. We would wait and then tell him, “No thank you.”

But before Wednesday came Tuesday. On Tuesday night there was a missionary speaker. I was on the platform as music director and my husband sat in the back pew with our two daughters (ages 2 and 1).

Three times during the message the missionary said, “God’s ways don’t always make sense.”

Do you ever feel like God has to bang pretty hard to get something through to you? I felt that way that night.

I didn’t look at my husband the remainder of the service. We gathered our things and walked in silence to the car. We said nothing most of the way home and then all at once, from both of us at the same time, out it poured.

We both heard it. We both knew. We were moving to Wisconsin.

Because God’s ways don’t always make sense.

Christmas teaches us that. None of what God did, or used, or planned made any sense from our limited, human perspective.

Can we trust that even now, today, His plans may not make sense to us, but there’s a reason and He is beyond worthy of our trust?

I hope so.

Here’s one of my favorite Christmas songs that poses the question from Joseph’s point of view.

Scripture text to ponder and consider: Isaiah 55 

What Season Is It?

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Here we are in the season of Advent. For years I have written a daily devotion, focusing on different aspects of preparing for Christmas.

This year I didn’t…couldn’t.

I’ve felt like the child in the picture above. Watching. Feeling separated from whatever else was happening. My mind scattered, feeling unable to focus on what was necessary.

Waiting. Surely something is coming. It’s right around the corner. Anticipating. Daring to reach out and take hold of hope.

But hope is fragile, fleeting, and confusing.

Do I really want what I think I want? Can I handle it? Or will it disappoint again…will I?

Yes, it’s Advent. Are you watching? What is around the corner for you?

(More Advent thoughts to come…let’s walk the road to Bethlehem together.)

 

 

Nehemiah Devotions: Chapter 2, Day 1

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Monday
Text: Early the following spring, in the month of Nisan, during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes’ reign, I was serving the king his wine. (Nehemiah 2:1, NLT)

We start our thoughts this week with Nehemiah roughly six months later. Did you catch that? Chapter one begins in late autumn and chapter picks back up in early spring.

What’s up with that? The need was great. Nehemiah’s response had been intense. I would have expected God to move immediately. Wouldn’t you?

But the success Nehemiah prayed for, the favor of the king, needed time to unfold.

God works that way. God doesn’t always answer the way we want or expect. We need to trust that God is working even when we can’t, don’t, or won’t see it. God is never late.

Have you experienced a time when God answered your prayer with an instant “yes”? How about a definite “no”? Can you trust him to be working when there is not instant answer?

SP Neh 2 waiting with clock

Second only to suffering, waiting may be the greatest teacher and trainer in godliness, maturity, and genuine spirituality that most of us ever encounter. ~Richard Hendrix

Emmanuel…God With Us

 

How interesting that while we have spent this entire waiting for Jesus to be born, for God to enter the scene…He has been with us the whole time.

His love has been present.
His grace has been active.
His power has been manifest.

He is Emmanuel. His name is the reminder that God is always with us.

That’s the best gift of all.

No matter what we face. No matter where we are. He is there.

He will never leave us or forsake us.

And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39, NLT

PRAYER: Ever-present, all wise, and loving God, thank you for the gift of your Son…for what it meant and what it means. Help us to keep Christmas in our hearts and our actions all year long. And make us aware of you blessed presence everyday as we journey into another new year. Amen.

 

No More Waiting

And that’s the way it was with us before Christ came. We were like children; we were slaves to the basic spiritual principles of this world. But when the right time came, God sent his Son, born of a woman, subject to the law. God sent him to buy freedom for us who were slaves to the law, so that he could adopt us as his very own children. Galatians 4:3-5, NLT

 

We’re almost there. You have been so patient. I’m really quite impressed that you’ve stayed with me to the end.

I chuckled when I read this morning’s text. Who among us can’t relate to the fullness of this season? Our schedules are full. Our houses are full. Our bellies are over-full. About the only thing no longer full is our wallet or checking account. (Insert sad face here.)

But the fullness or right on timeness that Paul is writing to the Galatians about has nothing to do with this and everything to do with God’s perception of time.

We look at Christmas and I imagine our thoughts resonate with Joseph’s:

If we were in charge, we would have picked a different time, a different way…and we would have missed it…and messed it up.

God’s ways don’t make sense. But that’s probably because we don’t think like he does.

He knows best: when and how.

PRAYER: God, you who created time, who are over time, yet in and all the way through it…be born in us today. Amen.

Wait not Weary

Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Galatians 6:9, NIV

 

Dictionary.com: physically or mentally exhausted by hard work, exertion, strain, etc.; fatigued; tired; characterized by or causing impatience or dissatisfaction, as in a weary wait.

Are we there yet?

 

The question doesn’t belong just to children on long road trips.

As adults we become victims of exhaustion, impatience, and dissatisfaction.

How long do we have to be good and do good?

It reminds me of the question asked of Jesus: how many times do I have to forgive?

We want to know how long we have to keep this up.

But perhaps the problem is with the question itself. Sure we want to see the goal, the finish line. Maybe we would find greater inspiration if we would keep our eyes on the prize instead: the harvest–all the good stuff, the fruit of our labors.

PRAYER: God, we want to do good, to be good, but sometimes we’re just tired. Forgive us for acting like petulant children. Give us grace, strength, and courage to stay the course and keep our eye on the prize–to your honor and glory. Amen.

 

Waiting…Expectantly

 

There’s a HUGE difference in the way believers should be waiting.

If we believe that God is in control. That what happens in our lives has reason and meaning. That even when we can’t see or understand what’s going on…God is still in the business of “working all things for our good” (Romans 8:28).

Then we should be expecting something—anticipating God to do something.

 

As we draw ever nearer to Christmas, I pray that we would find our childlike faith. Watch a child and how they are just about to burst with anticipation.

God is about to break into the scene afresh.

Anticipate it. Expect it. Rejoice in it.

PRAYER: God, I want to believe you are working all things for my good. I don’t always see it. I don’t expect it. Forgive me for doubting and looking for the other shoe to drop. Renew my childlike faith and give eyes to see you working anew and afresh. Amen.

 

Waiting, Steadfastly

But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me. Micah 7:7, ESV

 

“But as for me…”

Even when no one else will wait.

When waiting makes no sense to anyone else.

I’m going to wait on God.

Why?

Because He is the God of my salvation and I know that He has heard me…and will hear me.

PRAYER: God, sometimes it’s hard to wait on you. Others give up and I feel alone. But as for me…I would rather be without my friends than to be without the God who saves me and hears me when I call. Amen.