"In the bleak mid-winter"

 It was our last Christmas as a traditional family.

 We lived in Louisville, Kentucky.  

Life was beginning to be difficult.  I look back on that time and think "it was a bleak mid-winter".

However, we did something we had never done before - and I have continued to appreciate it for the 39 years since then.

We went to church.  Now, you are probably thinking of course you went to church.  You were married to a Baptist minister.  Well.  We didn't just go to church.  

We went to Midnight Mass at the Christ Church Cathedral (Episcopal).

I loved the procession.

I was not well educated with some of the traditions of the Episcopal Church, but I did enjoy participating in the service.

The next day my children enjoyed snow and the presents they were given.  It seems like maybe they didn't get very many presents.  I don't think they were aware of that and I'm not even sure if any of them remember the snow or the church service.

They do know that going to church on Christmas Eve stayed important to me.

And they know that I will so appreciate the opportunity I have tonight, not only to go to church but to be a part of the procession as I am one of the persons who will serve communion alongside our priests.  Who would have thought - 40 years ago tonight - that I would be doing that?

I've been thinking about my life - these past 40 years - reflecting on how I got from there to here.  And truly being grateful for the blessing of God on my life (and the lives of my children)  through so many people.

Christina Rosetti's poem (the source of the title of this blog) is most likely not historically accurate.  Scholars tell us that Jesus was not necessarily born when snow covered the ground.  However, the poem ends with words that resonate with me - "what can I give Him - give Him my heart".

Or being interpreted.

Tonight as I process, singing "O Come All Ye Faithful", I will be expressing the prayer of my heart - one of gratitude for all the blessings on our lives since that bleak mid-winter 40 years ago.

                                            May your life have enough sunshine

                                            to make your appreciate the shadows

What's love got to do with it?

 I'm confused. . .

Truth be told I'm always just a tad confused.  My excuse is that I am creative and I need that part of my personality to make it work.

What am I confused about now?

For years I have enjoyed Advent.  I love the lighting of the candles on an Advent wreath that's a part of worship services on the four Sundays that precede Christmas.  I usually write a blog each week during Advent.  This year has been no exception.  And I have an Advent wreath in my home.

My confusion is that I thought this week was the week that we light the candle of love.  As I researched, thought, and prayed about what to write the word I found was PEACE.  Humph.  I wrote on Peace two weeks ago.

So ... here are my thoughts on LOVE.

It plays a vital role in the Christmas story.  Because of Joseph's love for Mary, he didn't stone (nor did he shun)  his betrothed when he learned that she was going to have a child (Matthew 1:18-19).  

Mary had a natural motherly love for Jesus as she carried Him in her womb.  I loved that way Max Lucado said it:  "Mary loaned her womb so that the Son of God could be born to walk among us and later die on the cross for our sins".  But I am getting ahead of my story.

Jesus focused His preaching on love throughout His ministry.  " You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 'This is the greatest and first commandments.  And a second is like it.  'You shall love your neighbor as yourself" (Matthew 22;37-39). 

And I believe love is the greatest of all the virtues that the Advent candles represent.  Love encompasses Jesus' entire purpose for being on earth.  

And as Sally told Charlie Brown  "That's what Christmas is all about".

I've been thinking of some expressions of love that I know of - some that happened at Christmas.  Our daddy gave our mother her engagement ring a week before Christmas in 1941.  That was 80 years ago.  Their love for God each other and their children remains dear to me.

When my children and I were in the early years of being a single-parent family my son raked leaves so he could purchase a used (would you believe a mid-forties device?) waffle iron for me.  Later he found a train for my home. That was something I had wanted when he was a little boy but never found the funds to make that purchase.   

And then there's the story of the Gift of the Magi.  You know the one by O. Henry when the young bride sold her hair to buy a chain for her husband's watch who sold his watch to buy clips for her hair.  Each sold the most valuable thing he owned in order to buy a gift for the other.

What's love got to do with it?

Everything!

"For God so loved the world, that He gave His only Son" 

May your life have enough sunshine

so that  you will appreciate the shadows 

No greater joy

It is the third Sunday of Advent.  We light the candle of Joy.

Several years ago the Wonder Women's Bible Study that I facilitate did a Max Lucado story on finding JOY.  Each week much to their chagrin I insisted that we sing a little chorus “Rejoice in the Lord always” in rounds.

Earlier today I wrote, "I think the Joy candle is my favorite".

I've spent several hours trying to figure where that came from.

There have been some Christmas seasons when I had much joy.  In 1971 I had a newborn baby girl.  Barbara Streisand's song The Best Gift was perfect.  She really was (and continues to be) my best gift (well at least the first of three).

Then there was the year that I had very little joy.  1982 was the year that we became a single-parent family.  I made an effort to keep life as close to normal as possible so Sunday School was a priority.  Renee and Tray both boldly asked God for bicycles as they sat in a Sunday School class.  The arrival of two used bikes at our family home on Christmas Eve was met with tears of joy from a mother who was trying to figure all of this out.  And of course, Renee and Tray were overjoyed when they found a clue that led them to the bicycles that were awaiting them the next morning. 

Later the three of them learned the song “Rejoice in the Lord”.  With Becca accompanying them Renee and Tray sang “rejoice in the Lord, He makes no mistake he knoweth the way of each path that I take and when I am tried and purified I shall come forth as gold.”

This past summer their father passed away.  Did we rejoice?  No, of course not.  But we can all agree that God knew our path and while we may not be gold we believe that God has given us reasons for joy.

Those three gifts - remain my greatest source of joy (III John 4).

I'm sure I'm not alone in this statement - sometimes it's difficult to find joy.  

I have wonderful memories of a sweet couple, Jimmy and Geraldine Winburn, who worked with us in a small church in Chattanooga in the mid-'70s.  One of my fondest memories is of a sermon Jimmy preached from the book of James.  He reminded us that we are to count it all joy when difficulty comes our way.

He said that's what makes us Christ-like.

Jimmy passed away a few years ago after struggling with Alzheimer's.  I believe his sweet wife would say that she counts it all joy for the life that they shared.  

HUM

I don't always practice that.

I do know life is better when I make an effort to share.  Sometimes it does take effort.  It's not always easy to go to visit my mother who is sometimes clear and others quite confused.  But she always smiles!  I give her joy.  My garage is going to house a vehicle while my aunt and uncle take a trip.  My aunt thanked me for the gift.  I give her joy.   

JOY is the key to a  happy life!  "Joy to the world - joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea - Joy to you and me!"

The P'S of Christmas

I love the Christmas season.  From the music to the decorations to the traditional food and fellowship. And I love remembering Christmases PAST  I found this photo recently. My grandma Nesmith was great at arranging flowers.  Much of my childhood Christmases included my grandparents.  And of course Church - and Christmas PAGEANTS - as a participant then a parent and a grandparent. This week I'm a narrator in our church's Live Nativity.  I obviously still love pageants.

And I love Advent. I was first introduced to the celebration of the coming of Christ on the four Sundays prior to the time that we celebrate His birth when my children and I were members of the Nazarene Church.  I always looked forward to the lighting of the Advent candle by a family.  

I also thought the Worship Committee should think outside the traditional family box and ask a single mother and her children to light the candle.  But I'm not bitter.  I guess that calls for rePENTANCE.

Today is the second Sunday of Advent.   For years I have known the second candle of Advent to be the Candle of PEACE  However, I have read several discussions that referred to it as the Candle of Faith.  I've also read it as the Candle of Bethlehem. That works - because it had been prophesied the Saviour would be born in the city of David (which is Bethelem). And once we put our faith in the child who was born in Bethlehem, then we can have peace. So I guess it really doesn't matter if it's Faith, Bethlehem or Peace.  The important thing is remembering that we are celebrating the birth  - of that person - the Son of God - who grew up to be our Savior.   

There have been many Christmases that I had no peace.  And this is coming from a person who has had faith in Christ since I was a six-year-old.  In fact, it was at Christmas time that I made a PROFESSION of faith.

If you read back through these paragraphs I hope you will see a recurring theme -- lots of P's - which - is why I called it the P's (peace) of Christmas.  And of course, it's written by the woman that my nieces and nephews call Aunt P.

All of my Christmases PAST don't make me smile.  There have been many that I had no peace.  However, the best thing I can tell you is that today I have the "peace that passes understanding" and I am most grateful to be able to PROCLAIM that!

PS It's from Philippians (4:6)  just had to find one more P.

                                May your life be filled with enough sunshine

                                  to make you appreciate the shadows