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“The great thing, if one can, is to stop regarding all the unpleasant things as interruptions of one’s ‘own,’ or ‘real’ life. The truth is of course that what one calls the interruptions are precisely one’s real life—the life God is sending one day by day; what one calls one’s ‘real life’ is a phantom of one’s own imagination. This at least is what I see at moments of insight: but it’s hard to remember it all the time.”
—The Letters of C. S. Lewis to Arthur Greeves (20 December 1943), para. 5, p. 499; quoted in The Quotable Lewis, (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1989), 335.
(HT: girltalk)
We arrived back from our trip to see David’s family in Indiana around 7:00 last night. Everyone was exhausted! Today has been a relatively quiet day, with the boys enjoying so many new toys and Mommy hitting the laundry hard (that’s a figure of speech…I wasn’t actually hitting it…but sometimes a huge pile of laundry does make me want to hit something…).
I’ll post pictures later…
Last night our friend Peter came over to watch the kids open presents. At one point he showed David his new blackberry and the whole room came to a standstill. I guess boys will be boys.
Tonight’s major gifts were the boys’ suits of armor.
Good fun had by all. Straight No Chaser.
(HT: Blacks)
Since we are traveling for Christmas this year, we began opening our gifts here at home last night. We will finish opening them tonight. We find that if we break it up into at least two evenings, the kids are able to appreciate what they’ve received a little more.
Before we started opening, I sat on the couch with Cameron and Ben and reminded them of what we were going to do, and why. We talked about how God gave us the gift of Jesus out of His great love for us, and we give gifts to each other to remind one another of the grace and love poured out for us by the Father.
This was a chance to talk about how Mommy and Daddy give the boys gifts no matter if they’re good or bad, but because we love them, just as God gave us Christ even when we did not deserve it. Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (This is also, incidently, one of the major differences between Santa Claus and God — one that I didn’t completely think through before I read Noel Piper’s book Treasuring God in Our Traditions. Santa keeps a record of who’s good and bad and gives gifts accordingly. )
Before we started opening, I sat on the couch with Cameron and Ben and reminded them of what we were going to do, and why. We talked about how God gave us the gift of Jesus out of His great love for us, and we give gifts to each other to remind one another of the grace and love poured out for us by the Father.
This was a chance to talk about how Mommy and Daddy give the boys gifts no matter if they’re good or bad, but because we love them, just as God gave us Christ even when we did not deserve it. Romans 5:8 says, “But God shows His love for us in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” (This is also, incidently, one of the major differences between Santa Claus and God — one that I didn’t completely think through before I read Noel Piper’s book Treasuring God in Our Traditions. Santa keeps a record of who’s good and bad and gives gifts accordingly. )
It is so rich to me to be able to speak freely about this with my children. I am a sinner, they are sinners, and we sin against one another all the tme. Yet we love because God first loved us. Christmas is a time to express that love in a generous way.
I think at least one of the boys got the message — on the way home from our errands this morning, Cameron said, “I know what Christmas is all about. We give gifts because God gave us Jesus. And we can enjoy our gifts just like we can enjoy Jesus every day. It’s not just about being selfish with your presents, it’s about enjoying them.”
Derek Webb used to have a feature on his website called “Books you need to read to be my friend.” I will not say anything so definitive, but here’s a Christmas story that I absolutely love to read every year….The Gift of the Magi. Dear, dear Della and Jim. They are the magi.
Tomorrow would be Christmas Day, and she had only $1.87 with which to buy Jim a present. She had been saving every penny she could for months, with this result. Twenty dollars a week doesn’t go far. Expenses had been greater than she had calculated. They always are. Only $1.87 to buy a present for Jim. Her Jim. Many a happy hour she had spent planning for something nice for him. Something fine and rare and sterling–something just a little bit near to being worthy of the honor of being owned by Jim.
with LL Bean. I was anxious this morning (yes, I know..sinful! Please read my previous post!) about when the shipment from them would arrive. I called them last night and the last thing someone said to me was, “Don’t worry, it’ll be there by Christmas.” I politely said, “OK, thank you,” and hung up. And then I thought, “NO! Wait! I’m leaving on Friday! I can’t wait that long!!” Most of our gifts for extended family are in this shipment, and some of it I have to turn around and ship to Massachusetts! I am always late with gifts (I really dislike this about myself! I used to be a great gift-giver!), and I thought this time I’d make it, though I know I didn’t give myself a lot of extra time.
I checked my email this morning and found no shipment notice, and continued to fret (why oh why?!). I called them again, expecting to have to speak to a manager about upgrading my shipping or changing the shipping destination (having them send it to my in-laws in Indiana instead). But once again, I was pleasantly surprised. The nice man who answered the phone said, “well, it went out later than expected since you had a personalized item in your order, but it is scheduled to arrive at your house tomorrow.” I think they upgraded my shipping for free, because it’s coming via FedEx. Oh Hooray!! I would have hugged that man if I could have!! Thank you Lord for tending to the small details in my life!!
Maybe it’s because I just finished The Lord of the Rings, but I’ve been thinking a lot these past few days about weight…the weight of sin. There are some times in my life when I feel the weight of my sin more acutely than others, and these recent days have been like that. I am reminded of Frodo’s burden, how at times it seemed unbearable, yet it fell to him to continue to bear it. All he wanted was for his long journey to end — to finally be free of that heaviness, and yet the closer he came to journey’s end, the harder it became to approach it.
I remember a ladies’ Bible study that I attended once when we were discussing Heaven. Numerous women spoke about their desire to see Christ. An older woman spoke and said, “I know I’ll be excited to see Jesus, but I think the first thing I’ll think is, ‘No more sin!! Hooray!!’ ” I can relate to that…I can’t imagine the lightness that will come with that moment.
As Christians we either feed the flesh or feed the spirit. We cannot do both. Perhaps I’ve been feeding my flesh too much lately, and that’s why I feel the weight of it. How do I feed my flesh? By worrying about what people think…by busying myself with matters of the day to day instead of the eternal (this is easy in December!)….and the list goes on. It must be my business instead to discipline my thoughts and actions towards godliness. In those terms, it sounds like pure drugery, but in fact it is the most satisfying, and most “lightening” thing I could do.
Anyway, sorry for the rambling nature of this post. I awoke at 5:10 this morning and worried over trivial things for a good twenty minutes before getting up to take a deep breath and meditate on what’s important.
Turns out I did have strep throat a week ago. I realized this weekend that I never posted an update on that. Nobody else got it, thank the good Lord. Being that sick really made me thankful for everyday health. I enjoyed getting up to read to the boys, clean the house and make food for my family. It feels good to move around, to feel my body in its health performing the good works that God has ordained for it (Eph. 2).
Currently rolling around in my brain…
- the remaining items left to purchase on my Christmas shopping list
- an impromptu grocery list
- a list of stuff to pack for our trip this weekend
- the lyrics to “Labor of Love” by Andrew Peterson
some of it is on paper, some is not…
And here’s a quote I found on AP’s website that I enjoyed…
The Baby of Bethlehem was born so I could become right with God – and not only right with Him, but indwelt, directed, and empowered by Him. That infinite inheritance is available in the here and now – Christ is now our peace, our patience, our holiness, our love, our life. He is our all in all. But in order to access that inheritance, we have to let go of the mindset of self-effort, of self-improvement, of self-actualization. I don’t at all mean our actions shouldn’t be good actions – but what we must recognize is at the heart of our inner being, Christ lives, and we are complete in Him, holy, and acceptable to God. We don’t start at the bottom of the mountain of holiness and start the climb; God has put us at the top in Christ. All that remains is to rely on the indwelling overcomer. That is why Paul could say both, “I no longer live, but Christ lives in me” and “I press forward to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me.” “When I am weak, then I am strong,’” and “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” We are to trust violently in the indwelling Spirit, always reaching to trust more fully. We “cease from our own works” but “labor to enter His rest.” We move over from self-effort to putting our concentration on inner reliance, from trying to be good to living from His indwelling righteousness. — Ron Block
