In the fullness of time, God!...

The promises of Scripture that most encourage and inspire me are those relating to the birth of the promised Messiah!  What an honor to be thought of by a holy God, and to be cared for so deeply that He would see my need, and meet it in His own only Son. He planned for centuries the exact course history, His-story, would have to take in order for all the conditions to be perfect at the arrival of the Messiah.  He orchestrated the rise and fall of world empires. He ordained the spread of a single language throughout the known world. He founded a dynasty and promised its forbears that someday their Son would sit on the throne of eternity! 

Why did an Almighty God take such pains?  Why did He plan such exacting and irrefutable details?  Because I needed a Savior. He saw my need and wrote the prescription, multiple millenia before my mother felt the first flutter-kicks in her womb. God be praised!  Christmas is truly the story of His gift!

Galatians 4:4 says, "In the fullness of time, God sent forth His son..." So many hundreds of prophecies were fulfilled to bring forth that exact baby, from those exact parents, into that precise historical era, with those precise world conditions. And all so that you and I could enjoy a personal relationship with the "Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Prince of Peace!"  Without Christ, truly, what could we possibly find to celebrate at CHRISTmas?!

Merry Christmas! May you have courage to keep Christ the focal point of His celebration this season!

Carving my Burdens in Sand...

A friend reminded me recently to carve my blessings in stone, but my burdens in sand.  At first blush, this thought appeared to be "a good idea." But as I continued to meditate on it, it became much more deep and precious to me. Who is it that knows my frame better than anyone else?  Who is it that designed my burdens exactly to fit my weaknesses?  My God, who called me to these burdens, is the same One who calls me to cast those burdens upon Him. What a sweet thought!  On the other hand, if I have Him to carry my burdens, what would keep me from celebrating my blessings?!  I find that the "dailies", which I would have written in a much more harsh light, become less hurtful and less important, the more I keep my eyes trained above, on all of the eternal blessings I enjoy through my relationship with the Lord!

The weekend is here.  As I watch my friends' Facebook posts celebrating how many hours until their relaxing weekends start, I sometimes wonder when my weekend will come!  I mean, really.... when does a mom get to simply see the clock strike 5, gather up her things, and walk out the door for 2 1/2 days?  What bliss!  But it has been a good evening.  My 16-year old son took it upon himself to set up the Christmas village, even to the point of searching through the boxes in the attic for every last piece, then putting all the empty "village" boxes back in the attic.  Of course, I haven't seen the attic since he last left it, but for now, I am enjoying a well-decorated living room. So everything isn't exactly the way I would have placed it.  That's a good thing, though, because that means I wasn't the one doing it! Sometimes the rewards of consistent parenting just reach out and grab your attention, and the results are sweet!

Meanwhile, my 14-year old son has been lighting every candle he can find, mixing the aromas of vanilla, cinnamon spice, and evergreen in an interesting combination. He built a beautiful fire, too... a fire his sister referred to tonight as "a magazine fire." Even after the gas starter was off, the fire was spread beautifully across the neatly stacked logs - a rarity for my son's fires!

With one gone to basketball games and one at work, life seems a bit calmer tonight. We are constantly amazed at how much different the spirit of the house is with just one of those teen-aged alpha-males absent. It doesn't even really matter which one, as long as there are only two in the house at once! So I am counting my blessings tonight, and carving them in stone. (Granted, this is a much easier project when the burdens are as far away as last night or tomorrow!) But it is my choice to place my focus on blessings for today!

Now THAT'S a good hubby!

As I sit here, surrounded by step-kids watching TV and lounging in a comfortable home, I am reminded of so many reasons for gratitude.  But then, my two little girls come to me, dressed by their sister in what we call "squishy pajamas", and offer their sloppy kisses before heading for bed. How is it that I can stay here on the computer, shopping for Christmas online and starting a blog, while a 5-year old and 3-year old kiss me and run off to bed?  That's how we got on the whole subject of the fabulous husband!  He was taking them to bed... he had to take a break from putting away clean dishes to do it, but he felt it was time they should be in bed, so he did it.  That's just one of the things I love about the man God has blessed me with!  He sees things to be done, and does them. In fact, I think that's a big part of how I can show my love to him... by overcoming my natural inclination to delay doing the little things until they became "bigger things" and just get them done, as a gift to him.

Short and sweet blog for tonight (my hubby would interject that "short and sweet" is just like me!).  Now that the fabulous hubby is done being so amazing, he's heading for bed, and we committed verbally before we were even married that we would always go to bed at the same time, to the extent it was possible.  I aim to keep my part of the deal, and to keep our relationship a top priority!

Thanks for reading... let me know what you think!