a CHRISTmas post

*Photo found on Pinterest

Sweet Mary,

I tried putting myself in your shoes this morning.

Engaged, virginal. You followed those rules.

You were a good girl.

Then suddenly, your whole world changed.

Pregnant, yet still a virgin.

A supernatural conception. 

Something the world had never seen.

You knew the Truth, but others didn’t.

They were going to see your belly and just assume…

And they were going to judge.

Were you afraid to tell your parents? 

Were you scared to tell your fiancé?

You had to assume they wouldn’t believe you.

After all, nobody gets pregnant yet remains a virgin.

Did they call you a liar? Did they make you feel unwanted?

I don’t know how these things worked in your day,

But I can imagine some of what may have been said.

The accusations and strongly voiced opinions of others.

The scornful looks. The not-so-quiet whispers.

What must you have had to endure?

How long did their judgements last?

Was it all okay after you and Joseph got married?

Or were you married before you even started showing?

They probably assumed the baby was Joseph’s -

Did you ever cry tears of joy to have him by your side?

There you were - blameless. You’d done nothing wrong.

You knew you were innocent of all their accusations.

This wasn’t how you envisioned having a baby.

Yet, when the angel came and called you highly favored

Then proceeded to knock your socks off,

You humbly replied, “I am the Lord’s servant.”

Did you know that one moment of obedience by you

Would cause you to be a woman we’d always remember?

God must have seen you as incredibly special.

He chose you, young Mary, to carry our Savior.

What an incredible honor bestowed upon you.

I imagine any pain of people’s judgements disappeared

When you first looked into Baby Jesus’ eyes.

I wonder…

When you cuddled your child close and breathed Him in,

did you catch the scent of heaven lingering on His skin?

*Photo found on Pinterest

Brave Joseph,

I don’t claim to know how men’s brains work, 

but I tried envisioning how you must’ve felt in all this too.

There were probably a lot of different emotions running through you.

I imagine there were feelings of betrayal.

Maybe you felt deceived. Hurt. Angry. Sad.

You thought you knew the woman you were going to marry,

but suddenly…she’s pregnant?

“How could she do this to me?” you may’ve asked yourself.

Did you scoff at her claims of still being a virgin?

It’s possible, but I don’t think you did.

You may have not believed her, but I don’t think you were cruel to her.

You proved yourself to be a kind man.

You were going to stand beside her, still marry her.

Then divorce her in quiet because you didn’t want to disgrace her.

That shows your strength of character, I think.

You would subject yourself to the judgement she would now face.

By not immediately casting her aside, you made yourself a target.

They would assume the baby was yours.

Then an angelic visit shed light on everything for you.

You still must have endured your own share of disapproving looks, though.

You were innocent, but thought to be guilty, just as she.

Or maybe that’s not how it worked at all.

Maybe you weren’t judged as harshly because you were male.

I don’t know how your society dealt with such things.

Either way, this wasn’t how you planned on becoming a father, was it?

God must’ve seen something really honorable in you.

After all, He entrusted His only Son into your care.

Your life turned out far differently then you must’ve envisioned.

I mean, did you ever think you’d have the role of Papa to the Messiah?

I wonder…

Was it ever hard to be the leader of your home,

knowing you were raising the Creator of the world?

*Photo found on Pinterest

Precious Jesus,

Did You recognize the world You created when You arrived?

You were fully God, yet fully man.

How did Your brain work? Did you understand everything right away?

Or did You learn at the same pace as the other babies?

It’s hard to wrap my brain around it all.

You willingly stepped out of heaven to live amongst us.

You became human. Fully human.

You knowingly took on the limitations of a human body.

Was that ever frustrating for You?

You stepped out of Your Kingdom and bowed low to enter earth.

Did You ever just sit and simply miss Your home in heaven?

You didn’t show up as a King, You came as a baby.

A baby!

Fully dependent on others to take care of You.

You Who created life, Who knit humans together,

Were now being formed in Mary’s womb.

You Who had provided them food and nourishment

Now relied on them to keep you fed.

You Who is All-Knowing… now had to attend school?

Before You ever died for us, You had already made

Some incredible sacrifices to be with us.

You left the adoration of one home knowing 

You’d be scorned in the next.

You didn’t come in demanding our loyalty.

You didn’t place Yourself in a wealthy and well-known family.

You came, knowing the life You’d live. 

The things You’d go through.

The pain and trials You’d endure.

You came into a world that had no room prepared for You,

Born in a barn, laid to rest in a manger.

All of heaven must’ve held it’s breath as,

With one final push from the sweet Mary,

The Darling of heaven began His journey

As a little babe among us.

You came, knowing what we’d do to You.

You came, loving us enough to endure it.

You came, miraculously and humbly.

You came. You came. You came.

*Photo found on Pinterest

Dear Friends,

With all the hustle and bustle of what Christmas has become,

We sometimes lose sight of the real Reason for this season.

Him. His birth. The night our Savior came to be with us.

What a beautiful moment, with all creation holding it’s breath,

As our precious Jesus was born…

The beginning of our Redemption story.

May we be reminded of the true meaning of Christmas this year.

May we see past all the decorations and presents

To catch a glimpse in our minds eye of that precious manger.

Though He’s not a baby in that manger anymore,

May we never forget that He once was. For us.

As we gather with our loved ones, may our hearts be filled

With a simple yet grateful prayer:

Thank You, Jehovah, that You came.

Merry Christmas, Dear Ones. My love to you all <3

*Photo found on Pinterest

no room for Ish

I love words. Seriously. Each one is like a little sprinkle of magic to me and I get to decide whether it’s the lovely good kind or the icky bad kind. It’s a passion of mine, experiencing both old and new ways that these seemingly innocuous things get put into play. It’s why I’m such an avid reader and writer. There’s just something so beautiful in the stories that get told and the tales that are woven by using what seems to be an endless combination of letters to form the wondrous words.

           

*Photo found on Pinterest

Let me share with you one of my [many] quirks (I’m sure you’re just shivering with anticipation…) There are three letters that I frequently add on to my words - i,s, & h. Ish. I love doing this because it gives me a sense of freedom, rather than putting boundaries on me from what I said. I know that sounds weird, but if you think about it it actually makes sense…

For example, if I’m asked what time we’re leaving, I respond, “10:30-ish” and then if we don’t leave until 10:45 it’s no problem because I added that ish. Or if I’m asked when I’ll be coming over to someone’s house, I’ll say, “Soon-ish” so that I’m able to finish whatever I’m doing before needing to leave. I also use it in reference to something’s size when describing an object (‘cause let’s face it, I’m not so good at guessing the actual size..) - biggish, smallish, largish, widish, tallish… you get the idea.

I know in Matthew 5:37, the Bible says, “Let your yes mean yes, and your no mean no.” I’m not saying let’s go against that by any means. If I say I’ll be somewhere, I better be there. If I say I’ll do something, I best do it. If my answer is no, then I need to stick to that. The way I use ish doesn’t go against this verse, please understand that. If I tell someone yes or no, there is no ish involved, I mean yes or no.

With those three letters, though, so much can be conveyed. I use it lots of times in place of “sorta”. “Are you sleepy?” someone may ask & my response can be, “Ish.” Or if someone inquires about my health, “How are you feeling today? Any pain?” When I don’t have the time or desire to get into all that’s going on with me physically, my short answer is simply, “Ish.” I love this group of letters because I can say so much without saying hardly anything at all. It’s awesome!

While I was thinking about my odd love for ish while getting ready one morning, I started pondering the times when it’s not ok to use this favorite word of mine. For instance, if my husband teasingly asks me how much I love him, ish is not an appropriate response. Or if someone asks me if they look okay, ish would do more harm than good. If someone apologizes and asks for my forgiveness, ish better not be anywhere in my answer to them. Yes, I love the word, but there are times it needs to stay behind my lips. 

In the midst of contemplating all this, I had a profound thought that I know didn’t come from me, but rather from Him. This post wasn’t actually just to inform you all of my love for ish (although I did quite enjoy writing that part.) This post was written because of what He whispered to my heart. That message being this:

When it comes to my faith, there’s no place for ish. 

The Bible doesn’t say, “I am the Way-ish, the Truth-ish, and the Life-ish.” His word doesn’t say, “Fear not, for I am with you. Ish.” Mark 17:20 doesn’t go, “…if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘move from here to there,’ and it will move-ish.” 

He doesn’t command us to love-ish our neighbors. He doesn’t tell us to pray-ish for those who persecute us. He doesn’t call us to act just-ish, to sorta love mercy, nor to walk humbly-ish with our God. He didn’t commission His people to go into all the world and preach-ish the gospel.

There is no believe-ish, trust-ish, obey-ish. There is no sorta to being a Christian, no place to be a follower-ish of Jesus.  

If I would add ish to how I walk with Christ, then I’m in danger of becoming a lukewarm follower. And God’s pretty clear on how He feels about that degree of temperature. There’s really no way to miss it in Revelations 3:15-16, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm - neither hot nor cold - I am about to spit you out of my mouth.” I most certainly don’t want my Abba to say those words in reference to my walk with Him!

*Photo found on Pinterest

When I think about what being a lukewarm Christian may look like, I see this picture of a person straddling a line, a foot on either side. The line divides them because they’re not all in on either side. To me, this is a visual representation of one who talks the talk but doesn’t walk the walk. They profess to know God, but their lifestyle doesn’t support their claim, just like the Bible says: “They claim to know God, but by their actions they deny Him.” (Titus 1:16) In Isaiah 29:13 it’s said this way - “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’” 

This brings to mind one of my favorite quotes. 

“The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians 

who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. 

That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” 

The first time I grasped the message within these words of Brennan Manning it was like a shot to my heart. I remember just praying as a young teen, “God, please keep me from being one of those Christians!” I don’t want to be a hypocrite. I don’t want to speak Love, but live a life of judgement and offenses. I don’t want to claim Grace, yet offer it to none. I don’t want to receive Forgiveness while withholding it from any I feel have wronged me. I want my lifestyle to honor God, for my heart to be close to Him. I never want to be the reason behind an unbeliever continuing in their unbelief. 

*Photo found on Pinterest

I do not want to be a line-straddler, I want to be a God-chaser. I want my feet to be so enmeshed in running after Him that there’s no way for them to be stuck in a struggle of deciding which side of the line to be on.

This post was written just as much to me as it was to you. I imagine it’s Him calling out for us to search our hearts and ponder our motives. We’ve been issued a call to action - to not be satisfied with just saying, “I love Jesus” but to be purposeful in showing our love for Him with our lives.

May we be a people whose lives draw others to Christ. May our actions back up our words. May the world be changed by our pursuit of Him. And may we always remember that when it comes to faith -  as consuming as His love is, and as powerful as His forgiveness is, and as great as His goodness is - Friends, as big as our God is, there’s simply no room left for ish.