Stepping Out

New Year's Day!  Most folks are astounded at how fast the time has gone...how an entire year seems to have just flown past us.  Here we are, at the beginning of a brand new year, wondering what it will bring.  We hope for good health, for good times, for less hardship and heartache in the lives of those we love.  We long for a more peaceful year, for recovery and revival..... for our nation to turn back to God and to embrace the principles upon which we were founded.

Of course, no one knows what we will be looking back on twelve months from now.  But we hold on to  hope, and well we should.  In the book of Hebrews, we read that our hope is an anchor for our souls, firm and secure ( Heb. 6:19).  An anchor sounds like a really good thing to have while riding the uneasy seas of this world...but where do we find it?  The anchor we need cannot be found in some nebulous, pie-in-the-sky philosophy or in man's wisdom alone.  We who have trusted in Christ as our savior know that He is our hope and our anchor.  We can step out into this new year with confidence, courage and joy knowing we are anchored to the One who will never fail us. 

"Hope is the fuel for the journey from the known to the unknown." 

                             

~source unknown~

The Heaviness of Sorrow

I am looking through my quote book this morning, trying to find words of comfort and courage for the day. The world is so filled with sadness.  The lives of precious children have been destroyed by the insane actions of a tortured soul.  Some who courageously stood to protect the vulnerable have given their lives. We have looked into the face of evil and have been speechless at the sight of the unspeakable.  It would be much easier to look away, but we cannot.  We see the pain, we feel helpless at the sight of it, and we lose our breath at the thought of the suffering.  The questions come but answers evade.  We seek to comfort one another with words, but often there are none.  We are faced with the reality that there is no limit to the evil and destruction sin brings into this world.  There is only One to whom we can turn, and we must.

"He had never ceased to be astonished by the weight of sorrow in the world.  'A vale of tears', the poet had called it, and rightly so."  ~ Jan Karon's central character, Father Tim, in "At Home in Mitford"

From the Lips of a Redeemed Scrooge



Honoring Christmas.....being faithful, hopeful, kind, compassionate, truthful, generous, loving, gracious, joyful.  Those of us who love and follow the One whose birth we celebrate strive to honor Him in our actions and attitudes.  Keeping Christ in Christmas is not enough....keeping Him in our hearts and minds every day is our desire.  We fall short, but His grace sustains us. 

Yes, Jesus is the reason for the season, and He is also the reason for the hope we have (1 Peter:3:15).

Christmas Blessings.....more than enough for 365 days!

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year..." ~ Charles Dickens ~

And Again I Say Rejoice, part 2

Wouldn't it be wonderful if our little corner of the world always looked and felt like Christmas?  Perhaps that is up to those of us who carry the hope, beauty and light of Christmas in our hearts!

"The Christmas spirit itself ought to be the mark of every Christian all the year round."

 

~  J.I. Packer  ~

 

 

 

 

 

And Again I Say Rejoice!

The sounds and scents and sights of Christmas!  Carollers, poinsettias, twinkling lights, freshly baked cookies, brightly wrapped gifts, beautifully decorated homes, family reunions, laughter, tears, tidings of comfort and joy.  All of these and so much more.  Why?  Because it all centers around hope!

Pick up a newspaper or watch the news and the impact of pain, devastation, hunger, corruption and sin will most likely bring a deep sigh of...what?  Despair?  Hopelessness for this poor world?  But it is Christmas.  And because of Christmas, because of grace, because of God's intervention in the downward spiral of history, because of Jesus.....we have hope restored. 

Light the lights, bake the goodies, invite the friends and family, write the cards, give the gifts, sing the songs, celebrate, worship and rejoice!  Joy to the world....

"This Christmas message is that there is hope for a ruined humanity." ~ J.I. Packer ~

Meet Me There

I am reflecting on a sustaining truth: God meets us in the hard places.  I am learning that truth and  finding comfort there. I am finding comfort in knowing that He is with me in every disappointment, loss, and painful circumstance...that there is absolutely nothing He cannot see me safely through, a reality that my Pastor reminds us of every Sunday at worship. Life's hardest experiences are lined with grace, and that is the source of strength and hope for which we all hunger, whether we know it or not. The following quote speaks of this so beautifully. It speaks to me today.

"We never know where God hides His pools.  We see a rock, and we cannot guess it is the home of the spring.  We see a flinty place, and we cannot tell it is the hiding place of a fountain.  God leads me into the hard places, and then I find I have gone into the dwelling place of eternal springs."

~unknown~

Mixed Blessings

November ushers in a season of celebration with opportunities for family and friends to spend special, memory-making times together.  A season of joy, reunion, laughter, anticipation, appreciation, remembrance and reminiscence.  Those very wonderful elements of the season often bring tender, and sometimes painful,  reminders of those who are absent from the feasts and festivities. We miss the ones who should be filling the empty chairs.  The enjoyment of the celebration is quietly tinged with a sadness and a longing for those we wish were with us. 

The following quote comes from a surprising source.....one of my favorite Christmas movies!  Bob Cratchit,  played by none other than Kermit the Frog, gives us a bit of practical wisdom concerning the inevitable blending of joy and sadness we will experience as we enter this season.

"Life is made up of meetings and partings....that is the way of it."  ~ from The Muppet Christmas Carol