Fear Not: COVID Christmas Part 2

10 Dec

Last week just after posting Christians and a COVID Christmas my family drove surrounding neighborhoods to look at Christmas lights. We hadn’t driven long when we came upon a house I will never forget. It wasn’t one of those with the coordinated FM station and a light show, although we saw one of those too, it wasn’t a larger than life inflatable Santa or a handcrafted nativity. It was simply two words in big, bold lights:

FEAR NOT

It took our breath away in such a manner that I can only imagine what the shepherds thought as they encountered a heavenly host and the angel of the Lord saying

Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:10 KJV

2020 has been a year of fear. Fear of an unknown virus. Fear of infection, death, the overwhelming of our healthcare system. Fear of loosing employment and paying the bills. Fear that children living in abusive homes will not be reported and rescued. Fear of isolation. Fear of violence. Fear of the loss of our democracy. You name it and it most likely has been a fear this year.

But God.

In His infinite wisdom and divine love our Creator sent His angels to remind the shepherds and every generation after them to FEAR NOT for His joy had come; He sent His Son our Savior Christ the Messiah.

I find it immensely comforting that the calendar concludes each year with the celebration of Christ’s birth. No matter the year behind us or the future before us we are reminded each December that Jesus fully empathizes with all of our earthly struggles and reminds us that He doesn’t treat those who are in Christ Jesus as our sins deserves because He remembers that we are but dust.

The celebration of Christ’s birth reminds us that this world is not our home. We live for a heavenly kingdom that cannot be taken away from us. So that indeed we can fear not.

No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:37-39 ESV

Whatever fears we have as we exit a world-changing year and enter into another year full of the unknown, we can confidently lay our fears at the foot of the cross and follow Him as He leads us in His love.

Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10: 23-25 ESV

I believe that this letter from C.S. Lewis (see here) is as timely today as in the day in which he wrote it. If you have found any comfort in the words I’ve shared I am sure you will find even more there.

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Christians and a COVID Christmas

4 Dec

When the wise men traveled to see the Messiah they were entertained by King Herod who played the part of a fellow honor giver but whose real intentions were to crush any opposition to his rule. This Christmas I am awakening to the fact that Herods are among us and giving their condolences that Christmas must be crushed once again.

Consider this: Numerous government officials from coast to coast repeatedly tell citizens to stay at home, wear a mask, avoid congregating, especially in church, and don’t eat inside with other people outside your household. In fact, don’t dine out at all. Don’t even go to work.

These same leaders are caught on camera dining in with people out of their household without wearing a mask, getting private haircuts and not wearing a mask, and taking private airplanes to the beach with friends and not wearing a mask all while telling you we have no other option. Oh, and they get to keep their jobs too.

If this were a substantial threat and reason to stay at home while neglecting our sacred duty and right to go to church at the very least, then the following would be true as well:

Politicians would be in bunkers not at the beach.

This would really be about public health including their own and not private wealth.

Masks would be worn at all times and not simply while on camera.

Meals would be eaten in the privacy of politicians homes and not in the most expensive restaurants while the rest of their constituents can’t even go to work and are encouraged to take one for the team… alone.

In short, this is about control not safety or you can bet the tyrant politicians would be protecting themselves first and foremost.

We need to question everything and test every claim by real facts not fancies. Christians ask yourself, do I want my children to grow up heedless of the words of Hebrews to not neglect meeting together and all the more as you see the day approaching?

Our toddlers will turn into teens and then they may not want to go to church. It is imperative to set those practices now or you may forever train them that convenience and safety are higher priorities than gathering for worship.

Some people have real health problems for which they should take all the proper precautions. These words are not for them. These words are for the rest of us.

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Christmas Books To Celebrate the Season

1 Dec

We’ve decked our halls and trimmed our trees. Our large blue wooden box of Christmas books sits stuffed to the brim and many titles have already passed through little hands.

We add to our Christmas book collection each year and develop new favorites as we revisit old friends. Traditionally our family celebrates the season at a slow pace as much as possible. Several years ago I wrote about 5 Helpful Principles Every Type A Woman Needs to Embrace and I’ve since tried to abide by them. With my husband working in the ministry the Christmas calendar has the potential to quickly fill up with church events alone so we have traditions that we maintain in our home but not always around town. The first and foremost tradition is reading wonderful books!

Christ is the central focus of Christmas in our home and here are the books we read to aid us with that intention:

Most of the books we read embody the spirit of Christmas without telling the Christmas story explicitly. There are many many of these but here are our favorites:

There are so many 12 Days of Christmas books that I don’t have a strong favorite at this point. In fact I have five or six I want to try out this Christmas and decide which one I love the most. Here is another cute edition by Hilary Knight:

While Santa doesn’t deliver presents to our house (read more here), we have a few which incorporate St. Nicholas and Santa Claus. Here are some that we would recommend checking out at your local library or adding to your collection:

Santa Mouse may be the cutest mouse you will ever meet!

Don’t you love a wonderful Christmas story? The kind that offers peace, hope, and good will towards men?  Me too! I reread A Christmas Carol every year and typically I Saw Three Ships and The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. Following is a list of my 16 most cherished Christmas chapter books to read aloud or individually. Please share your favorites in the comments and feel free to ask me any questions that you have.


 I have a few that I’ve introduced to at least one of my children and plan to introduce to each of them this year:

 The Little Match Girl made an impression on me when I was a child. It is one that I haven’t shared with my children but plan on doing so this Christmas. I think this will open the door for rich conversations around our responsibility to look for ways to help others. 

Finally, I’ve posted here about Christmas books that have corresponding movies. Check out the list and see if there are any of your favorites!

Merry Christmas to you and yours. May your days awaiting the celebration of Christ’s birth draw you nearer to the heart of God.

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15 Cherished Christmas Chapter Books

21 Dec

Don’t you love a wonderful Christmas story? The kind that offers peace, hope, and good will towards men?  Me too! Following is a list of my 15 most cherished Christmas chapter books to read aloud to the whole family or individually. Many of these are classics with a few newer selections thrown in. Please share your favorites in the comments.

I hope that December has been filled with wonderful memory making even as it highlights our depravity and utter need for our Savior, Jesus Christ.

You still have time to cuddle up with a good book and read past Christmas Day as we celebrate the 12 Days of Christmas and Three Kings Day.

Merry Reading and Merry Christmas!


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Favorite Family Christmas Books with Accompanying Movies

13 Dec

Reading a basketful of Christmas books is a wonderful way to spend our days, but there is something about snuggling up together to watch a Christmas movie with a mug of hot cocoa in the glow of the Christmas tree. We have a regular litany of Christmas movies we watch each year but I especially love it when we can celebrate the reading of one book with a family movie night.

Yesterday, in a last minute decision, I was able to attend the production Charlie Brown Christmas Live. Imagine my excitement! I’m fairly sure that when our children remember their childhood they will nostalgically recollect the marking of seasons by each Peanut’s Gang DVD. The live production was remarkable. I watched with a smile the entire performance and plotted brining my family next year. It’s a wonderful experience to build our family traditions, which for us include books and a selection of movies.

Here are a few for your family to enjoy!



Merry Christmas!

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15 Christmas Picture Books to Celebrate the Season

2 Dec


Memories shared around favored Christmas books is one of our most beloved ways to celebrate the season. There are many things to see and do at Christmastime that involve activities outside the home, but books provide the perfect stay at home shared time which can take you back in time or to another location entirely. Books allow us to walk in other people’s shoes and experience life as they have. Be it the orphaned child, the homeless family, the shepherd boy, or an elderly woman seeking to catch a glimpse of Christmas magic, you and your family can enter their world and learn empathy and lessons to guide your own steps. Check a few of these out at your local library, favorite thrifted bookstore, or purchase them online at the links below and give them a try.

Her spirits, which had been high, fell a little as a sense of time touched her. How slowly it crawled and yet how fast it flew. She had been young and now she was old and the years between had vanished as though they had never been. ~Elizabeth Goudge, I Saw Three Ships





Stay tuned for our favorite Christmas chapter books later this week. But for now, here is one to get you started!


Merry Reading,

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Christmas Books for You To Enjoy This Year and Every Year

23 Nov

 

If you’re anything like me, you’ll prefer visiting the local Christmas Tree Farm and snuggling up with a good book on Black Friday over endless shopping with a pack of strangers. Having said that, there are several books that I chose from to read and reread each year during the Christmas Season. Plenty of picture books, an embarrassing number in fact, fill our Christmas book box and line our shelves (see a few here and here). However, there are a few chapter books that I preserve for independent reading and enjoyment on my own. Enjoy this list and let me know of few of your own!

 

 



P.S.

Our youngest daughter was (finally) adopted last week. I haven’t had a chance to write about the beautiful celebration date with it being so close to Thanksgiving, but I wanted to give you a sneak peak of our adoption day festivities. Thank you for your prayers and support. It has been a long, but worthwhile, wait. To God be the glory.

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A Darkened Christmas Tree

23 Dec

Earlier this week I was taking a moment to sit at the dinning room table and enjoy a cozy cup of coffee along with the lights and sights of our rotating Christmas tree. Suddenly, a little pop erupted and the lights flashed off. As the darkened tree continued to rotate without the glow of the lights, my spirit fell. How would I locate the exact bulb which had blown out of the hundreds on the tree? Where do you even start to check? I’d text my husband and wait on him to get home, that’s where I would start!

As the hours passed before it was time for my husband to be home from work, I could sense that the lights going out on the tree affected my so called Christmas Spirit. Advent, or awaiting the coming of Christ, is certainly at the forefront of our family celebrations, but the Christmas tree is the glowing center of our home throughout December.

The absence of light is how darkness is defined. Darkness isn’t an entity of itself, it is a state of deficiency, want, nothingness. Christ came as the light into our dark, deficient, sin-stained world. Apart from Christ’s incarnation, there would be no light of which to sing or celebrate at Christmas.

Praise God that Emmanuel has come! For people living in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned. (See Matthew 4:16, Isaiah 9:1-2)

Later that evening when my husband arrived, he knelt to inspect the tree. Just as he did, I remembered that the coupling for the lights was located at the base of the tree, quickly factored in the curiosity of our two toddlers, and suggested he start there. Thankfully, that one connection was the solution to our darkened Christmas tree, just as Christ is the all sufficient light that shines into the darkness we once walked in.

May your days be merry and bright,


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Our Christmas Offering

12 Dec

Recently I recorded a podcast that will air later this winter. It was an opportunity that I have been excited about for months on months. After the recording call ended I immediately felt two things. First, gratitude. I was, and remain, immensely grateful for the opportunity. Secondly, I began to worry. I second-guessed my performance and replayed in my mind what I would do differently…for days! I even worried about a portion I may have blundered. Real spiritual and mature of me right? That’s what recovering perfectionists do.

It wasn’t until the Sunday after the recording, that a thought hit me. If all I have to offer is myself, then I will always come up short. However, with God, my offering is always enough. 

I think this truth goes for more than my podcast offering. It additionally applies to our Christmas offerings as well. We want our families to remember certain things about their holiday experiences. We know that only a few gifts our children receive will make it into their long term memory, but the environment that we create for them will carryover into adulthood and last a lifetime.

I’m fairly certain that Mary and Joseph felt similarly. Most likely they questioned how they would ever live up to parenting the Messiah. How does one go about raising the Son of God? In offering themselves with God, they were offering exactly what Jesus needed as fully God and fully man. So too, in offering ourselves with God, we offer all that is necessary this Christmas season.

As we seek to provide a warm, rich, holiday experience for our children, let’s remind ourselves this one thing: No matter what our goals are the Christmas season, with God, our Christmas offerings are always enough.

Merry Memory Making,

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Bringing Christmas Home

9 Dec

bringing-christmas-home

It is all too easy for us to address Christmas as merely a bustle of ribbons and bows, wrapping paper and hot cocoa. However, each of us know that the memories that flood our minds of Christmas’ past encompass much more than that. Holiday movies, family traditions, familiar books, and everyday conversations around twinkling lights are the Christmas gifts we carry with us our lives long.

Our family has developed many traditions starting with our annual visit to Neely Christmas Tree Farm, followed by stringing lights with Dad outside as later mom decorates the tree into the wee hours of the night. Then there is the evenings shared in advent stories and lighting of candles.  A trip to Experience Bethlehem at a local church and a stroll amidst the lights at the botanical gardens are a few traditions that round out our list. These are markings of the season for our family.

We bring Christmas home in the traditions we share and in the sharing of our material and spiritual blessings with others such as providing a shoebox to a child around the world, giving to support a missionary or a local child in need, praying over the immense needs of people we know and those we read about…even our own.

Perhaps my favorite way to bring Christmas home is in the sharing of story. Sitting around the Christmas tree, sipping on cider or cuddled in a cozy blanket, while we delight in several familiar, and a few new, seasonal stories brings me tidings of true comfort and joy.

In all the ways that we celebrate Christmas, there are some central truths to our celebrations. The why behind the what that encompasses our season…

We bring Christmas home, because Christ left His home to dwell with mankind.

We each bring Christmas home, because the King of Kings humbled Himself, born as a babe in the lowliest of places, thereby identifying with the poorest among us both in spirit, body, and in means.

We bring Christmas home, because the Gift birthed for all mankind took on flesh and dwelt among us and we have seen His glory the glory of the Father’s one and only Son. (John 1:14)

We bring Christmas home, because we need to ponder all His ways and workings much like Mary pondered the events of His birth.

We bring Christmas home, because we are not home yet, and we await His coming again. The glorious arrival of heaven on earth for all of eternity.

We bring Christmas home, because we have all like sheep gone astray and God laid on Him the iniquity of us all. (Isaiah 53:6)

We bring Christmas home, because any given Christmas we are either the shepherds or the wise men: we must follow the evidence of promises yet unseen.

In all the ways we bring Christmas home, they serve a purpose to remind us that the bustle of the season isn’t the business of the season. The Christ-child is the business of the season, and the blessing as well. We celebrate Christmas because Jesus brought Christmas home to us. He is the gift.

Even if your Christmas isn’t swaddled in tradition or swaths of red and green this year, may you bring Christmas home to your heart this season and always.

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