Jesus is the Life of the Party

Christmas week is on! Last-minute shopping, food prep, wrapping gifts and preparations for the arrival of Santa. That’s not the case in our little corner of the world this year. Perhaps it’s good for us to be “on-the-move” because it causes us to relate to others who are also “on-the-move” like our armed forces who won’t make it home this year or families who are standing vigil in hospitals with ill loved ones and others who are having to work right through Christmas. Christmas traditions aren’t even a consideration in so many people’s lives.

It’s very different for us this year. What a surprise, after a year and half endeavoring to sell their home, my Frisco children’s home sold right here at Christmas and the buyer needed to close and move in by December 28th. That meant the hustle would be on to first, my children finding their next home, and then get them packed up.

Christmas miracles have come about, left and right, that assure us – God really is with us -- Emmanuel, and His ways are so much higher than ours. We see it now as the perfect time -- right here at Christmas! Payton, their 19-year-old son seized this opportunity to “strike while the iron was hot” and lay claim to so many home furnishings that were going to be sold or given away. It was the perfect time to find an apartment in downtown Dallas where he works. On Saturday, they moved him to his new digs – almost fully furnished!

I loved my daughter’s “take” on this timing – right here at Christmas. She thought about Mary and Joseph being “on-the-move” to Bethlehem and needing a place to stay. For them – it really was ALL about Jesus, the Son of God, being born. And, so it should be for us. In years past, my Christmas traditions were such a big deal to me – every bedroom decorated with a lit tree, the inside and outside of the house looked like a Christmas store. I made dozens of cookies and candies to share with family and friends. I handwrote and mailed a flood of Christmas cards bearing my family's picture. I spent hours shopping for the just right gifts. Despite my best intentions to make Christ the center of our Christmas, hyper mode was my center for years.

As we took our Sabbath seriously yesterday and embraced the 4th Sunday of Advent, we came back to the "principle thing"! Personally, I recalibrated my thinking to God’s way of thinking which is the celebration of His Son. If I let myself think it’s about me, I’d be in a tizzy that my Christmas traditions weren’t being kept. Here’s the deal – our lives, this season, our wants, our desires should be wrapped around THE ONE Who we celebrate. I'm determining in the midst of this “moving” marathon, to still keep my focus on Jesus' birthday. As I packed up a beautiful Holy Family figurine set yesterday, I realized that figurine didn’t mean I was putting away Jesus. It was just a figurine. It’s ALL about the LIFE and Star of the Christmas Story, Mary's baby boy, Who grew up to be our great I AM. "I AM" is our protector, our healer, our strength, our joy giver, our way-maker, truth-finder and our peace-provider.

If you've been like me -- whether in an utter frenzy-mode to this point, or in a little whiny mode about the changes in your life and even disappointments about things being different than they once were, since it's His birthday, then we need to LET IT GO! (Thanks, Frozen!) We get to show up and celebrate Him. No matter how we decorate the house for His party or undecorate the house because we’re moving, it is still ALL ABOUT HIM Who is ALWAYS the LIFE of the party. And He has come to give life to all the people at the party. And, when we lean in even closer, we'll find that the LIFE of the party holds out Himself as the gift that keeps on giving. And the gift tag? It has our names on it. Oh, what a relief it is!

"I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly."
-- Jesus (John 10:10)

10,000 Reasons

Yesterday morning I woke up singing “Bless the Lord, oh my soul. Oh, my soul. Worship His Holy Name. Sing like never before, oh my soul, I worship Your Holy Name!” That song's title is “10,000 Reasons” by Matt Redman. What a way to wake up – blessing and worshipping God’s Holy Name! Immediately I knew this would be the topic for my post for today.

Among my 10,000 reasons to be thankful, I must share with you what happened shortly after I typed this post at about 8 am yesterday. I heard the garbage truck (Thank you, God, I can hear!)! I thought: “Yikes! I didn’t think they’d come today since the holiday was last week!” I ran out the front door to catch them, but too late! I noticed they hadn’t picked up the other side of the street so I quickly ran and pushed my packed-full-of- Thanksgiving garbage bin to my neighbor's side of the street (Thank you, God, for our wonderful Thanksgiving meals!). But then I thought they’d question two bins, so I quickly got in my car (Thank you, God, for my car!) and drove to let them know! Came back home (Thank you, God, for my home!) and pushed the garage remote and NADA! Thank you, God, that I had my door key in hand. I ran into the house and garage and saw the big chain had fallen from the motor. I quickly called my Home Warranty company (Thank you, God, that I purchased a Home Warranty!) and placed the repair with them and they showed up last night to already have it repaired and working great! Thank you, God, because that means only a $45 repair fee! Now, I have more than 10,000 reasons to "Bless the Lord, oh my soul!"

I’m quite sure that whole scenario was why I woke singing that song because God was prepping me for my sudden-out-of-the-blue trash and garage door encounters.

“Bless the Lord, oh my soul” were King David's words as he was commanding his soul (his will, mind, and emotions) to bless the Lord. He was encouraging himself with what he needed to do to rise above his circumstances. Those words from Psalm 103 were Matt Redman’s inspiration for this song. In that chapter, David listed several reasons why his heart was full of worship for God: He forgives our sins, heals our diseases, redeems our lives from the pit, crowns us with love and compassion, satisfies our desires and gives righteousness and justice.

I googled Matt Redman and this song, and read what he said to explain it. “If you wake up one morning and you cannot think of a reason to bring God some kind of offering of thanks or praise, then you can be sure there's something wrong at your end of the pipeline, and not His. We live beneath an unceasing flow of goodness, kindness, greatness, and holiness, and every day we're given reason after reason why Jesus is so completely and utterly worthy of our highest and best devotion."

I realize we are one week past Thanksgiving today and it would seem that I’ve posted enough about gratitude and thanksgiving, but for “10,000 reasons” and so many more, I was reminded that putting gratitude as my #1 priority, sure keeps us in a gratitude mode -- even when things aren't going the way we had hoped them to go. Gratitude opens the floodgates to so many more reasons to be thankful -- even when a garage door goes haywire! I’m purposing to follow David’s lead in Psalm 103 to talk to my soul more so my "Reasons List" continue to grow in "blessing His Holy Name". How about you?

What Echoes From You?

Day 205 of Photo Inspirations -- What "Echoes" From You?
I'm still in Washington so my daily inspirations continue to come from this gorgeous Northwest and my precious, technological, trend-setter family!!  My son's birthday was last week and one of the gifts he received from Shawntel and the boys was this new Echo by Amazon -- another one of the products mastered-minded by their good friend who is Senior VP at Amazon, and his team.

Echo's name is "Alexa" and she is a hands-free, voice response system that is always connected and ready to respond to her name....and she's fast. You just say "Alexa" and give her a command or request and she'll play audiobooks, give your upcoming schedule, dim a light switch, turn on a fan, add to your shopping list, tell you who the 30th president of the U.S. is and can answer just about any questions you may have.  She'll tell you sports' scores, the news, weather, Wikipedia facts, definitions, answers.  She's an alarm and a timer.  I am continually amazed at the technological brilliance in this world.

I went into the living area of my children's home and my two youngest boys were playing a video game on TV, and were listening to Alexa play Christian music.  At breakfast, Bryson said, "Alexa, play "10,000 Reasons" (his favorite song), and both boys were so into it, they were waving their arms in praise as they sang.

I LOVE ECHO!!!   She had my heart right away. LOL!   And I loved the "echo" that she prompted in my boys AND me.  This song, "10,000 Reasons" or "Bless the Lord Oh My Soul" is the natural response (echo) I desire to always have to life's surprises and interruptions: Check out these lyrics:
[Verse 1]
The sun comes up; it's a new day dawning.
It's time to sing Your song again,
Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me,
Let me be singing when the evening comes!

[Chorus]
Bless the Lord, O my soul, O my soul.
Worship His holy name; Sing like never before,
O my soul, l I worship Your holy name.

[Verse 2]
You're rich in love and You're slow to anger.
Your name is great and Your heart is kind.
For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing,
10,000 REASONS for my heart to find.

Of course, this was my photo inspiration for today. It's an inspiration I could repeat everyday!  An ECHO is a reflection of a voice or sound.  Oh, that our ECHO would be singing "Whatever may pass and whatever lies before me, Let me be singing when the evening comes."

Here's the link to Matt Redman singing this beautiful song of worship and praise -- maybe it could be what your voice and heart are ECHOing today!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XtwIT8JjddM