Being a DIY Underachiever.....or Not

Let’s be honest – we’d all like to be that husband/dad/man who can build or fix just about anything. And, in the female species, the gal who is incessantly on FB or Instagram touting their latest, successful DIY project. I’m Joanna Gaines in my dream world. My daughter and her husband amazed me when their DIY project at their townhome became a complete success. Go here to see the video! https://rvepiphany.com/f/building-a-courtyard

I put some DIY action to my dreams during quarantine – after all, there was plenty of time to DIY something – anything! Mind you – I am NOT Joanna Gaines in any way, but I am pleased with my meager efforts. I planted some perennials. Whoohoo! And, that empty Texas planter on my front porch now has some beautiful succulents added to it. It’s nice to see something growing in it. I tried cooking some new recipes and I have a freezer full to choose from! Does that score any points at all? I bought a ring light for all these Zoom meetings I attend – and set it up myself! I made a door wreath for Easter! I cut my hair and colored it. Hmm! Maybe I’m not a DIY want-to-be after all!

My latest projects include the facemasks I made for myself. Thanks to the internet for the “how-to’s”! AND, after a 36" x 24" outdoor wood hanging (left from the previous owners) became weather-worn and lost its hold to the bricks it was adhered to, I took some decals from my after-Christmas buys, stained the wall-hanging and whoa-la – my Christmas DIY project success! I was giving myself some kudos for my minuscule efforts.

I love the words “Joy to the World – the Lord is come”! What a wonderful reminder, right here still in precarious times and still six months from Christmas, that no matter the time of year – we can find joy right in the midst of it all – because our Lord came to bring us His peace and joy all the time.

Maybe you’d like to be a DIY kind-of-gal or guy, too! Take it from me – we don’t really have to feel the peer pressure because God made us all individually with abilities and creative “bents” – you know bent on gardening, bent on cooking, bent on reading, bent on creating, etc. I’m learning to celebrate anyone with those artistic and creative bents.

Maybe, instead of wishing for more talent, more-craftiness, being more creative and artistic, we should be grateful for who God made us to be right here, in this place. We can be grateful AND we can be determined to learn something new. We really have no excuses to wish and pine away because we’re not “all that and a bag of chips”. We can learn something new from a world of YouTube videos that show us just about any and everything we want to do. As a matter of fact, I was watching YouTube videos this week to find out the best bait to use, and how to use it, for catching trout in Red River, NM waters we’re headed to next month! No excuses! No wishing-upon-a-star! No defeatist attitude! We can start by saying “I can do ALL THINGS through Christ Who gives me strength!” (Philippians 4:13) That means WE CAN do ALL THINGS – because we’re BENT on being DIY people that can do all things through Him!

Joy to the Fishes in the Deep Blue Sea

Joy to the world – all the boys and girls. Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea, joy to you and me! Blast from the past. That’s a couple of lines from 1970’s, “Jeremiah was a Bull Frog” sung by the band, Three Dog Night! Has really nothing to do with Christmas but “Joy to the World” sure does.

What makes us all so much more joyful this time of year? Could it be that the angel's message to the shepherds holds true for us still today? "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of GREAT JOY!" Christ is that good news that no matter how dismal everything around us might be, there is always GOOD NEWS of great joy that can change everything for us.

I took that "good news" personally for my daughter. December 8th was her big 5-0 birthday. Thanks to so many who joined me in wishing her a “Happy Birthday”. She was in Florida at a 7-day conference on her birthday, but she got the message from so many friends via social media and the surprise party we gave her before she left. You can see in these photos it was more than a birthday celebration -- it was a restitution celebration.

A few months back, Staci’s son’s car was stolen from a Dallas parking garage. Traumatic enough, but not as painful as when the car was found, it had been devoured like some kind of monster movie. Every part of the car had been removed, along with the precious treasures that were in the trunk. Payton kept those treasures close by in case he got the urge to go fishing, he was prepared. Those treasures were my husband’s beloved fishing equipment: rods, tackle, vest, etc. All had been passed onto their family because they are the avid fisher-people who learned their skills from my husband aka dad aka papa. All of it was stolen in that fiasco. So, what’s a mother to do? Carry on. That’s the way I roll and my family rolls. We don’t give the enemy the upper hand by bemoaning his tactics. We don’t give up. We get up and get over it because we are too blessed otherwise.

In this case, I asked Larry (Staci’s husband) to make a list of all that was in that trunk. He did and I got to be a restitution maker. It’s one thing to have things returned; it’s a another thing to get restitution. Staci explained it in her tears while opening each item I had wrapped in “fishing” fabric (couldn’t find fishing wrapping paper). The items stolen could have been returned in their original state (some items were worn and tattered). I was able to help bring about restitution -- making up for damages or harm. Brand new items that made up for the loss. What a JOY to see my girl so full of JOY!

“The Bible tells us in Psalm 16:11 that ‘In His presence is fullness of joy.’ If we want joy in our life, we need to revisit the Nativity scene and realize that's where God's presence was experienced in the form of that tiny baby boy. That baby boy grew up and is our living King of Kings! Daily, we can experience His presence and know that GREAT JOY! We can experience it at a birthday party or a busy restaurant. We can experience it when facing a crisis or a disappointment. Joy isn't the same as happiness. Happiness is based on those ooey, gooey feelings when everything is going right. But JOY is based on the CONSTANT of He Who lives big within us. He is that GOOD NEWS of GREAT JOY so we can belt out singing "Joy to the world, the Lord is come. Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepare Him room......" That's the key....preparing room for Him inside to be our joy-giver, and peace-maker no matter the circumstances.

Sincerely, God wants us to GET IT – about why He sent His Son Jesus -- the good tidings of great joy which is for all people. “So, here -- take that good news of great joy with you today!” And, all you little fishes in the deep blue sea, better watch out, Staci and all her fishing gear are coming to town!

Merry Christmas! God Showed Up!

“He was here! He was here!” Kids all over the world are waking up their families with shrills and abounding excitement! The “jolly old soul” made it to their homes last night. They are sure he was here because the cookie plate only has crumbs on it. Most importantly, stockings that were hung by the chimney with care are now bulging with gifts on the floor and around the tree. I can visualize all the celebrations going on. I remember those Christmas mornings with my young children and grandchildren.

My excitement is no less exuberate in my heart as I am nestled in my sweet, little, “alone” and quiet spot by my fireplace this morning. I woke up with overwhelming joy and started singing “Joy to the world. The Lord has come!” And exclaiming “He showed up! He showed up!” What proof do I have? After all, there were no presents from Him under the tree. I know, because His PRESENCE is in my heart today. I feel Him. I sense Emmanuel – GOD WITH US. God is with ME!

Shortly, I’ll be heading over to my children’s home for Christmas breakfast and lunch while continuing our Christmas celebrations of family joy and laughter. Last night we worshipped Christ at my church's Christmas Eve service and prepared Him a room in our hearts for this beautiful Christmas Day. We will celebrate the greatest gift conceivable. Actually, inconceivable that He Who sat on heaven’s throne showed up here on Planet Earth – all because His Dad came up with a grand idea of taking heaven to earth by sending His Son to show us the way! Before His Mama's "Yes", He said "Yes" -- I'll go and SHOW UP for them! It ALL happened in a moment, a most remarkable moment. God became a man! Heaven opened herself and placed her most precious ONE in a human womb that brought Him to this side of heaven. How marvelous! How wonderful! EVERYTHING we would ever need or want, wrapped in one package.

It seems almost irreverent to think of the Son of God coming to earth. There’s something about keeping Him divine that keeps Him distant and predictable. BUT DON"T DO IT! For Heaven’s sake, DON'T! It was a Master Plan for Him to be human so that you and I have someone who gets us -- who gets our needs -- who understands our pains -- who SHOWS UP for us when we need Him most. Let Him be as human as He intended to be. Let His human example of loving the unlovely, forgiving in spite of rejection, understanding everything about us because He was one of us -- be our example to others, too. Let Him into the mire and muck of our world. That's how He showed up and that's how He "finished up". Only if we let Him in -- can He pull us out! Let Him be God with us for in letting Him be God with us -- we are never alone and never without a Savior. Let Him SHOW UP in you and your world today! Merry Christmas!

Rejoice and Go Tell It On the Mountain

Yesterday was the third Sunday of Advent and we should be singing “Go Tell It on the Mountain"! Not necessarily from a mountain. That would mean we'd have to go climbing! Perhaps we can start right here at ground zero to be joyful and full of the good news of Christ's coming to this earth for you and me.

The pink, third candle on the Advent wreath was lit, The pink candle symbolizes JOY and REJOICE. The theme scripture that Paul wrote in Philippians 4:4 is “Rejoice in the Lord always: again I say rejoice.” My pastor shared that the laughter statistics in a single day is 400 laughs a day for children versus 4 laughs a day for adults. Maybe we need to hang out with the kiddos more so our joy "bank" fills up! When St. Paul penned those words, he knew something about making it through tough times. Can you imagine that he wrote that scripture from a dark, cold and damp prison cell? No matter where we are or what we're facing....we can find JOY in the good news of Emmanuel, God with us, right smack dab in the middle of our circumstances.

Typically, PINK is girly. We put our little girls in pink dresses or outfits with a pink bow in their hair to declare "It's a GIRL"! (In my case, my little Staci had NO hair so I scotch-taped a little bow on her head. I know that's hard to believe when we see that massive head of hair she has today! LOL! Sorry -- I took a rabbit trail from my train of thought about Advent. Pink isn't just about girls. Hot pink, pale pink, rose pink are all shades of pink that God painted into a sunrise. And, like the various shades of pink, our expressions of joy can be so different. Joy can be exuberant. We saw that joy and jumping up and down by little children on Saturday at the Birthday Party for Jesus child at the prospect of something that excites them so much. (See my post from yesterday.) JOY is also that calm and peaceful experience of realizing God's faithfulness. It can be calm confidence in His sovereignty or pure delight as He expresses His love. I felt that peace and calm yesterday, as I watched my grandson, play the piano at their yesterday morning’s church service or when my granddaughter, asked to sit by me in church and proceeded to put her arm around me or lay her head on my shoulder. I felt that joy and I wanted to rejoice about it. has truly come to be linked with "Pink" in our culture.

Joy AND pink are also about survival. Oh, the sweet joy we feel when one of our friends expresses "I've just had my last treatment of chemo! I'm a survivor!" A celebration of survival has truly come to be linked with "Pink" in our culture.

On this 3rd Sunday of Advent, PINK is also about rejoicing that our Savior, as a precious BABY BOY Who brought so much JOY to this world.

My pastor said in his message, “This has been a challenging year for me and when I start to feel sorry for myself, I remember Paul who knew suffering. Paul led a challenging life. Paul knew difficulty. Paul had people who hated him. But, Paul expressed the key to overcoming is in rejoicing. He urged us to rejoice and rejoice some more. The joy of the Lord can thrill us AND it can make us steadfast in the secure knowledge of God's presence with us -- Emmanuel. Paul further tells us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16 to be joyful always and Jesus tells us in Mark 9:24 "With God all things are possible." THAT combination of trust should help us.....carry on not just through Advent, but for the entire year to be rejoicing and rejoicing some more.

Our Christmas Fire

I’m sitting in front of this contained and beautiful fireplace as I post this blog today. I was reading this scripture a couple of days ago: “Even so the tongue is a little member and boasts great things. See how great a forest a little fire kindles!” (James 3:5) It refers to the damage that our tongues can cause – words that escape from our tongues that seem so incidental but can cause major damage if they’re not kept in check.

Reading that meaning caused me to remember “a little fire that kindled” in one of our Christmases long ago. We were new homeowners at last after paying a whopping $7,500 for our little fixer-upper home. that we turned into our “love nest”. Our children were ages three and one. My 22-year-old husband loved adding ambiance to the atmosphere with candlelight. This day, with the small, decorative kerosene lantern that he lit earlier, decided to light a nearby candle from the fire of the lantern, tipping it ever so slightly to light the candle. The candle was lit, but some of the kerosene poured out and a fire erupted. He dropped the lantern filled with kerosene and the fire blazed to our carpet. His quick thinking to stamp it out helped, but still, our carpet was scorched. Now we had to find carpet to match the huge spot that was burned to replace that scorched spot.

You can imagine my husband’s angst that he was so “stupid and careless” (his words, not mine). It was such a small lantern, but given the right set-of-circumstances, it sure produced big problems. As I type this, I couldn’t help but think of the recent small campfire that became the deadliest and most destructive wildfires in California history.

It’s tempting to think about how we use our tongues is no big deal. Our words may not appear to do much damage, so we aren’t more careful. We know that “the thief comes to steal, kill and destroy” (John 10:10) so keeping guard of our words will certainly keep us from setting our words ablaze.

I pay close attention to my vehicle’s indicators to change the oil, put air in the tires, etc. Keeping an eye on the indicators that could set us up for a “fire” from our tongues is critically important in preventing a “forest fire”. Trust me. This is the voice (rather, tongue) of experience sharing this. Keeping a fire extinguisher on hand is a good idea, but never having to use it is even better.

I’m reminded today that our words have power. The power to heal and the power to hurt. Words are no small thing. A Sunday School song we sang as kids was “Be careful little mouth what you say!” May we all be careful with our words -- choosing blessing over cursing; helping over hurting; waiting rather than rushing the wrong words out into the world.

At this beautiful time of the year, there may be situations that create opportunities to "let 'er rip" and get careless with our words even in innocent conversations and situations. May our words bring “Joy to the World” as the light of Christ shines in AND out of us!

Proverbs 18:21, “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit.”

Does Santa Reflect How You Feel Today?

This Norman Rockwell painting shows a worn-out Santa on December 26th -- and, like Santa, if all that’s left of Christmas for us -- frazzled, exhausted, a bulging credit card balance, an over-full, bulging tummy, then we missed the true meaning of Christmas. I'll admit that after all the activities that surround this beautiful season, along with Christmas Eve with my Wallace Family and then just a few hours of sleep before our drive to Austin, I was feeling a bit like this Santa.

I quickly revived when my sweetest spot on earth came when my entire family (my son, Ryan, and his family and my daughter and her family from Frisco) were altogether on the Wuerch's ranch in Austin. After an enormous Texas-style Christmas dinner, it was Nana's time for my annual request -- family pictures taken.

Our precious Denise Gerrich has been our photographer of choice for years. I'm so thankful she was a part of the family celebrations. After the usual antics of photo taking -- I was able to savor the moments of simply watching my grandchildren interact, all of us playing games, visiting about each other's lives, catching up on "what's new?" and reminisce about so many past times together. I pulled out my computer to type this post when Staci asked "What are you doing, Mom?" I was the only one with technology out. I said, "You know me, I'm working on my post for tomorrow morning!" She understood. She knows that's my daily mode of operation -- technology and all.

And, I'm breathing in having my family around me -- hearing Shawntel puttering around in the kitchen, seeing each one going back to the dinner remains for seconds, hearing Larry and Staci talking to Braden about his new e-commerce business that is going gangbusters, hearing the laughter of the kids playing pool and playing with Alexia's Christmas gift from Payton (a hedgehog), watching them all play the game of spoons, seeing Ryan pairing his lights with his Echo, -- just heaven on earth -- my earth -- my space -- my greatest blessings that call me Nana and Mom!

Back to my opening paragraph about Santa, and all of us being worn out after a very busy time leading up to Christmas Day. The good news is Christmas isn't just about that ONE MAIN EVENT. And neither is all the waiting, planning, organizing and preparing for OUR babies to be born, being just about their ONE day of birth. It's about that day and every day after that. Jesus' birthday was just the beginning of His incomparable life. We need to recall how we looked at our babies and how Mary, Jesus' mother, looked at her baby boy, her Son -- a Son like no other Son - the very Son of God - and she saw in his sweet, soft, precious face -- the Redeemer of all mankind. I like to think that I am a lot like Mary was. I can imagine that she breathed in His presence. She was there for his first steps playing games with other children, his puttering around in the carpentry shop with his dad, and she savored His antics and laughter and knowing God had such big plans for His future then she heard the stories of His many exploits.

In you and me is our own Christmas story being written of how God pursued us, loved us unconditionally and how His grace and unmerited favor kept us, gave us the courage to face tomorrow……and caused the peace, joy and love we experience at Christmas -- to stay alive in us each and every day and embrace it, because it's the life God planned us to live and enjoy.

As we continue to frolic and play for a few more days, and even when we return to our day-to-day walk with God, let's remember all that Christmas was AND IS because "JOY to the World" came for our taking and experiencing EVERYDAY!