#MerryChristmas

•  Merry Christmas to all and a Most Happy New Year.

One week from today we celebrate Messiah's birthday.  Preparations have started days ago with deciding special gifts for everyone and special meals to have on the table.  Packages have been wrapped and cards signed and groceries bought all with excitement and love.

The birth of Jesus, the Messiah, was planned for from before the foundation of the world.  Bethlehem was foretold to be the place God would come into the world as a baby and the Roman governing authorities had decreed a census which forced Mary and Joseph to travel to Bethlehem.  God's plan was working perfectly.  God's plan is still working perfectly today.

With so much thought given to this birth, we might consider how important it is for us to prepare for more than physical things.  Is our heart prepared to submit to the Lord's instructions?  Before Jesus died for our disobedience, He said, "If you love me, you will keep my commandments."  When asked about which commandment was most important, Jesus answered, "Love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as yourself."  This is quite simple - Love God and Love others as you love yourself.

"The Preparation of the Gospel of Peace" are what the shoes we wear every day are called.  We are to be prepared to share this Good News about redemption.  People are put into our lives by God Almighty and He wants us to really love them by kindness in word or deed.  We may be preparing their hearts to receive some message that will come to them later in some form or another.  We may motivate them or shed some light that will help them see Truth.

Yes, we need to celebrate this wondrous event and enjoy each moment we are given.  Father God gives us all things to enjoy and we honor Him by celebrating His coming into our world.

Let us Praise Him!

#FrogsAndSnails

 Sugar and spice and everything nice; that's what little girls are made of.  Frogs and snails and puppy dog tails; that's what little boys are made of.  So, the sayings go.  Our daughter was our first born and she was the most beautiful thing to us. She was pure sugar and spice.  We found such joy watching her grow up and did a little bit of catering to her.

When our second one was born, I remember crying as my obstetrician shared this news to me as she placed a beautiful healthy baby boy in my arms.  She was shocked.   "Why are you crying?" she asked.  "I never expected a boy." I replied, "I'm from a family of all girls."  She laughed.  That son was only the first of three more.  I need not have worried about having only girls, but when I brought number four home from the hospital, our daughter got mad at me.  "Why did you give me another brother?  I wanted a sister."  She had had enough of frogs and snails.

Yes, sisters are wonderful and I did feel sorry for our daughter, that she did not have that lovely experience that I had growing up.  The memories I have of my sister and I sleeping in a double bed and struggling over space and pulling covers from one another are special.  She was the 'sugar' and I was the 'spice' in our family.  She still is and I love her dearly.

"Children are a heritage of the Lord."  Psalm 127:3  "Blessed is the man whose quiver is full of them."  Psalm 127:7

Whether it be frogs and snails or sugar and spice, we are gifted with precious children and the Bible urges us to "bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord." 

JESUS LOVES THE LITTLE CHILDREN, ALL THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.  RED AND YELLOW, BLACK AND WHITE. THEY ARE PRECIOUS IN HIS SIGHT. JESUS LOVES THE CHILDREN OF THE WORLD.

#Debts

 It was our first Christmas as husband and wife.  We were living sparsely in an efficiency apartment and had no money to spare.  I am sorry to say that I do not remember what I gave my husband, but I do remember what he gave me.  It was beyond my imagination and way out of our budget.  He gave me a crisp new 50 dollar bill!  There were no stipulations going with it.  It was mine.

I had never owned a credit card, nor borrowed any money and debt was foreign to me, until.  Until, we decided to purchase a television set and chose to (because we had to) buy this set on time.  We had not had any monthly payments, except for rent, and I really felt uncomfortable owing this debt.  I did not tell my husband what I thought about doing with my $50.00 gift and just did it.  Yes, I went to the store and paid off our television set.  I felt so proud of myself.  We were debt free, again.

I proudly shared with my husband what I had done with my gift and, of all things, he got mad at me.  He had wanted me to spend it on myself and I had misunderstood.  I thought I was doing something good, but he was confident that he could take care of the payments on our television and I interfered.

Several lessons I learned from this experience.  Sometimes, when we think we are doing good, we are only fowling up.  There is more at stake than our feelings.  The giver's feelings need to be considered because they are worthy.  The idea of being indebted has taken on new meaning,  I have learned to live with being indebted.  There are so, so very many people that I am indebted to and then there is God.  Each day is a gift that we can never repay the giver for.  Each breath we take is a gift and there is no way we can repay for that.  Salvation is a free gift to all and this gift is so costly that we can only take it with a grateful heart, grateful every day.  Health and family and home and job and sunshine and rain and country may be ours and the considered worth of these things makes us indebted.

God is so good.  He is the giver of good.  He deserves our praise and thanksgiving every waking moment.  We all live with debts much bigger than our ability to repay.  Our life, our being is the only acceptable thing that would give the giver satisfaction.  Telling Jesus "My life is in your hands." is the perfect response.