Joy Unrestrained

       Christmas.  This word evokes emotions that run all over the map, from anger to giddy anticipation.  Every year the Christmas season seems to sneak up on me, and every year I try to push aside my expectations, both good and bad.  I long to press into what this time of year is all about, to redeem it for me and my family.  

The month of December often brings much stress and strain.  But Christ worshipers, of all people, should have a reason for genuine joy at the celebration of Christ’s birth.  Christmas means Christ’s Mass or Feast Day.   It is the traditional observance of Christ’s birth, His incarnation, God made flesh for all mankind.  Christ is translated Messiah, or King.  The King, the Messiah, the Savior is born, Christ has come.  Not a king who sits on a throne to rule and reign with all of the temptations of earthly gain or ambition.  We have seen far too many of these kings and their endings are never good.  No, this King has not come for Himself, but as a gift for those He came to save.  This is far different than what the retail world is selling!  Have we put on the “impairment goggles” of this world?  Are we seeing Christmas with a skewed vision?  

Christians follow Christ and His life.  Therefore, Christmas is a time where we can give just as Christ gave, and humbly worship unashamed and unrestrained.  A miraculous birth, angels, priceless gifts, stars, and upsetting an empire are a few of the events surrounding Christmas.  We too can be in awe of God breaking in on this crude earth and doing the miraculous.  In fact the angels commanded those shepherds who were caught off their guard, or woken up, not to fear but to have great joy because of good news.  The angels couldn’t help themselves and a little of their glory shone that night - the ultimate flash mob choir, “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to men!”  

But we are not angels and we have no gold or frankincense.  So, as Christina Rossetti once wondered, what can I give Him, poor as I am?  We can give Him our Joy!  

One of the most touching moments of giving joy away happened in a doctor’s examination room on Christmas Eve.  When Liam was 8 years old he had the unfortunate luck of having to go see his urologist on December 24th.  But to Liam this was one of the most wonderful things that could have ever happened.  He said to me, “Mommy, I want to give something to people on Christmas Eve.  What can I give?” And so, in my haste I grabbed a bag of mini candy canes and we began the treck up to A. I. Dupont Children’s Hospital.  Liam filled his coat pockets with as many candy canes as he could and we walked against the cold wind into the hospital.  Every nurse and receptionist was told “Merry Christmas!  This is for you!”  And at the end of his visit with his surgeon he said, “Merry Christmas, this is for you!”  And do you know what I saw?  I saw an old and distinguished gentleman bend down and look Liam in the eye as he received his mini candy cane with a big smile.  “Thank you, this is the best Christmas present I have ever been given.”  And he hugged him.  Liam didn’t have a lot physically or even intellectually to give, but he had joy.  And he gave it away in the form of a greeting and some cheap candy.  I never forgot that interchange.  One with very little giving to one who had much.  Joy was received and given back in return.  

So let this be a season of joy and joyful giving, not one of expectations unfulfilled.  Joy in God and in His Christ - joy in the little things - joy in longing and awaiting what is to come - joy in hope for change - joy in memories of all that God has done.  As we experience the joys of the season, let us be like C.S. Lewis and be one whose,“mind runs back up the sunbeam to the sun.”

        Come and be joyful along with me.  Let us fight hard for joy this December, and worship Christ the newborn king in all that we do.  Use the real dishes, go to the Christmas concerts and plays, make the real cocoa with whipped cream, go look at the lights, write cards, make a mess in the kitchen, take spontaneous walks, give plates of cookies away, pour the wine, sing loudly, keep spare candy canes - lots of them, and give more to the glory of God.  Let your kids in on the joy of giving and let it eclipse the expectation of getting. Let us be in unrestrained awe of curses broken, of babies saved, of the ethereal, or dare I say, the magical.  And may every gift of your heart give glory to God in the highest.

Living in the Joy of Christmas,

Your Fellow Sojourner

At the Speed of Light

     Our lives seem to travel at the speed of light.  We go to bed thinking of what the next day will bring, of our plans and goals.  The alarm goes off all too soon, the kids scream, the sun wakes us up and another peaceful waking has eluded us.  Another day full of unknowns and things we did not see coming awaits.  Nothing ever goes the way we plan - in fact I wonder why I even attempt to plan anything!  But we know that the one who does not plan does not have any direction, and without direction we wander and become aimless.  So we try to do what we can about what is in front of us and push the rest aside. We must learn to trust God with the rest, but the “rest” becomes quite a bit.  It is at the juncture of “the rest” that we need to learn the art of placing our plans and expectations into proper perspective.  We need to learn to cast.

My husband and I attempted to “bond” over fly fishing during our courtship and early marriage.  I am not sure what some seasoned marriage counselors would say about our “bonding through fishing,” but it seemed to do us some good.  One thing that Chris spent a lot of time teaching me was the art of casting.  You have to learn to cast far and with the right movements so that you can land your line, hopefully with the fly still attached, in the place that you want it to land, hopefully in the trout filled stream.  Fly casting becomes an art to those patient enough to learn it well.  It is beautiful.  The perfect cast, like a dance over a sunlit stream, is a beauty to behold.  We too must learn the art of casting, casting our burdens.  Oh the beautiful life that has learned the art of casting one’s burdens onto the Lord!

  “Cast all your anxiety on Him for He cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:7  This verse is calling, commanding, us to literally throw all, every kind of care, anxiety, and worry on to Christ.  Why?  His care and concern is for us and for our good.  He is looking beyond our inabilities to make something work out. His desire is for us to be exalted above our immediate problem.  He wants to take us to another plane, to where He is.  And where He is, there is liberty - freedom from the weight of control, from the shackles of joyless law keeping. He desires to lead us into His marvelous grace. He wants us to trust Him with the details and timing of every care. He wants us to walk through the cares of this life at His speed, the speed of Light.  

"Breaking Through" by Harry Brioche

We must begin with our expectations, what we want to see happen.  Be honest.  If you are like me they can be pretty unrealistic.  Children who do nothing but obey their parents and love one another.  A husband who knows exactly what I need before I even express it, in fact he is omniscient!  A home that could be on the cover of the Ikea Christmas catalog.  And oh, by the way, I, will make all of these expectations come true!  Somewhere in the midst of all of my good intentions I have lost sight of reality.  I need to empty, or cast, my expectations onto Christ.  He cares for me and He will keep me from setting up an unrealistic life that will only disappoint and tempt me to make control an idol. He has a better way.  He wants me to “walk in the light as He is in the light.”1 John 1:7  My expectations change in the light of His Word.  He lights a path for my feet to tread where my ankle will not turn and no rotting logs will trip me.  His ways are not my ways and His thoughts are not my thoughts.  They are far higher than my own. He shows me what He requires.  “But to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.”Micah 6:8  Do I believe this or do I fight this? I need my faith and trust in Christ to be built up.  

I need to reorient my heart and mind to accept and understand how life is truly meant to be lived.  Christ summons us to come and then He fills us to go out again.  We live our lives as saints on the principle of “coming and going.”  Not just any coming and going, by a very purposeful, life giving coming and going.  As the Father sent Christ, so Christ is sending us.  At the feet of Jesus we await our mission every day.  I need to take precious time to sit and be still - to pray and to read and study what is true so that I can “go back out there” and meet the unknown, the not planned for, the “that came out of left field” moments. I need to live a life of prayer in which I “come” and “go” all day long.  So, with all of the decisions and things to do and to respond to, I need to remember Who has called me, where I am now, and where I am being led. I can dwell in the light of His Word so that I know what his good, pleasing, and perfect will is for my life.  I do not have to just react or let life happen to me - this reactionary lifestyle does not bring joy or peace.  I can remember that every thing that is coming to me today is also leading me to where Christ would have me go.  It is here that I find purpose in the unexpected.  The unexpected fits perfectly into His plan for my day.  I can rest and then “go out.”  I can remember Whose I am and where I am going and where I am called to be.  I can let my light so shine before men and glorify the Father of Lights who is leading me from glory to glory.  So, let the light speed come; let the unexpected and unplanned come.  Let us pray with Christ throughout the day, “not my will, but yours be done.”Luke 22:42 

Remember the blessing that was spoken over one of Jacob’s sons in the wilderness, “as your days so shall your strength be.”Duet. 33:25  The strength we need to do His will comes to us with each new day, like the sweet manna that came down from God the Father to feed and nourish His people. It is His will that we trust and believe Him when we cannot see the outcome.  We need Christ’s eyes, His vision, to see clearly.  The Lord is our light and our salvation therefore we have nothing to fear. He is the stronghold of our lives and he keeps us in perfect peace.  The One who caused you to see aright is leading you to go, knowing that every unplanned thing is completely intended by God.  Let us begin each day, joyfully and peacefully waiting with open hands as He fills them with eternal purposes, for we are living at the speed of Light.

 ~ Your Fellow Sojourner 

I Am Coming to Grips

   I am coming to grips with something slowly but surely, day by day.  I have been listening to and believing in wrong voices in my head that have come from so many untrue and utterly false sources - the voices that say "if only... then I would be fine, I could take on the world, nothing would shake me”  The problem with this voice, this thought, this revelation is that it is all centered on the wrong thing, the wrong person. The focal point of this thought is me, myself.  My satisfaction, my balance, my calmness, my peace, my joy in life will never come wrapped up in layers of self.  This is what Christ was telling Mary, and all who have come after her; choose the better thing, choose Me.  But to have all of Christ I must let go of all that I am attempting to do, to set right, to aid, to love and trust in what C.S. Lewis and Christ knew, trust in the principle of the best and first over all others.  “Seek first the kingdom of God.”  Seek Him and all that He is over it all and those good, God given “secondary” things will come too, will be added.  

     So, once again, I am in awe as God continues to answer the prayers and cries of my heart, to help me to live in the fullness of joy that He intended.  He is quieting me, seating me before Him, causing me to stay, to forsake, to let go, to gain what I cannot lose, and letting go of what I cannot keep.  All of the planners, calendars, to do lists, phone reminders, sticky notes, books, teacher’s guides, and blogs that I have set above the first and truest source of all knowledge and wisdom, all of these “helps”  have crowded my head and dulled my heart.  They have crowded out the first and the best.  I have gone to cisterns that I have hewn out with my own hands to look for water, for some source of life that will satisfy.  And the Lord has let me thirst. He has let all of the wells run dry so that my prayer has increasingly become  “I hunger and I thirst for righteousness.”  And now I am praying that I will step fully and whole heartedly into the next part of this verse, “they will be filled.”  So here is my start…

     “Lord, fill me to the fullness of You.  When I run to the wells of man made wisdom and I find that the muddied water I have scooped out of the bottom is not what I thought it was, Lord, draw me to Yourself and fill me with more of You.  Let me, no cause me, to decrease that You may continually increase.  For I truly do not know all that you have planned for those that You love, but I know that it is good and that I will find earth shattering joy in seeing You glorified through this clay vessel You have made.  Lord, I believe, help me in my unbelief. To You be all glory and honor and praise for there is none like You.  Amen.” 

       Your Fellow Sojourner