Common ground

As I’ve shared some of my nativity sets this season (and, yes, there are more!), it would be easy to look at the serenity of these small figures and confuse that with being a simpler time. Nothing could be further from the truth. Despite the photograph below, this story didn’t take place in a bubble.

An unexpected pregnancy, a disrupted engagement with all kinds of social implications, weary travelers without proper accommodations–some just trying to meet the taxation demands of a tyrannical leader and others in search of majesty, multiple angels making personal appearances, and smelly shepherds leaving their flocks to go see a baby they didn’t know…no, simple wasn’t the word for it. And, yet…

Whether they knew it or not, everything was centered on the One who came to give us common ground with the Almighty. Nothing else mattered. Oh, I’m sure it didn’t feel like that. Most people hadn’t a clue–about any of it! Many people still don’t, but that doesn’t change God’s narrative: He came to us so we could one day go to Him. The Creator became the created so that we, the fragile and finite, could become family and find common ground with the Infinite and Eternal.

“But when the fullness of time had come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman, born under the law, to redeem those who were under the law, so that we might receive adoption as sons. And because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, “Abba! Father!” So you are no longer a slave, but a son, and if a son, then an heir through God.“

Galatian 4: 4-7

Don’t miss the common ground of Christ this Christmas. Celebrate the season with family–whether by blood or by spirit–and hopefully, both.

Merry Christmas!

The latest one

Tucked in the corner of the kitchen is a handmade Hoosier cabinet from the 19…nope. That’s a story for another day. Rewind.

It looks a little crowded, but our latest nativity set really didn’t have anywhere else to go this year. Snatched up from a small antique store we found on the way to do a long delayed errand, it cost the 2023 equivalent of the oldest ones I wrote about yesterday: $24.95…+ tax. It’s the tax that always gets you, right…but, since taxes played an important role in the original Christmas story, perhaps I shouldn’t fuss too much about that.

This set was heavier than the one beside it which had “Made in China” printed on the bottom of one of the wise men. THIS one is special…it was made in Taiwan. 😉

It was also blue and we didn’t have one of those, which is probably why it caught my husband’s eye. He questioned the hat on one of the pieces until he realized he was holding a shepherd instead of a magi from the east. Context is king, you know, so the floppy hat suddenly seemed much more appropriate. The fact that the lamb is slightly more than half the size of the donkey didn’t phase either one of us a bit.

As I unpacked it last night, I chose the far corner of the kitchen, bringing the kitchen nativity set total up to 2. I figured Baby Jesus and His assorted guests would appreciate the weathered metal “Welcome” sign, assorted bottles of flavored vinegar, a “fancy” mirror for reflection, and an antique magnifying glass on a stand. We are nothing if not eclectic in this house! I think that makes Jesus feel right at home.

You see, He’s all about welcoming people and He’s been known to serve up several good meals. He invites us to take a look at ourselves and reflect the light of His Word, but He always manages to get a much clearer and more detailed look at us than we usually feel totally comfortable with. You can’t hide from His all-knowing gaze.

Mostly, you shouldn’t miss the fact that He loves you no matter what He sees…and He came in person to let you know that very Good News.

“And the angel said unto them, 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 Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.”

Luke 2: 10-11

Grace and Peace!

The oldest ones

The store was closing and I found 4 identical tiny nativity scenes on a final clearance rack. Two of the boxes were absolutely trashed and all 4 were marked with a bright yellow sticker proclaiming them to be 75% off their regular price. I think I paid about 75 cents for each one of them.

The year was 1993. We were recently married with a new house and NO extra money…and we needed gifts for a church Christmas party. These were exactly what we needed right when we needed them. The timing was perfect and the price was right. I was a little embarrassed about the price thing, but it was what we could do, so I carefully peeled off the yellow stickers on the 2 best boxes, wrapped them up, and sent them on to others who seemed way more than 75 cents worth of excited to get them.

I was relieved. I packed the remaining 2 sets away with the Christmas stuff and they stayed packed away for at least a couple of years. I shook my head every time I unpacked around them and left them in the boxes while I made a bigger and much more colorful set the mantel focal piece each year.

When we moved again, they began to make annual appearances in our guest rooms. Small, white, and seasonally appropriate, they went with any paint color I put them against. They were decorations far more than declarations of my growing faith at that time.

Over time, they’ve grown in personal value while remaining just as small and unassuming as they were in the beginning. They’ve graced small shelves, nightstands, and the tops of silver candlesticks overlooking larger and more elaborate nativity sets.

As I unpacked them this year, 30 years from their inauspicious purchase, I was reminded of God’s faithfulness through years of feast and famine, health and hurt, grace and growth. He never changes and I am grateful for reminders large and small that He is exactly what we need no matter we are, His timing is perfect and the price to become His has already been paid.

I’d say I got way more than I bargained for with these small beauties.

Grace and Peace!

Let there be music!

“The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and I am helped. Therefore my heart celebrates, and I give thanks to him with my song.”

Psalms 28:7 (CSB)

This was the “verse of the day” and I immediately thought about the ever-growing stacks of Christmas music in our living room. I have something musical going throughout most of the holiday season, and I need to start a bit early, like right after Thanksgiving, if I’m going to make my way through even just my favorites. This weekend we added 2 more vinyl records to the pile after we reluctantly left many more in the store.

Music makes the holiday for me. It adds warmth on a cold, gray day and added sunshine on a clear one. This morning I’m doing chores with Josh Groban and later I will head to an appointment with Chris Tomlin. Before the week is out, I’ll hear from Nat King Cole, Mahalia Jackson, Keb’ Mo’, The Carpenters and Glenn Campbell with a little Kenny G thrown in for good measure. Who knows who else will make an audio appearance?!

Artists of every stripe have used their talents to help me celebrate and I plan to take full advantage as I worship in anticipation of Christmas Day.

Who are you listening to and how are you worshiping this Christmas season? Share with me! There’s always more time for worship…and I’m sure I can make a bit more room in the stacks…

Grace and Peace!

It’s the small things

You can tell that this one is tiny–less than 3″ tall and wide–and, yes, that is the one lone pecan I “harvested” on the sidewalk after the removal of the giant pecan tree…and the 2 little heart-shaped gingko leaves I found on a sidewalk back in the fall. I obviously hold on to some things longer than I should. I think we all do.

Selah. (That means “pause and think about that for a bit.”😉)

It’s always the small things that end up making the difference. If only we held on to the joys of laughter, relationships, and child-like wonder as tightly as we do the bad attitudes, grudges, and hurt feelings. What a Christmas it could be! Ah, well. Some things we just let lie in place until we no longer realize they aren’t actually serving any good purpose. Some housekeeping seems required all around, I’d say, but I digress! Back to the Nativity scene, which should help bring things back into focus for each of us.

I bought this piece because you can tell it’s older and I liked the look of it even though it is actually plastic. However! I didn’t really look at it closely until recently. What I saw then made me laugh…and then think again.

Here’s the laughter part: at first glance this piece has all the hallmarks of a regular Nativity set. We see the baby Jesus along with Mary, and Joseph. The new parents appear to be in a posture of awe and worship, but if you look at the placement of the Baby Jesus…

Did you see it, too? It looks like Jesus has managed to slide out of the manger and and on to the floor, yet their eyes are still focused on where they think He should be…and not where He actually is.

Annnndddd…that’s what made me think again. We sometimes do the same thing. We look for Jesus where WE think He ought to be and we miss where He actually is. We may look like we’re focused and worshiping, but our hearts and minds are elsewhere. We may say that we’ve forgiven and forgotten, but we still hold part of ourselves in reserve waiting for “them” to mess up again. We may be able to pass the public viewing tests, but the private viewing God still sees may be another matter entirely.

Is there any heart housekeeping that needs to happen today so that we can fully and truly celebrate the Savior this Christmas? Are we focused in the right direction? Have we let Jesus “slide” from His rightful place in our lives? Are there ‘things’ we’re holding onto that do not serve us well and might actually be interfering with our worship this season?

Yes, indeed. Housekeeping might be beneficial all around.

Selah. (Again…and again.) I’ve got work to do. How about you?

Grace and Peace!

The gold one

It’s not my normal, but I loved this piece as soon as I saw it. First, it’s gold. It isn’t smooth or sleek. It has texture–almost a roughness to it. There’s greater detail in the work that you notice the longer you look at it. The way the figures are positioned, showing their focus, adoration, and worship makes my heart long to show those same things in the way I position myself and live my life.

Actually, all of these things remind me of my life with Jesus. It hasn’t always been smooth or sleek. Smooth sailing doesn’t require a Savior. Instead, it is the detail and the texture that are actually more comforting to me because those are the places I’ve needed Him most–and where He’s proven to be faithful. The longer I live for Him the more detailed my view of God becomes as He reveals Himself and gives me ever-increasing reasons for worship.

This grouping reminds me that, while solitary worship is necessary, being part of a worshiping community expands and extends that joy to others. Sharing Jesus is what we’re called to do. The gold reminds me that there is a Standard for living. God deserves our best, so He sent His best to show us the way.

“Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.“

John 14:6

Grace and Peace!

One at a time

Piece by piece, I unwrapped and carefully placed each figure of the 7 nativity scenes around the small Christmas tree on the dining room table. The bright colors on the tree make a great contrast to the simple purity of all the white. I love all of the sets with animals, but I think my favorites are the ones with just Jesus, Mary, and Joseph.

I can see them from almost any vantage point and it makes for a fitting reminder that this seasonal celebration is all about Jesus. They help me focus. On the days when there’s more to do than time to do it or when my mind wants to wander to questions about matters beyond my control, the simplicity of these small things reminds me that God already has it figured out and I just need to trust Him.

His plan has been in place far longer than mine. The complexity and longevity of its expanse is far more than anything I could ever devise. His success rate is infinitely higher and yet, He began by creating each and every one of us…unhurried and one at a time.

I type that and then my mind is taken aback at the thought of how carefully and tenderly God must have crafted the small being that was Jesus as a baby. He would need to be just like us and yet like no one we could have ever dreamed. He would need to do all that we so often take for granted and endure more than we could imagine. He would need to get dirty and still remain pure. Every detail mattered because He came to save us…one at a time.

Grace and Peace!

Do you see what I see?

I love Nativity scenes. Even the ones with wonky donkeys and wacky-looking wise men share the same good news as the ones which sparkle and shine: God loves us enough to share Himself!

Sharing ourselves is the truest gift of any loving heart, so it makes perfect sense that God–who IS love–would go to great lengths to illustrate His great love for us. He could have done that in many different ways, but that He, the Creator, chose to become one of us, the created, is truly extraordinary! No one else could done that but Him.

Because of that, each time I see a nativity scene, I just see love.

“Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love. This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another.”

1 John 4: 7-11

Grace and Peace–and Love!

Light and time

It is cold this morning. The view outside my window reveals a beautiful day with a blue sky the exact color of how cold it is here. The morning sun streams through the windows, casting light on everything inside…and reminds me that I need to dust.

Light does that. It reveals.

I’ll be “playing catch-up” today after a week on the road. I am actually excited about it because it means I am home…and I am more than a little excited about that. I’ve already made a dent in my chore list for the day. The rest will simply take time. I cannot hurry the washing machine. I wonder even as I type how is it that I accept that fact about an appliance and fail to extend that grace to other areas of my life?

Some things just take more time than I would like.

The light of God’s Word reveals that over and over and my notes in the margins show this has been a long-term battle for me. I’ve always pushed hard against the lists and schedules I set for myself. I need the reminder from God to go at the pace HE has set and that includes taking time to enjoy wherever I am at any given moment.

In case you need the reminder, too, here’s a link to Ecclesiastes 3 –to save you a little time 😉 and give me a head start: https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Ecclesiastes%203&version=NIV

May the light of His Word and the time we spend there draw us all toward home. Happy Monday!

Grace and Peace!

Please and Thank you

“Fixers” learn early that if we want things done our way, then we need to do them ourselves. I am blessed to know a good number of “fixers” (both male and female) with the hallmark traits of being independent and very self-sufficient. We tend to be both the volunteers and the committee heads, and we’re good at helping others. Those traits are life-saving right up until…well, until they’re not. Even then, it pains us to know we need assistance. On these rare occasions (ha!) of realizing that additional help might actually be “helpful,” the realization may surprise even ourselves.

Knowing this, I was extremely happy when my sweet friend Cindy recently admitted that she had gladly accepted the loan of another friend’s husband to get her Christmas decorations down from the attic. He was happy to help and, thankfully, she was wise enough to accept.

Normally, this task would have been executed by her own husband and other family members, but health issues, distance, and timing made for a special case this year. I was so proud of her for choosing to accept the assistance! We laughed about how rare it was for us to do that, but acknowledged it makes perfect sense…which calls our “normal” behavior into question! (Wry grin here!)

While this is a wild departure from my own regular inclinations, I am presenting us all, dear readers, with a holiday challenge: find ways to say “yes” to accepting the help this year! Let someone else lend a hand, sharpen their skills, use their gifts, and feel needed. Let’s give the gift of inclusion to all the things we’ve kept behind the scenes and shouldered on our own. Let’s make a party of the doing this year and practice saying, “Please, and Thank you!” and “Bless you for offering!”along with our holiday greetings.

In short, let’s give the gift of gracious acceptance when help is offered and share the joys of the season together.

Grace and Peace!