Today is the shortest day, the longest night of the year in this hemisphere. Or at least the shortest amount of daylight. Now it starts going the other direction. I LOVE this!!!
So I have the PERFECT song for Advent from Matt Redman, Light of the World!
This is one of those songs I could sing all day. If you turn it up loud, by the end you’ll feel like you have joined a Gospel choir (which I once got to be in and wish to do again someday!). From a Christmas show in 2011
Your birth was prophesied, for You are the Messiah who came and walked upon the earth.
Your glory we have seen, the One and only King and now You’re living in our hearts…
Light of the world, Light of the world, Light of the world, You shine upon us!
And yet You became flesh, living as one of us under the shadow of the cross, where through the blood You shed, You have made peace again ~ Peace for the world that God so loves!
Geez-louise, I HATE when Christians get all haughty like God no longer loves this world and its’ inhabitants. That kind of ridiculousness negates the power of the blood Jesus shed and the righteousness He bought for us, while WE (yes, even us) were yet sinners.
It is Christmas, doggone it, people. We need to be the proclaimers of that prophetic, bright-light, very-merry Word from the Book of Isaiah to people living in darkness and despair, to those who are losing hope:
“Arise, shine, for your Light has come and the glory of the LORD is risen upon YOU!” (Is. 60.1)
Light of the World YOU SHINE UPON US!
NOTE: The photos are from the Worship and the Word Christmas Show in 2011, Dave’s first directorial event. Tonight is the final performance of Jesus, Mary and Joseph! See www.callbacktheater.com
Oh, weariness. That bone-tired, overworked, hopeless state of too many of us these days. What on earth, in light of the heaviness of the things this world is dealing with, what could cause it to begin to rejoice?
I have all these little children and babies in my life – those of my own children {my little grandbebes} and those of friends and family. And this is the winter season, these are the days of colds and sniffles and flu and lots of teeth emerging and I watch all these young mommies try to balance everything and keep their families healthy in spite of all the bugs flying through the air. Almost impossible.
And so weariness sets in.
Then Christmas comes and all the resolve we had to be way ahead in the whole scheme is swallowed up by life, all of life: good and bad and happy and sad and programs and plays and emergencies and welcomed surprises and, weariness can set in.
There is blessedness to weariness, though, I think.
“And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.” Galatians 6.9
Maybe it helps us remember that being weary should be while doing good, while doing what we are actually called to do. Maybe it’s OK if it’s being all we were born to be, all we are meant to be – well that comes with a promise, a promise of a season of fruitfulness and reward.
Because when you are bone-tired and stretched to your maximum ability to cope, you have no choice but to stop and listen and look around and cut back and proceed with caution. You have to decide, at that time, what really, really matters – what is the best, highest, most noble use of your body and soul.
I was just messaging with Stef as I was writing. When baby boy gets a fever, we have to drop everything and ask: what is happening here? Is there a tooth coming through? Will we be rejoicing shortly? If there was no outward sign, we’d miss it, we’d miss his little body as it goes through change after change and is exploding with life and the continuing creative processes of God on his little life! Did he catch a little bug? If he had no outward signs, we’d still run ragged (both baby and mommy) and hurt his little body irreparably, mommy’s too. Pain has its’ purpose.
Tiredness, fatigue and weariness – they serve as a message to these mortal bodies and they are a gift.
Tredessa just had a baby this week. A woman’s body is taxed beyond belief during labor and delivery and while she wishes with all her heart she could come to her dad’s play tonight, it would be horrible to expose our tiny Evangeline, but it would tax her, too. It would wear her out to have to smile and navigate stairs at the church and her body needs 6-8 weeks to be “normal again” and there is a reason for that and it’s a gift to us.
Isn’t it fabulously amazing that God gives us these guideposts for deciding again and again, that He trusts us that much? Oh, that I would trust Him back the same…
So, weary world, at the lowest and most fatigued and maybe hopeless moment, Arise, shine-for your Light has come and the glory of the Lord is risen upon you.
Even if you’re in your weariest, most fragile state…Stop. Breathe. Slow down and decide, once again, what is this time for – right now? In this moment? And then when you see all God has blessed you with, rejoicing will rise. There is a reason for weariness, there is a blessedness in it if we’ll pay attention…
Note to self: It’s ALL a note to myself.
Today’s song for Advent, first a peek at Evangeline. Then, The Isaacs: Messiah’s Lullaby
Sorry it can’t be the whole beautiful song. It was one of the YouTube free-to-use songs (no copyright problems). I WISH I could have faded it out. Maybe YouTube will catch up on that someday. Enjoy my sweet new grandbebe’s contented, peaceful state (and her mommy-right where she should be)…
“The whole world’s been waiting, too
The only Hope for hope for fallen man is there is in Your tiny hands…”
I *HAVE* to thank Chantell Hinkle for taking the solo for me!
With a grandbebe’s birth and Christmas things to do, and working, well…I just thank her from the bottom of my heart! She’ll be singing a song I used to sing every Christmas at malls and airports and schools and churches from the early 1980s on, “Merry Christmas with Love,” by Sandi Patty. I KNOW she will be amazing!!!
The FIRST FIVE grandbebes are in the production, which is so cool.
They even got headshots done for the lobby board! Gavin and Hunter are both part of the principal cast. I cannot wait to see them!
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ALSO – an INTERMISSION band that is so crazy good and they also just so happen to be my kids, but they are REALLY good either way! :)
These peeps:
+ this one = GOOD STUFF!
Omygoodness!!!
So exciting! Several of my besties are in the cast! Music, dancing, laugh-out-loud funny, I’ve been told. I haven’t actually seen it yet, but the rumors are out there. :) Plus heartwarming and some Christmas magic – how can you lose? I am so proud of my talented husband, the infamous Dave Rhoades, who wrote it (he is a great character-writer!), and is directing and acting in it and all of the WONDERFUL cast and crew who make it all come together so I don’t have to, haha!
I totally FORGOT to post yesterday. Hey it’s been a busy week with a GRANDBEBE being born and Dave’s BIG production coming up this Friday and Saturday!
Christmas 2006, the year Guini walloped Santa is his big, fat beard.
This group is making the rounds this year and I have to say, I am on the bandwagon! Their song, “Little Drummer Boy,” was the first I had ever heard of them, and I think they captured it well. REALLY great rendition. And it does make you think: Jesus came to bring so much. Of course we want to give back.
A really beautiful song and so perfect for Advent, as we look forward to Christmas, “Glory is Here” by Gungor.
Someday You’ll come.
Darkness will cease.
True light will dawn, everyone will then see everything new
We’ll finally see You.
Awaiting that day, searching for more
While along You are found with the poor.
Help me to see
You’re all around me
Our praises arise
As we come to recognize
Jesus is near
Glory is here
Oh yes, it is! And when I focus on that, Christmas burns brighter.
I have never actually seen an Advent-Music category at a music store and while I do have a pretty high stack of Christmas records (the old vinyl kind, ya know) and CDs, I don’t have an Advent music category. I am just visiting all styles and types of music with words that seem appropriate for this high-church tradition of the days leading up to the {12} days of Christmas, as evidenced by most of my blog posts these last 2 1/2 weeks or so.
What I am doing is trying to make sure I just take a few minutes, the length of the time of the song, to observe these days from a perspective I was not raised in (I come from the day-after-Thanksgiving-to-the-day-of-Christmas-is-just-a-mad-rush-to-but-to-bake-to-have-a-gazillion-church-activities-and-parties-and-then-collapse-in-utter-fatigues-the-end variety) and think about {in expectant waiting and preparation} Jesus – and all His coming changed, the first time…
“The people walking in darkness have seen a great light; on those living in the land of deep darkness, a light has dawned.” Isaiah 9.2
And I don’t want to be as blind and as busy and as un-expectant as those who may have missed Him the first time. We are people of the Light and we just live like…nothing is different (I included you in that sentence so I wouldn’t have to take all the blame, *wink).
So for Advent, I am remembering that the Light, Jesus, He came and that we’ll be celebrating that in a few days. But that He is not finished and He has gone to prepare a place for us and He will come again and we are looking for Him, preparing for Him and waiting for this momentous occasion with expectant joy, on earth as it is in heaven!
Today’s happy-song of watching and waiting: Prepare the Way by Charlie Hall
Prepare the way, because we still can for so many living in darkness. An oldie, but goodie. :)
I didn’t post yesterday (because of something BIG). But I did observe Advent in probably its’ most recognizable heart-longing way, which I shall explain…
I won’t tell the whole story here, but there will be details to follow, I am sure. BUT, on Sunday, we had our Annual Girl’s Baking Day at the house. We get together with sugar and flour flying through the air. Nuts are chopped, pretzels are dipped, chocolate is melted, icing is squeezed…and at 6 pm, all the guys show up and ooh-and-aah over tables and counters full of Christmas treats and sweets. Every year, we cut back, waaaaaaaay back. And yet yearly, there are just mountains of sweets and Christmas treats – it is crazy! But then everyone has some festive goodies to get them to December 25th, or to share with neighbors and friends. It is ONLY once a year! Because otherwise….no bueno.
So, we did that on Sunday. Ay-yi-yi! We worked our buns off. And Tredessa, completely pregnant, with a baby due THE NEXT DAY, worked and worked and worked! We were hoping she’s go into labor because of it. Instead, we wore her out! And me, too – the doula!
9 pm…whew! Tired. Everybody leaves, everybody is exhausted by the merry-making. Everyone has been up since before the days-shortened dawn. Then, suddenly…her water breaks at that moment, at that least-expected, boy-we-could-sure-use-a–good-night’s-sleep moment as she was leaving.
We get to the hospital a couple of hours later and blah-blah-blah…
EVANGELINE WAS BORN! *happy-dance* *singing and rejoicing*
She came at 1:23 pm on her “due date.” She was 20″ long, weighed 7 pounds and 10 ounces and has some curly looking honey-colored hair and is just gorgeous-gorgeous-gorgeous! I LOVE her!
Stephanie took this one, a first glimpse at Evangeline
So I didn’t post a song yesterday but it was mainly because I was in a room filled with longing and expectancy, a birthing room. The room was filled with holy music the entire time and it was beautiful and all I could manage to do was Tweet about it.
After they told Tredessa, late morning, she was dilated to 5 cm and she had been hoping to be so much further, I backed away as she and Ryan literally danced through contractions. He’d reach out his hand to her like they were at any romantic event and she would lean into his chest and they’d sway softly, Tredessa breathing carefully while Ryan cheered her on and encouraged her. Then as the contraction would subside, she’d sit down to rest for a minute or two and then he’d say, “Let’s have another contraction. Are you ready?” And he’d reach out his hand and lift her, as if he had just said, “May I have this dance?” And they had a contraction every single time, on and on, for nearly an hour. And I sat in front of my majestic snow-capped mountain backdrop on this perfect sunlit day praying for them, praying for my sweet daughter to have the strength she needed, and I wept. They were working hard for their love, for this baby…
This was part of what we saw through the window at the hospital
The birth of a granbebe shows me the Advent-Christmas connection in Technicolor. You wait with longing for 9 months, you labor through dark hours hoping, concentrating, wondering if you can see this thing through…then in a moment of total surrender, when you believe you cannot go on – she arrives…LIFE!
Welcome to the world, little Evangeline Lilly. Your Nonna already loves you.
And now to Ryan and Tredessa: Prepare the way for Baby Eva! Eva!!!
First, I love Gary Chapman. I think he is very talented both as a singer and of course as a songwriter.
I subscribe to Hymn a Week and this was today’s offering. Beautiful. Just lovely. Take a few minutes in the light of the tree. Listen. Observe. Breathe. Be at peace, friends and familia!
It’s an early 1990s prophetic worship song. Dave and Tara sometimes lead it still, and it is a beautiful song of longing for what is ahead for us in Christ.
I just signed up for Max Lucado’s Five Days of Hope from Max Lucado because he is such a great writer and who couldn’t use some hope in these troubled times?
In other news…
And this little crew, plus the rest of the principal cast are hard at work on the best Christmas show of the year!
I may or may not have a number of grandbebes in this production. Well, Ok. I do! :)
Seating is limited for two performances, but you can get still get tickets online at Callback Theater online. Children 3 and under are free.
Another shooting at another high school in Colorado today.
So, as I pray for the students and the community, when Fear wants to run rampant, I am praying for, welcoming, inviting the Prince of Peace to visit us here. May it be on earth as it is in heaven. And I am praying that God will be now, as our need has grown, a very, very Present Help in these times of trouble. For now is when help is needed.
Somehow, the observance, the careful thought of taking specific time daily (with a song) to look ahead with anticipation for all God has in store is making the season brighter, merrier, more joyous for me. :)
“It is now, at Advent, that I am given the chance to suspend all expectation…and instead to revel in the mystery.” ~ Jerusalem Jackson Greer
I am re-using a song I used earlier this week because Tredessa was perplexed (she gasped that I didn’t use the Martin Smith-Kim Walker version) that I didn’t use this version. And she was so right!
This song, Waiting Here for You, is so-so-so perfect as an Advent song. Which I already went on about. And I love this live, worship version with Jesus Culture’s Kim Walker and Martin Smith himself singing it (he co-wrote it with Chris Tomlin). So if you are ready to get your worship on, turn it up and go!
If faith can the mountains, then let the mountains move
BUT ALSO – I just discovered the official video version from the God’s Great Dance Floor album. I didn’t know I could like it better than the Jesus Culture version, but it turns out, I really do. You still get the full-crowd, live-worship-like-you-are-there rendition, but you also get the cool, intimate, just-me-and-Jesus in His beautful creation version. SO GOOD.
Either way, this song of Advent is meant to be voiced with strength and abandoned love and desire: Waiting Here for YOU! Pick a version, any version…Merry Christmas!
From a Christmas show in 2011
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