Category Archives: 5 Songs I am Singing

Song is my love language.

Song for a Sunday // Finally

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , ,

Finally  by Gary Chapman.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror…” 1 Corinthians 13.12 ear buds What if, regardless of the deep-seated belief that we are not worthy of the love of God, that we have gone too far in sin or been too much of a disappointment to Him; what if the torment of the accuser and the heaviness of self-doubt, the negative things we believe about ourselves (whether self-imposed or heaped upon us) and the things that so easily beset us and keep us imprisoned and afraid could just be wiped away by one glimpse of ourselves in the eyes of our Maker, our own true, most genuine reflection?  What if it could change everything?

I wish my mind wouldn’t argue with my heart

It splits the day apart

Into time well spent and time just thrown away

I wish my heart would please make up my mind

I’m wasting so much time

Gotta catch a glimpse of how it’s gonna be

When finally I look inside Your eyes and see

Reflections of Yourself in me

The way You always said it would be

When finally, I’m loving You like You love me

It happened oh, so easily I looked at You and it came to me  ~ finally

Backstory {mine, anyway}

This song by Gary Chapman was an early-80s hit for T.G. Shepherd and I never thought of it as anything more than a country love song with a great melody – until about a year and a half ago, that is.

I’d read some research disproving what we’d always been told, that “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” meaning as we age, we’ve lost brain cells and the ones we have are set like stone.  What a horrible prognosis to believe that whatever we are, have thought and believe based on life’s input so far is just it, as if we are in a trap we can’t escape.

It isn’t true!  I was fascinated to learn that science now proves the neuroplasticity of the brain, meaning our brains are not static.  Our brains can be retrained to catch up to truth.  The neural pathways can grow and be renewed and the grooves and  driven river of thought which has cut defined paths into the landscape of our brains, sometimes taking us down painful passageways again and again,  can be changed and healed and our beliefs and responses can be re-routed.  Our minds and hearts and souls can be healed and set free of negative emotion and erroneous belief.  Science caught up to the Word of God in proving we can, without a doubt, be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12.2), which is incredibly good news!

a mind is a powerful thing

So, as I pondered the mind-blowing, brain-healing, course-altering, change-potential, joyful-relief possibilities – I came across this YouTube video of Gary Chapman singing.  And the words represented the dilemma so well ~ the battle between our perceived reality and the hope that something can be different and that we are wholly, deeply and totally loved and accepted.  If only we could finally grasp what is the truth of God’s heart towards us, wouldn’t it just alleviate the fear, the battle in our hearts and minds – wouldn’t it just bring relief?

I may or may not have mentioned {quite a few times} that I am reading Staci Eldredge’s Becoming Myself and it reminded me of that revelation and this song when she spoke of having a magnifying mirror that reveals all the things you’d rather not have revealed, but that the truest reflection is what we see in the eyes of Jesus, who He sees us to be.

Because you can just kick back and relax and enjoy the abundant life He came to bring so much more if you know you are everything God created you to be and are doing what He actually created you to do (rather than wrestling and clawing and scratching to try to do or be what you or anyone else thinks) and you just reflect Him like crazy – which is SO the point!

Finally!!!

“But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”              2 Corinthians 3.18 NKJV

Oh man – if we could just believe and receive His love.  Wouldn’t it change everything?

…You’re my harbor in the storm I looked at You and the love in Your heart cut right through to me And my eyes can see ~ finally. -Gary Chapman

My prayer for you today, friends and familia~

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is.” Ephesians 3.18 Yes, may you be able to grasp it all…finally.  Me, too.

Good-bye, Mr. Kincaid

5 Songs I am Singing, 9 TV & Movies/Books & Entertainment, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , ,

Dave Madden played Reuben Kincaid on the Partridge Family 1970s TV Show

dave madden

If you have been around this blog much, you know I loved my Partridge Family when I was a pre-teen/barely-teen.

So my sister actually texted me words of comfort about the passing of Dave Madden yesterday, the actor who played the Partridge family’s longsuffering manager on the TV sitcom from 1970-1974.  He died the same day as the Professor from the 1960s show I loved to hate,  Gilligan’s Island (Russell Johnson-he was a gorgeous man).

Reuben

Oh my goodness.  Reuben Kincaid up against the impish, red-headed 10-year-old Danny Partridge just made the show so funny.  I was hoping to find a short clip of one of their conversations and this was the shortest I could find.  And yes, it still does actually make me smile, probably even laugh.

I really think this musical-family show was his best-known role, but for many years following the end of The Partridge Family I recall hearing Dave Madden’s distinctive voice in commercials and voice-overs.   Here is a Partridge Family song featuring Mr. Kincaid.  I really want to own that orange, floral-print dress.  I do!

Farewell, Reuben Kincaid.  Thank-you for all the laughter.  Rest in Peace, Dave Madden.  Rest in peace.

Make Some Noise

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, Stuff I Actually Think, , , , ,

Make a joyful noise, all ye people

You know how certain people in churches (preachers) complain that other people in churches (slackers) will go to football games and scream and yell and cheer when their team (the Broncos) are playing for 3 or 4 straight hours?  Then they’ll tell you (with grave disappointment) that you need to be cheering for Jesus because He made the ultimate touchdown when He came to earth to die for our sins.

No? You’ve never heard that?  Oh, must just be my tribe (aka my own particular people-group/slice of ecclesia-pie), I guess.

Anyway, especially back in the days when a true test of righteousness (or “churchianity” perhaps) was going to be about whether you attended the Sunday night service on Super-Bowl Sunday, the topic would come up.

{I may have even used this particular brand of “worship-motivating” my-pious-self in times past, *gulp} Shhhh….don’t tell.

If the speaker was really fired up, he might add, with a slight hint of disdain, “There aren’t three people here who would stay for a three-hour sermon, let alone get on their feet and shout,” hoping, I am sure, that the whole crowd would suddenly erupt in cheers and actually start acting like they were at a football game, doing some sort of spiritual wave.

A few vigorous “amens” would shoot back to get points with the pastor, those Sunday-night-faithful-head-bobbers letting their fellow-pew-dwellers know, Well, I’ll never stay home to cheer sports teams on a Super Bowl Sunday night when I can be here cheering for the Son of God!.  Uh-huh!

Since Sunday night services have gone the way of sawdust floors and dinners on the ground, we have all been set free from that particular law of sin and death associated with cheering on our football teams so zealously and then failing to do the same for the pastor, er,  for Jesus on Sundays.  Whew, thank-goodness!

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The Broncos won Sunday!

Just in case you missed it, the Denver Broncos had a good Sunday.  They won a play-off game which means they’ll face their arch nemesis this week to see who goes to the super bowl.  The devil is coming to town in the form of a man named Tom Brady and his merry band of Patriots, and all true Coloradoans loathe him with a passion.

Home runs

I don’t really even like football and I don’t understand a lot of the details (I DO know getting home runs is important….JUST KIDDING, simmer down.  I know they’re touchdowns).  Please don’t bother trying to explain it to me, I’m fine with the little I know.  I know enough to cheer for the guys wearing the right colored uniforms…usually.  Sometimes I do have to ask Dave which uniforms we are cheering for that day.  But I digress.

Sunday’s game was right here in the Mile-High City.  That works in the home team’s favor, generally, I think.  One thing the fans did really well was make a lot of noise.  And when our team was doing great, it was “joyful noise” and happy cheering, for sure!  But they also made some strategic noise and LOTS of it when the other team had possession of the ball.  From what I could tell, it made it very difficult for the opposing QB to execute a good play against {my} team, (go, Broncos!).  And so, in the case of this particular game, a certain quarterback actually threw a bit of a fit and his team got a penalty for holding up the game.

Now, I know this is a little simplistic because I don’t totally understand the game, so I am going by what the talking heads were saying, but, think of it – the Denver Broncos, the team – they are on the field doing everything they know to do in the face of their opponents  who have come to crush them.  And maybe that would be enough.  But then these crazy fans in the seats become so loud, so uproariously vocal and physical, clapping their hands, stomping their feet – they actually send  the opposition into a state of extreme confusion.  The thunderous roar of the crowd threw the “enemy” off his game.  The fans in the stands were so loud – they confused and confounded the plan of the opposing team!  How cool is that?

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The Bible is actually full of incredible stories of sound and noise being part of winning battles.  The sound of Judah  sending up praises at the front of a battle meant a victory at the end.  And who can forget the Walls of Jericho, a city God promised to His people? They marched around that city once a day for 6 days, then on the 7th day, they marched,  but the priests started blowing those ram’s horns and the people were told to SHOUT.  They did and those walls came down, God’s promise was theirs!

“So the people shouted when the priests blew the trumpets. And it happened when the people heard the sound of the trumpet, and the people shouted with a great shout, that the wall fell down flat. Then the people went up into the city, every man straight before him, and they took the city.” Joshua 6.20

There are other examples in the Bible where just a thundering sound or some major noise caused enemies to flee.  Like the story in 2 Kings 7 of the lepers who were starving to death and decided to just go to the enemy’s camp and ask for food, figuring they were going to die one way or the other.  But God caused such loud noise to surround their entrance, the sounds of many horses and chariots reverberating throughout the valley, that the Syrian army just took off as fast as they could, leaving their camp and supplies and food intact.  That is crazy!  That is a win!

And I was just thinking, maybe, as the Body of Christ, we should be watching out for each other, for those times the opposing team, aka “the enemy of our souls,” comes marching in to our home field.  And maybe when we see the thief coming to steal, kill and destroy, when we see a strategic offense being mounted against  “our team,” aka our brothers and  sisters in the Lord, our family from the Household of Faith, well, maybe we should just start yelling and screaming and stomping and shouting the house down.  Maybe we could be making some holy battle-noise to drive the devil back, confuse and confound his plan against one of our people!

I was thinking I’d like to be a person like that, a person who will stand up for others facing huge obstacles by making such a fuss, resisting so decidedly that the devil runs the other way, flees like a frightened chicken.

Well, don’t be surprised if I start screaming like a banshee the next time I see the enemy picking on you.  I am, after all, a Pentecostal preacher’s daughter.  I should try to put that to good use, shouldn’t I?  I’d even show up on a Sunday night to be a part of something like that!

broncos chargers 66

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Little bonus: Yes, I seriously raised my kids on this – listen to the whole thing, no kidding!  Just came to my mind as I was about to publish!  :)

Jericho: The Shout of Victory, by Carmen

Oh, and GO, BRONCOS!

 

 

 

And so it begins again…

2 Mi Familia, 5 Songs I am Singing

Day Number One

amelie first day of pre k gumball

  • A rousing rendition of  “Heads, shoulders, knees and toes” to kick off the morning.
  • Gathering paper and crayons and other supplies.
  • Counting and colors: Can you find ONE blue crayon?  Now can you find 4 red crayons?  Hold up one finger, now 3 fingers.  Let’s count our toes.
  • Time to go to the counter and talk about numbers with shiny, gold stickers.  Three whole worksheets and learning how to trace letters carefully.  Stars all around!
  • Let’s get on Storyline and have some one read us a book.  Now let’s do a second book.  Now let’s read the first one again.  Then again, again?  Noooooo, Nonna puts the kibosh on a third read-through.

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  • Nonna has BIG shoes.  Amelie has SMALL shoes.  We look for things big and small around the house.  The reward for being such a good student is a gumball, of course.  And she got PINK!  What a miracle, she thinks!
  • Time to do a craft about the best book of the day, A Bad Case of Stripes.
  • Thank-you for the pancakes, Poppa.  A snack for strength is always a good idea.
  • “Put on some music, Nonna.”  We choose an old vinyl, one of Nonna’s records from way back: The Edwin Hawkins Singers*, “Come and Go with Me to My Father’s House!”  And we twirl and dance and spin and laugh at ourselves.
  • Time to paint pretty pictures and make more stripes.
  • Then an educational game or two on Sprout for Kids.  And mommy is already here?  Where did the time go???

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I am the luckiest woman alive.  When Stephanie asked me to be Gavin’s pre-school teacher, so many years ago now, I wasn’t sure if I was fit for the task, but goodness sakes alive – how I LOVED it, the time with him and the adventures in learning.  I have been blessed to get to do it with each one, now: Gavin, then Hunter, then Guini, then Gemma, Averi and now Amelie.  We just started today, Amelie and I.

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It’s actually a bit early for Amelie Belle.  She is only 3 and won’t go to Kindergarten until the fall of 2015, but we start just having fun and hanging out together, anyway.  We get excited over colors of things and we paint and paste and cut and create and talk and laugh and snack and dance and garden when it’s warm and mostly just have fun.  Come fall, I’ll begin to structure things a bit more and take her through a good pre-k curriculum, but for now, lucky-lucky me!  I’ll get Amelie-time every week for some special moments  to love on her and build some memories. **Really big smile!**
*Come and Go with Me to My Father’s House

On the 12th Day of Christmas – it is Epiphany!

2 Mi Familia, 3 Celebrations & Festive Events, 5 Songs I am Singing, 7 Keep Christmas

12 drummers drumming, people!  That is what you get on the 12th day of Christmas!

12 daysSo this is it.  We have finally come to the end of the Christmas season on the Day of Epiphany, a Christian Feast day that celebrates the revelation of God the Son who came as a human being in Jesus Christ, and of course – the observance of the Wise Men visiting Baby Jesus.

I got my Christmas cards done!  Now to get them mailed to the out of towners…a whole different project!

And may I just say – getting the one perfect shot for this card…well, it never actually happened.  Stormie had to “fix the stall,” and paste in a face or two from a different shot and you might notice the pot near the manger?  It isn’t just crooked, it was actually falling.  When everyone else looks best in the pot-falling shot, you just ignore the pot!

card back new christmas

This is the back of the card. The Nativity in the living room…because we felt Evangeline should not actually have to be in a real barn quite yet…everyone owns a manger, yes?

Nativity-Photoshoot day was as loud as 12 drummers drumming, I can guarantee you that!

It was a wild, hilarious, very short, but intense sliver of time.  My little lamb so wanted to scurry away and the littlest Wise Man was an hour past his nap time.  The tiny angel’s halo didn’t fit right and the biggest Wise Man’s head gear was strapped on so tight he almost got a headache.  There is the cutest shot of Guini laughing, which I thought was maybe her Uncle Rocky being funny, but Averi informed me it was when Kai tooted right in the middle of getting the pictures taken.

cmas card, inside left

Inside, left of the Christmas card

And it is always so funny, because I am always hoping for this one perfect shot for the card, but honestly, when you go back later, it’s the crazy ones that make you laugh and re-live the fun moments of the day.  However, for posterity I must write this here: we only used 1 camera and that is a mistake with a big group like this.  We’ve usually always had 3 or 4 going and that way – something is bound to work.  Must do that again from now on…for as long as these sweet-peas will let me do this.

Baby Jesus slept blissfully through it all, swaddled in a Jessica McClintock fleece and green velvet throw.

cmas card inside right

This is the inside, right

Amelie Belle told me today that she plans to be Mary next year and Averi says she wants to be a Wise Man.  So, I guess it’s still on for 2014!  :)  Happy Nonna!

On the card, I adapted some of Howard Thurman’s words, which seem appropriate in light of the Christmas season coming to a close:

“When the song of the angels is stilled,

When the star in the sky is gone,

When the kings and princes are home,

When the shepherds are back with their flock,

The real work of Christmas begins.”

card front

Because, Christmas = Christ Mass = Worshiping Jesus Christ.  It’s never really over.  So it’s time, friends and family to do the works of Jesus (Luke 4) as an act of worship: proclaim good news to the poor, recovery of sight for the blind, proclaim freedom for the prisoners, set the oppressed free and proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.  We have our marching orders – so much great stuff to do in His Name!  Merry Christmas, bright New Year and God’s favor upon you!

Only 352 days until Christmas…  :)

A bonus song with a wish for you.  May you be blessed in the coming year and find Jesus to be your all in all.

“‘Til the Season Comes ‘Round Again,” by Kenny Rogers

“May the new year be blessed with good tidings

‘Til the next time I see you again

If we must say goodbye

Let the spirit go with you

And we’ll love and we’ll laugh

In the time that we had

‘Til the season comes ’round again”

012 12th day of christmas ornament

Somewhere it’s Snowing ~ A Song for one of the Final Days of Christmas

1 Christ is All, 5 Songs I am Singing, 7 Keep Christmas, Stuff I Actually Think

On the 11th Day of Christmas it may or may not be snowing here and in Indiana and South Dakota and LOTS of other places!

12 days

I used to really-really hate snow.  I’ve mostly lived in places with long winters and snow to the rafters.  It slowed me down, snowed me in, made life a little more difficult if it lasted more than a day or two.  Then about 20 or 22 years ago, I saw this video on TBN  of Carman singing, “Somewhere it’s Snowing,” and forever, the beauty of the thought that grace and forgiveness cover our sin like snow covers the earth and “gives nature new birth,” well, I fell in love with God’s ways through this white blanket of wondrousness.

Snowy days are fun at first and get old fast, but I never cease to be amazed by the even the ugliest, most uneven ground, or sooty factories and broken roads – they all, under a coat of fresh snow, are beautiful again. And the picture of that, the miracle of it, is so profound, I really do thank God for the most vivid reminder on days like today.

I once read in a poem, when snow covers the earth,

That it hides the worlds scars, and gives nature new birth,

And they say when a man turns from sin to the Lord,

That forgiveness, like snow, covers him evermore!

And somewhere it’s snowing –

somewhere it's snowing

Now, I’ve heard that the angels lift their hearts and rejoice,

When one traveler turns homeward from his ways, to the Lord.

If somewhere someone’s turning, he’s giving his all,

And God’s grace, like the snow, is beginning to fall!

On the 11th day of Christmas, I am overwhelmed as I realize the gift of Jesus, and all He came to bring,

“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow…”  Isaiah 1.18

Our sins, all the ones we committed before we knew Him and received Him (“while we were yet sinners”), and all the ones since – they fall powerless in the face of the grace-full and free, forgiveness-laden blood of Jesus Christ.  He fulfilled all sin’s demanding requirements and He is enough, setting us free from the law of sin and death.  Don’t just sit there consumed by your pain and shame and sin – run to the forgiver.

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”  1 John 1.9

Seriously?  You can take this to the bank.  If you confess – He is faithful, He is just, He is able and will forgive your sins and cleanse you from that stranglehold of sin and unrighteousness.  Run to Him for forgiveness, to Him.  You’ll never find what only Jesus gives anywhere else.  Let the good, sweet and amazing grace of Jesus cover your sin like the snow is covering Colorado!

011th day of christmas

Song, Somewhere it’s Snowing by Priscilla Coffey

And somewhere it’s snowing –

see the soft drifting down

As the snowflakes surrender

to the hardening ground.

Like the good grace of Jesus,

that now covers our sin,

In the kingdom of Heaven,

it’s snowing, again.”

Christmas is for Kids

2 Mi Familia, 5 Songs I am Singing, 7 Keep Christmas, Stuff I Actually Think, ,

On the  second day of Christmas…or is it the first day of Christmas since Christmas actually ends on January 6th, the Day of Epiphany?  Hmmmm…

12 days

Yesterday was lovely.  No snow this year, but generous, billowing thoughtfulness drifted down from heaven right up to the house and pushed us in close as a merry and bright winter day settled in around us.  Presents big and small brought oohs and aahs and thank-yous and hugs and kisses.

One especially amazing thing was having three brand new babies here with us, enjoying their very first Christmases.  If our family continues to grow at this rate, we shall be forced to rent a Ski Chalet to house us all!  We are now 22.  Twenty-two!  There are lots of us.

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Steph took pics of my little tomatoes…LOVE!

The other day I posted a Kenny Rogers song for my Advent-take-a-deep-breath-and-enjoy-the-season-with-a-song project, and it reminded me how much I love my old Kenny Rogers Christmas music.  Because…

Kids, kids, Christmas is for kids

Look around and you will see kids from one to ninety-three

Laughin’, lovin’ life and bein’ kids

Kids kids, Christmas is for kids

Kids like you and little brother, aunts and uncles, dads and mothers

Grandma, grandpa an’ all the other kids

Our first Christmas

Kenny Rogers released his album, perfectly named “Christmas” in 1981 and the local radio stations in Kokomo, Indiana were playing selections from it.  The one I most remember hearing was the one I used the other day, “Christmas is My Favorite Time of the Year.”  And because that was and is true, I was thrilled when Dave brought the cassette tape home for me a couple of days before Christmas.  I listened and listened to it.

And it was then I discovered his song, “Kids.”  I mean, there I was 22 with a little girl, a handsome husband and another baby on the way.  I was making a home, I was building a family and memories and traditions.  I was trying to figure out how to be a Proverbs 31 wife.  And this song would come on and I would get misty-eyed because I would think of my family of origin and how we all fit…

Daddy runs the ‘lectric train

While all the children wait in vain

To take their turn at playin’ engineer

Grandpa kisses grandma’s cheek

And all the family sneaks a peak

And suddenly their wrinkles disappear

Keny Rogers, Christmas, 1981

And, *sniff*sniff…I would think about how Christmas was one of the few days of the year I would see my dad just get on the floor and play with toys and not be working so hard.  And I’d recall watching the love between my Grandma and Grandpa Allison, so much affection and so much love shared at Christmas.

Take a look at Betty Joe underneath the mistletoe

Pretending that she doesn’t know it’s there

Then these words…oh my.  I was Betty Jo, and my brothers were teasing me and I could recall it like it was yesterday.  That would SO have been me!  :)

Yes, as a newlywed, I listened to this song and I recalled the Christmases of my childhood and my sweet parents and my grandparents and cousins and aunts and uncles and I so wanted, so-so-so-longed to begin to create the same memories for my family, without even knowing what it would look like.

So the other day, I listened to this song again and wow – now WE are the grandparents in the song.  Uncle Rocky antagonizes the kids with their toys and Guini and Averi might watch for mistletoe and pretend not to see it…

The times and faces have changed.  But the love and joy of Christmas remains.

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Here is a song for the 1st day of Christmas.  First.  I’ve decided.

And now it’s when the fun begins

This time of year we all turn into kids

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1st Day TRUTH: Jesus’s birth opened eternal doors for our salvation and I just know God was in heaven feeling so pleased with His gift knowing it would change everything for all times.  We receive Him again and again, the greatest Gift we’ll ever know!  Glory to God in the Highest!  What a Merry, Merry Christmas!  :)

A Lullaby for a King…and for “Christmas Eva”

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 5 Songs I am Singing, 7 Keep Christmas, , , ,

I actually posted a very short peek at Evangeline the other day and I decided I wanted to use the whole song by The Isaacs, “Messiah Lullaby.”  So, today’s song for Advent:

This is just footage Tredessa has texted to us during Eva’s first few days home (she is one week old today!).  Tre sent me higher quality versions, but I like these.  I love these peeks into the dim lighting and mommy and baby getting acquainted.

And the song is so sweet, too.  I am a big fan of The Isaacs.  In the middle, their mom sings in Hebrew, I think.

Anyway – I have loved Advent.  Now we are on the brink – we’ll commemorate the birth of the Savior of the World!  Almost time for the rejoicing to begin.

mary yes

But just before that, the hush, as we remember  how Mary, the one who said “Yes, Lord – be it unto me as You have said” gives birth and holds in her arms the very King of Kings…

Evangeline being born just before Christmas this year has made it all so much more easy to imagine.

We welcome Christmas Eva.

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And Jesus – we welcome You again and again into our lives!

The LIGHT of the World for the Darkest Day of the Year, a Song

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 5 Songs I am Singing, 7 Keep Christmas,

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!).161 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)

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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

The weary world rejoices

1 Christ is All, 2 Mi Familia, 5 Songs I am Singing, 7 Keep Christmas, Stuff I Actually Think

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.

early morning light

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.

jesus, mary and joseph!

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…”