Christmas Date Note

Isn’t it interesting that there is a growing number of Christians coming to grips with history. December 25th is probably not the actual day Jesus Christ was born – could have been the day Jesus was conceived by the Holy Spirit. So the Seed of God was placed in the womb of Mary during the Jewish celebration of Hanukkah that year. Wow! The Light of the World is conceived during the Festival of Lights. Learned peoples point to the Holy Scripture to explain the inaccuracy of the present celebrated dates. Blame is placed on the Catholic Church for arbitrarily choosing a day to celebrate the birth of Christ. The voices are growing in numbers, “this isn’t the date, this isn’t the date”! Makes you want to ask, “And the point is?” If I learned at this juncture in my life (I’m really old) that my actual birth date was about 6 months off would it change my life? Would it change who I am or how I celebrate life? I rather doubt it. Leaning into Scripture you can always find your answers. Philippians 2:15-18. Paul rejoiced in the fact that Jesus was being preached. Some out of rivalry, but others out of goodwill.

May you be blessed knowing that in fact our King was born and is alive for ever more and may we purpose to worship Him all year long.

Rest on His Word: Philippians 2:9-11
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

Destination Bethlehem

A Christmas Journey

Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened . . . (Luke 2:15)

Traveling back in time and finding it’s not as pretty as it is in the movies or on Christmas cards. Did you know that caves where shepherds kept their flock in winter are not clean? Whew, one whiff of that stench is enough to gag a rhinoceros. I’m a city girl, I like clean animals. Mary, how did you do it? The trip from the village of Nazareth in Galilee to the town of Bethlehem in Judea is about 65 miles. On a donkey? While you are in labor? Have mercy! The town of Bethlehem was bulging with people in for the big census taking. It was dreary, noisy – really rowdy – and sold out. “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head." (Luke 9:58) I can’t even imagine the feelings inside Joseph as every effort to find comfort for his wife and his any minute child failed. People were ugly and unsympathetic. At this point Mary was obviously in the latter stages of labor. Joseph was directed to the caves behind the Inn as a last resort. It was a long enough trek for the donkey – he headed straight for the manger for a drink of water
(A manger in Bethlehem) right where our Savior would first lay His head.
Of course Joseph would do everything possible to make Mary comfortable but what did he know about birthing babies – he was a carpenter. He distributed the hay and snatched a blanket from the donkey to create a somewhat clean place for Mary. She probably had a small bag of salt to rub on her new baby’s skin preventing infection, some yarn to tie off the umbilical cord, a piece of sharp slate to cut it, and strips of cloth to swaddle her baby in. She was only fourteen but God was her guide. Jesus probably looked quite ordinary to Mary & Joseph in that first extraordinary parent vision. Ten fingers, ten toes, a thatch of black hair, skinny little legs and arms and the wizened face of a newborn who had dwelt in water for nine long months. To them He was the most beautiful baby on earth. God gave them the ordinary human experience but the Shekinah glory came upon them as angels and shepherds appeared and wise men gathered bearing gifts.

A pearl to string: Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.” Suddenly a great company of the heavenly host appeared with the angel, praising God and saying, “Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to men on whom his favor rests.” (Luke 2:11-14)

A birth like no other –
Let your hearts be swaddled in His love for eternity.
Merry Christmas
Lyndi

Amy Grant Lyrics

Mary Did You Know?

Christmas Prayer
For those who may be grieving we stop to say a Christmas prayer:
We celebrate this time of year because our Lord was born;
But let us not forget that there are others who may mourn.

In times of sorrow, times of strife, it's sometimes hard to smile,
So, Holy Spirit, please come in and tarry for awhile.

Touch those who may be suffering; touch every wounded heart,
Touch all those burdened souls when they feel distant, set apart.

Remove the pain, and fill their hearts with happiness and mirth,
And let them all rejoice now in The Savior's holy birth. Amen and amen
Mary Did You Know?

Somewhere in my forties the Christmas carols that I had been singing all my life sunk deeper into my soul. It was as if the lyrics suddenly had profound meaning that I had never experienced before. My heart and mind seemed to unite on the wonder of Christmas, the inexplicable joy of my Saviors birth. “Mary Did You Know?” is a Christmas song written in the 90’s that causes me to meditate on the circumstance of Jesus birth every time I hear it.

The times were most difficult back then. The people of Nazareth had a strong Jewish faith. Mary and many ordinary people of the land, were increasingly aware that they were powerless themselves, but God, the all powerful, could raise up the lowly. Their faith was of the deepest kind: "The Lord hears the cry of the poor. Blessed be the Lord. The Lord our God, the Lord alone! Therefore you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, and with all your soul and with all your strength." (Deut. 6:4-5)

Mary's faith was strong. Yet, in fervently religious Nazareth with its high moral standards, she hardly stood out at all, even in the eyes of those who knew her best. Besides, as a young woman living in a society where men counted most, she would be little noticed except as a mother and a wife.

When she was 14 or so, Mary's parents made plans for her to be married, as was customary in those days. They chose Joseph of Nazareth, a carpenter, for her husband. The engagement took place and Mary returned home to wait about a year before she would go to live with her husband as his wife. But then, something happened.............

Mary was chosen by God to bring forth the Savior of the world. An astounding series of events and responses took place for the miracle of all miracles. What grips my heart as a mother is imagining Mary holding her baby – what went through her mind? Next time you hold a baby imagine you are Mary, you have just gone through extraordinary unexplainable events but now your baby is in your arms. This is finally a normal experience looking at her baby something Mary shared with millions of moms. Mary lovingly and tenderly kisses her precious baby boy – she kissed the face of God. Doesn’t that just take your breath away? Focus in on that – she kissed the face of God. Mary held her child in her arms, the child she delivered would deliver her. Awe-inspiring reality – did she know? Could she sense it? Did Mary feel it? She kissed the face of God. Moses couldn’t even look at the face of God but Mary kissed the face of God. Oh Mary, that sleeping child you held so long ago is the Great, I am and you kissed the face of God. In my mind I want to go to the manger, I want to sit beside Mary, I want to hold her baby, I want to kiss the face of God.
A pearl to string: Present day wise men worship the Child of Bethlehem who was born to be the Man of Calvary.

Following that Christmas star -
May His presence light your way.
Lyndi

Pretty Blue Sky

CONFABULATE. It’s a real word! It came in my email this morning for my word of the day. It means to chat, confer or fill in gaps in memory by fabrication. Hummm, I seem to do a lot of confabulating these days. It’s not done to be intentionally deceptive. It’s more like when I was a kid I had to do something with the holes in the picture I was drawing. I loved to fill those holes with pretty blue sky. So when I confabulate it’s just a little pretty blue sky for the holes in my memory.
It’s that time of year when my memory goes dancing. Christmas time is such a lovely, fun time of the year. The memories of yesteryear hold joy and plenty of blue sky. These days controversy swirls everywhere. Instead of singing we’re arguing, instead of giving we’re complaining, instead of honoring we’re dismantling - all in the name of diversity? Yikes, makes a body want to just go home, close the doors, keep the TV off, turn the phone off and pull out the boxes of stored Christmas decorations. I love to decorate our home when it’s cold outside – snowing is the best time. I light the logs in the fireplace, turn on the Christmas music and brew some cinnamon tea. Sipping and humming I ponder the wonder of how God trimmed our world with the sun and the moon and all the twinkling stars to light our way and bring us warmth and joy. All the shimmering lights that are strung around the houses, in the trees, on the boughs and intertwined in wreaths reflect His handiwork to me. God colored our world with four uniquely different seasons and all His creation reaches up to Him in praise with every branch and leaf turned towards the sun. How beautifully He ornamented our lives with animals to love and care for and people to figure out and be in relationships that reflect His character. It is in giving that we receive. Love is not a “feeling” – love is an action.

The Scriptures say, "God commanded light to shine in the dark. Now God is shining in our hearts to let you know that his glory is seen in Jesus Christ". 2 Corinthians 4:6


A pearl to string: Love is our Father’s character and He gave each one of us a heart to hold Him and seek Him then sent us the Christ child to believe upon to keep us united with Him for all eternity. Now that is an action that I can celebrate. That’s no holiday – that’s Christ’s Mass – A celebration of God’s love, His communion with His people.

We are His, we came to sup with Him and be in His everlasting love,
Merry Christmas and pretty blue sky,
Lyndi

Gold, Common Sense & Fur

Merry Christmas! I’m fighting back with love. Merry Christmas! You can’t take Christ out of my Christmas otherwise you’d just have a mas! Yuk! Merry Christmas! Let’s get you in a cheery mood with this precious story. Let’s celebrate our Savior! Merry Christmas!

Gold, Common Sense & Fur
by Linda C. Stafford

My husband and I had been happily (most of the time) married for five years but hadn't been blessed with a baby. I decided to do some serious praying and promised God that if he would give us a child, I would be a perfect mother, love it with all my heart and raise it with his word as my guide.

God answered my prayers and blessed us with a son. The next year God blessed us with another son. The following year, he blessed us with yet another son. The year after that we were blessed with a daughter.

My husband thought we'd been blessed right into poverty. We now had the four children, and the oldest was only four years old. I learned never to ask God for anything unless I meant it. As a minister once told me, 'If you pray for rain, make sure you carry an umbrella.'

I began reading a few verses of the Bible to the children each day as they lay in their cribs. I was off to a good start. God had entrusted me with four children and I didn't want to disappoint him. I tried to be patient the day the children smashed two dozen eggs on the kitchen floor searching for baby chicks. I tried to be understanding when they started a hotel for homeless frogs in the spare bedroom, although it took me nearly two hours to catch all twenty-three frogs.

When my daughter poured ketchup all over herself and rolled up in a blanket to see how it felt to be a hot dog, I tried to see the humor rather than the mess. In spite of changing over twenty-five thousand diapers, never eating a hot meal and never sleeping for more than thirty minutes at a time, I still thank God daily for my children.

While I couldn't keep my promise to be a perfect mother - I didn't even come close - I did keep my promise to raise them in the Word of God. I knew I was missing the mark just a little when I told my daughter we were going to church to worship God, and she wanted to bring a bar of soap along to 'wash up' Jesus, too.

Something was lost in the translation when I explained that God gave us everlasting life, and my son thought it was generous of God to give us his 'last wife.' My proudest moment came during the children's Christmas pageant. My daughter was playing Mary, two of my sons were shepherds and my youngest son was a wise man. This was their moment to shine. My five-year-old shepherd had practiced his line, 'We found the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes.' But, he was nervous and said, 'The baby was wrapped in waddled up clothes.' My four-year-old 'Mary' said, 'That's not 'waddled up clothes, silly. That's dirty, rotten clothes.'

A wrestling match broke out between Mary and the shepherd and was stopped by an angel, who bent her halo and lost her left wing. I slouched a little lower in my seat when Mary dropped the doll representing Baby Jesus, and it bounced down the aisle crying, 'Mama-mama'. Mary grabbed the doll, wrapped it back up and held it tightly as the wise men arrived.

My other son stepped forward wearing a bathrobe and a paper crown, knelt at the manger and announced, 'We are the three wise men, and we are bringing gifts of gold, common sense and fur.' The congregation dissolved into laughter, and the pageant got a standing ovation. 'I've never enjoyed a Christmas program as much as this one,' laughed the pastor, wiping tears from his eyes. 'For the rest of my life, I'll never hear the Christmas story without thinking of gold, common sense and fur.'

'My children are my pride and my joy and my greatest blessing,' I said as I dug through my purse for an aspirin.

A pearl to string: As the Word of God says in Proverbs 17:6: Children's children are a crown to the aged, and parents are the pride of their children.

Merry Christmas ~ May God’s gift of Jesus birth bring you Mercy, peace and love in abundance. Jude 2
Lyndi

JESUS WHISPERS

"PEACE, BE STILL"
The charm of a sunset I cannot capture
Or carve a mountain high,
Sculpt a majestic eagle's wings
Or paint rainbows across the sky
...Clothe one tree with leaves
Of glorious colors of crimson and gold,
Or bring to it greening in Springtime ~
'Cause sweet roses' petals to unfold.
I cannot feather a sparrow
Or create for the fish one fin,
Mold for the peacock its brilliant plume,
Build a nest the birds could live in.
But, there is a mighty Sovereign,
The Creator of all things who can,
With the voice of many waters,
Calm raging seas at His command.
And, when I am confused and troubled,
As a storm toss'd vessel at sea,
That Voice simply speaks,
"Peace, be still,"
Restoring to me sweet tranquility!

© 2002 by Mary Carter Mizrany -- all rights reserved