Thinking on these things . . .

It's New Year's Eve; so although the clock strikes midnight every night, today it will usher in a new year. We're on the brink of the new and unknown. Does it feel like this?   or more like this? As you're just not sure what's ahead... But what if, as the clock struck midnight, you were cognizant of these truths - Your love, O Lord, reaches to the heavens,  your faithfulness to the skies.   Your righteousness is like the mighty mountains,  your justice like the great deep. O Lord, you preserve both man and beast. How priceless is your unfailing love! Both high and low among men find refuge  in the shadow of your wings.(NIV) You feed them from the abundance of your own house,  letting them drink from your rivers of delight. For you are the fountain of life,  the light by which we see. (NLT) Continue your love to those who know you (NIV) Pour out your unfailing love to those who love you (NLT)  Ps. 35:5-10 ...

As I wandered in stores this week, and observed life in general, one disturbing message was loud and clear - Christmas is over. It's time to shove all the merchandise (that has been so highly lauded since Halloween) pell mell onto the clearance shelves and mark it 80% off. Out with the old. We're done with that stuff; we're moving on and now Valentine's merchandise is going there... Christmas is over; the message is clear. It is now time to gear up for 2012. Family, celebrations, "I'll be home for Christmas" dreams are seemingly all complete, shoved into boxes and stuffed back into the attic or taken out in the trash in the mounds of ripped off wrapping paper. Out with the sentimental and nostalgic:  time to make new resolutions, look forward, clear the clutter (as is the lead story of every single magazine out there) and determine to be a better ________(you fill in the blank) Yes, the tree must come down. Yes, our homes must be reclaimed ...

It doesn't feel like Christmas; perhaps because it's on the weekend this year or because there's no snow on the ground but I'm just not feeling "christmasy". The decorations are up, the music is playing, the gifts are wrapped, the menu's planned and Christmas cookies are everywhere, yet... although it doesn't feel like normal; it does feel routine. I imagine it felt the same way for the shepherds; this was their springtime routine of being in the fields at night as it was calving season. They weren't out at night year round but they were every spring, so while it wasn't normal,  still it was the same as before. On the other hand what Mary and Joseph were experiencing was far from their normal - a pregnancy, the gossip, visions of angels, and now a forced journey to an unfamiliar place - they were completely out of their comfort zone. Some Christmas' feel like that, after a loss, a diagnosis, or announcement; this will not be the typic...

I live in a small house and everything has it's place. Well, actually that's not true; many things have their places and then there is all the other stuff that just migrates from one place to another... So now it is Christmas and time to put up the decorations.  As I look around my living room I do not see an open space just waiting for the Christmas tree; instead I see a room already full to overflowing: where could I possibly fit in a tree? So there is this time of evaluation; what can be moved out in order to make a place for Christmas? How can I rearrange what is present in this room so that the tree (and all the accompanying decor) will have a home? And after a plan is formulated then it is time to do the heavy lifting; to move the chair from one place to another, to clean out the things that have accumulated along the sides and corners, to see the entire space in a new light that is looking to make room for a celebration. I live a small life and it is chock full ...

Last January I came across the website   http://myoneword.org/ . The concept is fairly simple, instead of making a long list of resolutions for the coming year choose ONE WORD. As they said "This process provides clarity by taking all of your big plans for life change and narrowing them down into a single thing." So I tried it. I chose a word and, although my attention to it waxed and waned through the months, it truly has provided a clear focus. My invitation to us is not as ambitious, but just as important. Let's choose a word to meditate on this month, up to and including all the Christmas festivities and then afterwards as we head into a new year. What will you focus on this season? Not what will you do this season as that list is endless; but where will your heart focus? Will it be on Peace? Joy? Love? Savior? Messiah? or...??? My word (as illustrated) is Emmanuel, because despite all and through all I want to focus on the fact that  i...