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Sunday, December 18, 2011
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
A meaningful Tradition
"But the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary; you have found favor with God. You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus.”
Luke 1: 30-31
Over the last few years we have taken our boys to A Journey Through Christmas. It is a 15-minute drive through of the Christmas story with live actors and animals. The first stop you come to is the angel Gabriel appearing to Mary. Every year as I watch and listen to the scripture I mentioned above being read, it brings tears to my eyes.
As a mom, I can’t imagine how overwhelmed Mary must have felt about the news the angel shared with her. God chose Mary for a very special purpose. I believe God chooses us specifically for the children he gives us.
There are days where I feel overwhelmed and extremely inadequate for the task at hand, but like Mary, God tells us, “Do not be afraid.”
Mary is a beautiful example of a woman who trusted God with her son. I think the reason I get emotional as I listen is because I know the rest of the story. It just doesn’t end with the joyous and happy celebration of a new-born baby.
Mary as a mother experiences what it is like to have her son face a very cruel death. I also get overwhelmed with the fact that He died for you and me so we could have a personal relationship with him.
At Christmas we think a lot about giving and receiving gifts, so maybe this would be a good time for you to think about receiving a gift of eternal life and forgiveness, if you have not already received that gift.
I wrote this article for our mops newsletter to correspond with our theme for our December meeting which was "Holiday Traditions.”What do you want your family traditions to reflect?
The drive through the Christmas story has become a tradition for our family as we want our boys to be able to reflect on what Christmas is really about amidst all of the other business of the season.
We actually took our boys this past weekend to this event, as we watched and listened to the scene of Mary and Joseph in the manger with the baby, our youngest M was sitting on his dad's lap and he made the comment, "that makes me want to cry" and his dad asked him "why"and he said "because a baby was born". It is interesting as mom was getting a little teary eyed too :)
Monday, December 5, 2011
Comparisons
Recently I overheard someone describe me as being a creative person! I remember being surprised, as I really don't consider myself to be particularly creative, at least compared to other people.
Exactly, that's it, we spend so much time comparing ourselves to other people that we can't see who we are? We can't see the unique person that Christ has made us to be.
It seems it is much easier for us to see ourselves as other things which aren't always positive.
Inadequate, unlovable, worthless, failure, weak, small, boring, unattractive, stupid and the list could go on! When we think on these things and let them take root in our lives, we start to believe them! As we continue to compare ourselves to other people around us, we become disillusioned with ourselves and other people.
And when we believe these lies we feed ourselves, it affects our relationship with others and more importantly with God.
Thankfully God reminds us in His word :
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. " Psalm 139:14
Therefore if He has made us then we can't be all these things, because we are made in His image. It is so easy for each of us to fall into a negative pattern of thinking that does nothing for ourselves but drag us down and takes our focus of who God is and the purposes He has for each one of us.
One of my favorite verses is
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Philipians 4 :8
I write out of personal experience, but I am thankful that God uses His word to speak truth into my life and to know that none of that stuff is true about any of us!
Exactly, that's it, we spend so much time comparing ourselves to other people that we can't see who we are? We can't see the unique person that Christ has made us to be.
It seems it is much easier for us to see ourselves as other things which aren't always positive.
Inadequate, unlovable, worthless, failure, weak, small, boring, unattractive, stupid and the list could go on! When we think on these things and let them take root in our lives, we start to believe them! As we continue to compare ourselves to other people around us, we become disillusioned with ourselves and other people.
And when we believe these lies we feed ourselves, it affects our relationship with others and more importantly with God.
Thankfully God reminds us in His word :
"I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well. " Psalm 139:14
Therefore if He has made us then we can't be all these things, because we are made in His image. It is so easy for each of us to fall into a negative pattern of thinking that does nothing for ourselves but drag us down and takes our focus of who God is and the purposes He has for each one of us.
One of my favorite verses is
"Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things."
Philipians 4 :8
I write out of personal experience, but I am thankful that God uses His word to speak truth into my life and to know that none of that stuff is true about any of us!
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| A picture of me helping my son be creative decorating his gingerbread house at school |
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