My how time flies! It’s the Christmas season again and in keeping with the times I’m reposting a blog I did over three years ago:

Christmas fills the air. It’s everywhere. And the lights, the music, the holiday rush make it exciting. I’ve already spent hours shopping. Even more hours decorating my house so it will look “magical” when the grandkids come. Next to Easter, this is the most wonderful time of year for a Christian. I feel both joy and excitement as I get ready to participate in the world’s biggest birthday party. Our God, our Savior, our King, our Friend came to earth as our Kinsman Redeemer over 2000 years ago, and millions are preparing to celebrate. I think of them now. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ. But I also think of the many who will go through the motions this season only because it’s “tradition,” and not a matter of the heart. They celebrate because that’s how their parents did it, or because that’s what everyone else does, or because they don’t want their kids to miss out on the presents and fun. Their house will be decorated, too, their shopping done but there will be no room in the inn of their heart for the One who loves them, who gave Himself for them, who longs to whisper in their ear and call them, “friend.”

I pray this season will be filled with good heath and joy and love and family and friends. But most of all I pray that room will be made in the inn of our hearts for the One whose birth we will soon celebrate.

Merry Christmas to all!

Until next time,

Sylvia

I love the sights, sounds and smells of the Christmas season. And people seem friendlier, happier. They actually stop and smile and wish you a “Merry Christmas,” despite the fact that it’s really not PC anymore. Happy Holidays is more like it. But PC or not, nothing can change the fact that this is the time we celebrate the birth of our Savoir and King.

And wasn’t it just like our wonderful Jesus to enter the world humbly, as a baby born in a hovel that only animals indwelled? It is hard to understand a love like this. Or a God like this. The very one who created the world graciously accepted the fact that the very world He created had so little room for Him.

Before we know it, another Christmas will come and go, and many will forget the One we honor now. Oh how important it is to make room in our heats for the One who loves us unconditionally, the One who will never leave us or forsake us, the One who knows us better than anyone else. Christ-mas is not a season, but a life long commitment and relationship. May we carry Christ and His love in our hearts now and always.

Wishing you all a blessed and Merry Christmas!

Until next time,

Sylvia 

We were eleven this Christmas, a far cry from the twenty-five that we had been for many many years. But time changes everything, even family dynamics. Some have moved away, others have passed away. Even so, Christmas was wonderful. Chatter and laughter filled my daughter’s house. And as usual, we had so much food we could have feed the neighborhood. And there were gifts to open, and empty boxes and torn wrapping enough to fill the garbage pail in the garage.  Life is good when you have family and friends to love, and who love you.   

And that’s the thing to remember as we go into 2012. No matter how your own family dynamics have changed, life is still good because whatever else, you’ll always have that larger family of God who loves you and needs you. God never changes, though the world around us might. And your place in His family never changes. You are valuable. You are wanted. You belong. You are important not only to God but to His kingdom.

No one knows what 2012 will bring. But we can all look forward with confidence in these constants. God has a plan and purpose for each and every one of us. We can be encouraged by that.

May 2012 be all you hope for in the Lord. May you feel His constant love and presence, and may you become secure in who you are in Him. And may you fulfill the wonderful destiny He has planned for you. 

Happy New Year.

Until next time,

Sylvia

The Bible tells us that the joy of the Lord is our strength (Nehemiah 8:10). And that word “strength” literally means fort or rock. Wow! That’s formidable. It also tells us that joy is the fruit of the Holy Spirit and should be part of every believer’s life. But if joy is the key to strength, is that why so many Christians are weak? One look around in some of our churches reveals just how few Christians take these scriptures seriously. Instead of joyful faces, they often look worried, fearful, or depressed. Yes, there is much in our world, and often in our lives, too, to cause us to feel these things if we let them.

But the first thing the angel said when he appeared to the shepherds on that unforgettable and holy night of Jesus’ birth was: “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day unto the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11)

Nothing has changed. We still have the same “tidings of great joy.” Jesus is still with us. And He has overcome the world. No matter what we are going through, we must remember that. And this, too: “weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (Psalm 30:5b)

May this wondrous season of celebrating the birth of our Savior rekindle in us the joy of the Lord so we will be strong for the coming year.

Wishing you the unsurpassed joy of Christmas.

Until next time,

Sylvia

Everyone knows appearances can be deceiving, yet we have all, at one time or another, been fooled. And it happened even in the Bible. Take for instance David, the shepherd boy. Who would ever think that an uneducated, insignificant shepherd would become the great king of Israel? And then there’s Daniel, the Jewish teenager, who was dragged to Babylon as a captive, only to become advisor to the most powerful rulers of the then known world. And Rahab, the harlot, who became part of the lineage of Jesus.

But the best example is God Himself who came down to earth as Emanuel in the form of a helpless baby, born in a smelly stable, and who lived the life of a humble carpenter before beginning the greatest ministry of all times, that of reconciling man to God; and changed the world forever. Many were fooled then, too, and couldn’t believe that such a thing was possible. Even Nathanael, one of the twelve apostles, when first hearing of Jesus said, “”Can there any good thing come out of Nazareth?” (John 1:46).  And people are still being fooled today.

As Christians decorate their trees, buy presents, and display nativity scenes to celebrate the birth of Jesus, many others still can’t comprehend that this so called “good man” was in reality the Creator of all, the God of the Universe, the Commander of the Hosts, the One who brought everything into existence with just His spoken word. His having been clothed in the body of a baby fools them. So does the humble way He worked as a carpenter. And they still don’t understand that the reason Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice of forfeiting His life was so that we could have a hope and a future, not only in the present but for all eternity.

As we prepare the room of the inn of our hearts to receive Him, once again, this season, and throughout the New Year, let’s remember and pray for those we know who have yet to receive the King of Glory into their own hearts. Who have yet to receive the God who loves them more than they could ever imagine.

Until next time,

Sylvia

The more I see of the world the more I wonder if society at large has a clue of what real love is.  Oh, the romance movies would have us think it’s all sparks and chemistry like something that fizzes out of a child’s toy volcano when the right elements are mixed together. Most of the time this makes for a nice story, one that usually has a happy ending of boy getting girl.  But we rarely see what happens after the “getting,” when the pressures of everyday life kicks in, and the “fizz” goes flat.

So if that’s not real love, what is?  Well, there’s a great definition of love in 1 Corinthians 13:4 which says that love is patient, kind, never envious or boastful or conceited. It says that love does not insist on its own way, or its rights.  It’s not touchy or resentful, takes no account of wrong done it.  It’s not self-seeking, but bears up under anything that comes along.  It never fails and it’s not conditional.  Wow!  That’s awesome and inspiring, but depressing, too.  Because who can live it?

Only One comes to mind; the perfect embodiment of true love; the kind movies seldom talk about.  It’s love without sizzle.  It’s hard and gut wrenching, and poignant, and difficult.  It’s the kind of love that made the King of the Universe, the Creator of all, humble Himself and come in the form of man and allow His entrance to be made in a smelly animal shelter.  It’s the kind of love that, without resentment, bore up under the persecution and lies of His countrymen.  A kind of love that didn’t fail when He was tortured and nailed to a tree.  Instead of calling down bolts of lightening on those who mocked Him, He called out, “Father forgive them.” 

Oh, how our God loves us! He spelled it out clearly: J-E-S-U-S.  Let us remember Him in this wonderful season.

Happy Birthday Jesus.  And Merry Christmas everyone.

Until next week,

Sylvia

Right now, my bed is covered with bows and ribbons and bright colored Christmas paper and an assortment of gifts waiting to be wrapped.  I love giving presents.  Oh, the anticipation of seeing someone’s face light up when unwrapping that perfect gift, the one he or she has been hoping for; the one that really means something. The smile, the sparkling eyes, the obvious pleasure on the face makes my pleasure complete.

I imagine that’s how it is with our Heavenly Father.  He delights in giving us gifts, too.  We all know His greatest gift to us was Jesus, but I’m talking about something else here. I’m talking about those personal gifts to us, the ones He takes great pains to select, to wrap, and then to reveal at just the right time: that healing touch, that deposit of peace in the midst of a storm, that scripture that speaks to the heart, sending that needed person at just the right time, that unexpected baby after a couple has tried unsuccessfully for years, that job opportunity at the most unlikely place, that . . .

It’s hard for me to watch TV this time of year. Nearly every channel has a “Santa” story showing a big hearted, all-knowing personality that just delights in giving gifts.  I know many enjoy this type of entertainment, but I can’t help but feel sad that this fake figure is so revered, and that so much energy goes into perpetuating his myth, when all along we have Someone who truly delights in showering us, His children, with gifts; Someone whose heart swells with joy and delight at the prospect of blessing us, and not with gifts that eventually break or are forgotten in some dusty closet, either, but with gifts that help us live fuller lives, gifts that many times have eternal value.

Oh, what a wonderful, generous God we serve!  And what pleasure He takes in us.  It’s only fitting that we take the same pleasure in Him.

Until next week,

Sylvia