Tis the Season

Christmas time puts many extra items on everyone’s to-do list. Our brains quickly clutter with gift ideas, entertaining opportunities, and pressing errands. As we go about our usual responsibilities, seasonal tasks take priority while everything else slides.

A few days ago, after yanking a stack of cash from the local ATM, I pulled into the bank lot to organize my wallet and prioritize my errands. As I sat with a wad of bills in one hand, my list and a pen in the other, I saw in my periphery vision a man approaching my car. “Now what,” I thought.

ATMHe rapped on the frosty window, and I looked up from my organizational work through irritated eyes. He smiled, then pressed something flat against the window for me to see: my ATM card.

Racing to start my errands, I’d forgotten to pull the card from the machine. This kind man had done it for me and amazingly had noticed my running car in the nearby lot. If he’d chosen to keep the card, he could have headed for the nearest Walmart and gone on a spending spree, since I’d recently made a large deposit to cover a college tuition bill.

Feeling ashamed of myself, I rolled down the window and accepted the card. He smiled and said, “I thought you might need this.”

Last week I blogged about my friend Melanie performing 38 random acts of kindness. The man who returned my card was doing one, too, expecting nothing in return. I wish I’d thought to give him a reward. Then I would’ve had the fun of participating in a random act of kindness, too.

Jesus was the perfect model of performing kindnesses. He healed, blessed, taught, served and did a variety of miracles for the benefit of others. One lavish kindness was feeding a mob of hungry people by miraculously dividing five rolls and two fish to generate food for all.

As the disciples walked among the masses distributing that meal, did Jesus’ hands get tired breaking off bits of bread and fish? There were 5000 men there that day, with women and children probably doubling it. Since all were satisfied after the meal, he probably “broke the bread” (i.e. tore off many thousands of pieces) with human fingers that surely got sore.

Did he receive anything in return? Although the story is told in all four Gospels, none mentions that Jesus even got to eat his own meal that day.

During this season of Christmas gift-giving, each time I pull out my ATM card I’ll think of the stranger and his random act of kindness. But I’ll also think of Jesus, who went out of his way to be kind to others…. and is still doing it today.

“God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:7)

Praising and Praying with Mary

We are all praising God tonight for the safe delivery of Anders James! God is good!

Something New

Every December I pray the same prayer: Lord, please show me something new about the Christmas story.”

The cardsAnd then I watch for it. I think of it as a special game that God and I play together. He has “all the cards” but when asked, is willing to show one (or more) of them to me. I know he isn’t going to lay out the whole hand, but seeing even one of them means he’s letting me win one round of our game.

In past years he’s never failed to answer my prayer, sometimes in big ways, sometimes small. This morning in church, as the children presented a brief Christmas program, he showed me one of his cards. It was just a little one, but I appreciated it.

Shepherds and sheep.As a robed angel-boy announced to the shepherds that the Savior had been born, other angels chimed in with singing, and an invitation was given to “go and see” the new baby. The child-shepherds responded with this:

“The Lord will take care of the sheep. Let’s go!”

And there it was. The new card. I’d never thought about those sheep before, the ones “abiding in the field” outside Bethlehem with their “shepherds keeping watch over them by night.” The text says the shepherds immediately went “with haste” to find the baby Jesus.

Surely after their encounter with so many supernatural beings, none of them gave the sheep another thought as they bolted toward town. And though Scripture doesn’t include that line about the Lord being the one to take care of the sheep, that’s probably exactly what happened. I can’t see any of the shepherds volunteering to miss out on this awesome event by hanging back with the sheep.

We’ve heard the nativity story so many times it tends to move in one ear and out the other without making any fresh impact. To consider one small part of it we haven’t thought about before is to look afresh at this 2000-year-old story, even if it’s only something simple like wondering about who cared for the sheep after the shepherds ran off.

But an even greater joy comes in realizing that God generously answers the prayers of people seeking more of him and wanting further information about his story. I plan to keep watching in case God wants to play another round of our game, and thankfully, he’s ok with that. Actually, he has encouraged me to stay on the lookout and seems to enjoy revealing more of his story to anyone who wants to know.

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)

Praising and Praying with Mary

  1. Please pray that our 11th grandchild will be safely delivered tomorrow.
  2. I’m thanking God for how really good I feel without the feeding tube!

Unwrapping Christmas

Yesterday I received a heavy box in the mail, and since my granddaughter Emerald was over-to-play, we opened it together. That is, we tried.

The artistBefore I could fetch a scissors to cut the tape, Emerald (who was seated cross-legged on the kitchen counter) grabbed my pen and began drawing on the sturdy white box. Since it was heavy and seemed well-padded, I decided to let her have a moment with her idea and pulled out the colored markers for her.

She ended up working on that box for 25 minutes, a noteworthy attention span for a new two-year-old. As she chattered away, she turned the box (no small feat with its heft) and every so often asked for help with that. “Mee Mee help you?” I moved her to the floor where she continued to draw, decorating all 6 sides before she was finished.

While she was asleep, it occurred to me she’d never been interested in what was inside that big, heavy box, because she got distracted by the packaging.

The artworkSome of us are tempted to do that with the Christmas season, too, allowing ourselves to get so caught up with the trappings of the holiday we never get around to unwrapping God’s gift.

Admittedly, all the Christmas accessories fancy-up the season in ways that are difficult to resist. We buy into buying, and adorn our homes with baubles and bows. We choose well-balanced Christmas trees and load them with sentiment and family history. We entertain and bake and wrap and decorate till December 25 finally comes and goes. And then we fall into a tired heap with smiles on our faces, knowing fun was had by all.

Apples and jamBut did we ever take time to unwrap The Gift?

“…for the exceeding grace of God in you… thanks be unto God for his unspeakable gift.” (2 Corinthians 9:14-15)

 

Praising and Praying with Mary

Please continue to pray about my painful feeding tube and for God’s wisdom about whether or not to have it removed.