Celebrating the Birth of Christ

As Christmas quickly approaches, how do you plan on celebrating?   

I’d like to be sure that my children know the real reason we celebrate this holiday, the birth of Christ.  Here are a few things we will do as a family:

·        Bake treats for friends, family, neighbors, etc.  We bag these up and stick a label on them with scripture that represents Christ’ birth.    Then I drive my children around letting them get out to deliver the goodies and wish people a Merry Christmas.

·        Take your children shopping for a toy to donate to a needy family.

·  Perform a random act of kindness.  For example, while paying for your food in the drive-thru, pay for the person’s food behind you.  Tell the lady at the window to wish them a Merry Christmas for you.  (I pray before going to the drive thru, that God will place a person behind me that needs a little Christmas Spirit.)

·    Have a birthday party for Baby Jesus!  On Christmas Eve morning, my children and I will decorate a cake.  After our Christmas meal, we will sing Happy Birthday and blow out the candles!  (This is the first year we will do this and the children are really excited about it!)

·        Read the Christmas story from the Bible.  Every year on Christmas morning, when the children awake, they crawl in the bed with us and we will read Luke 2.  (Tad usually wants to read it for us.)  Then we run to the living room to open presents!

·        Christmas is on a Sunday this year.  We will definitely go to our Christmas church service.  What better way to celebrate the birth of Jesus than to go to church?  If you don’t have a home church, please join us at Greensboro Baptist Church Sunday morning at 10am.

Feel free to comment and leave more ideas for us!

Need Refreshing???

“Water, please!”  My boys LOVE to play outside with their daddy!  Football is usually their first choice.  When they get started, they don’t stop…until, of course, they are panting for water.

Ice cold water on a hot summer day – isn’t that refreshing?

As Tad gulped his water and ended with an ahhhh sound, I began to think about the Word of God.  The way Tad felt after that big glass of ice water is exactly the way I feel after I spend time with my Savior…ahhhhh.   Isn’t that precious time refreshing?

How about you? In these days of busy, fast paced lifestyles, refreshing may be just what you need.  I know, I know, some days it is difficult to find time.  And when you do try to find time, the phone rings or the children awake.  Have you ever gotten up and thought, “Oh well, I tried.”  Have you ever gone to bed and promised the Lord tomorrow would be different?

You know, Tad isn’t thinking of that water as a choice.  He needed refreshing, so it was a priority to stop playing long enough to get refreshed.  We should make our time with God even more of a priority.  It isn’t something else on our to-do list; it is necessary for our relationship with Christ.

I read once that we should stop trying to fit God into our plans and start letting yourself fit into God’s plans.

Acts 3:19 says that times of refreshing come from the presence of the Lord.  Is your soul thirsty? Give it a drink of Jesus!  The Bible says you will never thirst again!  (John 6:35)

This mama has it going on! OR does she?

Look at all of these children’s devotionals I have bought over the last few years.   Bet you are thinking this mama has it going on at her house!  Well…the truth is they don’t do any good unless they are used.  Of course my intentions have been to read and study the Bible with my children every night.  But, it doesn’t always happen.  WHY??  Let’s see…

My husband and I were discussing this very topic last Sunday morning.  Why is it that we can have devotions every night with our children and then all of a sudden we realize that a week has passed with no devotion??  His response…”The tv, we have to cut off the tv at night.”  Hmmm…sounds like a good reason to me and because I don’t watch tv, it sounds even better.  It is his fault because he watches tv at night!

My thought?  Because I’m busy (cleaning the kitchen, packing lunches, signing papers, checking homework, bathing children, presetting the coffee pot, etc)  I wait until it is pushing bedtime to tell the children to brush their teeth and begin on their nightly routine.  Then it is bedtime, everyone is tired and ill, we say our prayers and go to bed.

WHY, IF I REALLY WANT TO LEAD MY CHILDREN IN SPIRITUAL GROWTH, CAN I NOT MAKE IT A PRIORITY? 

My priorities must be out of line.  Right?  OR is it our flesh?

“The Spirit is willing but the flesh is weak.”  Matthew 26:41b  (The disciples did not stay awake to be on guard while Jesus was praying for this same reason.  They wanted to, but their flesh was weak.)

As I began to get depressed, wondering if this would ever become routine and not be skipped, I remembered another scripture.

Lamentations 3:22-23  His mercies are new every morning.  Great is Thy faithfulness.

Today is a new day!  God is not the one making me feel defeated, satan is.  God is the one reminding me that today is a new day.  He forgives me for my weak flesh and allows me to begin anew!

I am happy to say last night makes 7 consecutive nights of devotions and Bible reading with our children.

What is it that you need to begin anew today?  Remember, God is a God of second chances!    Great is thy faithfulness!

Multitasking

My sons’ faces light up when they hear their daddy’s voice.  “YAY!  Daddy’s home!!” they scream.  I asked my 4 year old, “What can daddy do that I can’t?”  He quickly responded, “Daddy plays with me.”  In defense, I reminded him that we were just playing with playdoh.  He reminded me that I was cooking supper and he was playing with playdoh.  I said, “Well we watched a movie together.”  He interjected that he watched the movie while I fed Avery. 

Hummm…Guess I was multitasking instead of giving my child the attention he wanted and deserved.  Isn’t that what we women are good at…multitasking? 

As I went to bed that night thinking about our conversation, I wondered…Do I do this with God? 

I pray…as I’m cleaning house.

I worship…as I drive in my car.

I read the Bible…but lately it has been a verse here and a verse there (usually while I'm feeding Avery!).

God reminded me that these are all good.   He wants to be a part of my busy day, but He also wants me to have a quiet and intimate time with Him.   He wants my full attention.   I can’t help but to believe that it is in the stillness that I will know Him better! 

Psalm 46:10 “Be still and know that I am God.”

The Family of God

Tears fell on April 27^th when I was told that my grandmother’s house had been hit by the tornado.  As family gathered, we discovered that it was not salvageable.  This was not just a house but her home.  A dwelling place she had lived in for 61 years.  She experienced life as a newly wed there, raised 5 children there, and entertained her 14 grandchildren and 7 great grand children there.  Family always gathered at her home on Sundays after church to visit with one another. In only a few minutes her dwelling place she called home was gone. 

For days, she sat with her 2 daughters (whose homes had also been destroyed) and starred at the remains. 

 My Grandmother's House

 Her car/carport

The area around her house.

She and her daughters’ families slowly began life again in my parent’s home nearby.  As reality sat in and her daughters began drawing up house plans in order to rebuild, reality also sat in for her.  She was almost 90 years old and would probably never be able to rebuild. 

However, only a few weeks later my grandmother had a visitor.  “We want to build you a house” were the words she heard.  She sat stunned as she listened to how a group of Christian men and women wanted to give of their time and talents to help her.  WOW!  God had sent His servants to build her a home.  A home in which she thought she would never be able to have. 

This group of everyday people like you and I, became the hands and feet of Christ to help my grandmother.  Many took vacation time from work and some even came out of retirement to help!  They all made sacrifices.

How happy I am to be a part of the family of God!   

Volunteers giving of their time and talents!

Almost finished!

My proud grandmother!

Clutter

I felt my temperature rise and my face become boiling red as I tried to enter my son’s bedroom.  The problem, you ask?  There was no place to walk.  Toys covered the floor.   I became so angry that I immediately slammed the door.  I didn’t want to look at it.  Now maybe this rage was brought on by a hormonal mood swing, but I was done with constantly asking him to clean his room.  I went straight for a trash bag.  I’ll show him!  When he returns home from school he will be missing half of the items in his room!  Maybe then he can keep it clean.

I went first for what appeared to be trash.  As I reached down I picked up a drawing he had made.  It was of our family (his father and I, his brother, and him holding his new baby brother).  I took a deep breath.  I again picked up another paper.  This was a math sheet he used to practice for a test.  On the top of the page he had written “I love my family.”  My heart melted.  Among this clutter in his room was the precious heart of my 8 year old son.  I sat in the floor and began to thank God for showing me the important things in life.

The Lord began to remind me of His blessings.  This room of clutter isn’t near as important as the heart and soul of my children.  As you enter today’s frustrations and clutter in your life, ask yourself “Does this really matter?”  Focus on what matters most to God and thank Him for revealing it to you!

Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body, and be thankful”

Building Up or Pulling Down?

“Kristie, I’m sorry but we just can’t afford to build a house right now.”  I remember hearing those words 6 years ago and feeling distraught.  I had been dreaming of building a home with my husband.   The blueprints were already vivid in my mind!  The night my husband finally told me that it was not going to happen, I could not sleep.  I went to the living room, knelt by the couch, wept, and prayed.  “God, Thank you for blessing us with this home we are living in.  Forgive me for wanting more.  Take away my desires for a new home.  I want to find my contentment and happiness in You.  Amen.”

That night I gave my desires to God.  I realized that my husband wanted to give me my dream house but he did not have a peace about it.  I had to respect that and allow him to be the head of our household and make that decision.

The next few days, I grew closer to God as I strived to make our house a home.  I wanted to be the best wife and mother I could be.  Ultimately I wanted to be the Proverbs 31 lady (and still do)!    God showed me that it was my relationship with Him that would make me happy, not material things.

Proverbs 14:1  “The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her own hands.”

Wow!  What wisdom is spoken in that one verse!  To me, this verse says that a wise woman allows God to be in control, while a foolish woman tries to control her own.  It doesn’t matter if you are living in an apartment or a mansion.  In the end, your house reflects your heart.    Without Christ, the atmosphere is cold and depressing.

God wants us to trust in Him alone.  When we do this, no matter what surrounds us (brick, stone, or wood) He is in control and will make our house a home.

We were eventually able to build a home.  My husband and I committed  to use it to glorify God.

“As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”  Joshua  24:15

*Also, read Matthew 7:24-29!