...And A Partridge In A Pear Tree!

I think that just about everyone is familiar with the Christmas Carol, "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  I grew up singing it, but never really understood it's meaning.  I thought it was just about some old Victorian custom of gift giving for the holidays.  Then, a few days ago I received an e-mail from my mom that explained this song.  I'd like to share it with you because I figure that if I grew up clueless to the meaning behind this beloved carol, maybe you're clueless, too. :0)


From 1558 until 1829, Roman Catholics in England were not permitted to practice their faith openly. Someone during that era wrote this carol as a catechism song for young Catholics.  It has two levels of meaning - the surface meaning plus a hidden meaning known only to members of their church. Each element in the carol has a code word for a religious reality which the children could remember.


Here is what each day stood for...


1 - partridge in a pear tree = Jesus Christ
2 - turtle doves = the Old and New Testaments
3 - french hens = faith, hope and love
4 - calling birds = the four gospels; Matthew, Mark, Luke & John
5 - golden rings = the Torah or Law, the first five books of the Old Testament;
     Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy 
6 - geese a-laying = the six days of creation
7 - swans a-swimming = the sevenfold gifts of the Holy Spirit; prophecy,
     serving, teaching, exhortation, contribution, leadership and mercy
8 - maids a-milking = the eight beatitudes
9 - ladies dancing = the nine fruit of the Spirit; love, joy, peace, patience, 
     kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control
10 - lords a-leaping = the ten commandments
11 - pipers piping = the eleven faithful disciples
12 - drummers drumming = the twelve points of belief in the Apostles' Creed


You can click here for printable coloring pages that go with "The Twelve Days of Christmas".  I think they would be a great tool for teaching your kiddos the meaning behind the song and keep them out of your hair give them something to do while you finish up the last of your Christmas preparations. :0)


So, tell me - did you know the story behind the carol, or were you clueless like me?

If You Love Your Children...

This morning as I was reading posts from my blog roll, this post really caught my attention.  It spoke to me.    It's from the blog, Mennonite Girls Can Cook.  If you love to craft - and more importantly - if you love your children and desire to raise them in a Godly manner, take 2 minutes out of your day and go be inspired.

You're welcome.

Through the Eyes of a Child

A child's perspective can often be very refreshing and even help me look at things a little differently.

This past weekend my sister and her family made the 3 1/2 hour trip to spend some time with us.  Usually, we make the trip north.  The last time they were at our house my now 7 year old nephew, Jacob, was pretty young.  He doesn't remember seeing the bed Chris and I sleep in.  Really, it's nothing special.  Actually, it's probably a little retro - a full motion water bed that we bought new for $500.00 when we first got married.

Anyway, when he found out that we slept on a water bed, all of the curiosity that accompanies any normal 7 year old kicked into gear and he had to lay on it.  My sister went in there with him and came out laughing.  With awestruck eyes he said to her, "Mom, you must have to be RICH to have a bed like that!"

I had to laugh, too.  I AM rich.  And, sometimes it just takes looking at life through the eyes of a child to remind me of that.

Springtime Everyday

I must say, I have thoroughly enjoyed this winter - but, I'm beginning to look forward to Spring.  I was having a conversation with my mailman, Mike, yesterday where he was talking about his garden.  Then he said, "What I'm really looking forward to is your tulips coming up."  Me too, Mike.  Me too.

Our first Spring in this house we were delighted to find a few tulip plants come up in the front yard.  Then, my husband was horrified to come home from work one day and find that I had cut them to bring in the house.  I told him that I couldn't enjoy them out there under the window, so I brought them inside where I could enjoy them.  After all, why should I have something that I'm not able to enjoy?

That Fall we planted 50 gazillion tulip bulbs which lit up the whole front of the house and walk-way last Spring.  Evidently, we weren't the only ones who enjoyed them. 

My sunflowers were another example of this.  I had so many neighbors tell me how much they enjoyed watching my sunflowers grow summer before last.  I didn't get them planted last year.  But this year I plan on planting three different varieties.

It was that conversation with Mike-the-mailman yesterday that made me realize that the beauty we create for our own enjoyment just seems to spill over onto everyone else.  I think this principle applies to a lot more than flowers, too.  I believe that when we take the time to create a place, a life that we love - it not only touches us, but it touches others in a positive way, too.  So, I'm thinking that maybe, just maybe I don't just have to look forward to Spring - but I can create it today, everyday, by just choosing to spread a little sunshine.  Wouldn't that be nice?

Happy Valentine's Day

Mark Twain said, "To get the full value of joy, you must have someone to divide it with."  So, in honor of  Valentine's Day, I want to share some pictures with you of scenes from the weekend that brought me joy.  I wish that I could show you the full effect of what I saw - it was magical.

On a very few mornings in deep Winter it will be foggy.  The air is full of enough moisture and the temperatures are cold enough to turn our little world into a Winter Wonderland for a few brief hours.

Ice crystals form on everything.

Whole trees, even forests become completely covered in ice that mimics fuzzy flocking...

...until the suns rises high in the sky, gently warming it until it begins to drop like falling snow.

The sun is warm enough to begin to melt the snow.  The temperatures are cold enough to turn that melting snow into every child's (and child at heart's) favorite treat - icicles.

These are perfect Winter days.  She sighs...  Life is good.

Happy Valentines's day!
Pam

P.S.  Tonight marks the 2 year anniversary for the first night we slept in this house.  Sometimes it doesn't feel like it's been that long at all.  Sometimes it seems like it's been much longer than that.

HAITI

Picture from the Boston Globe

I know that there is information flying all over Blogland and the internet right now about the devastation in Haiti and how you can help.  But, in light of the latest 5.9 magnitude aftershock that has crumbled more buildings - well, I feel the need to share one more, and this is where it gets a little personal for me.

Several years ago, while we were living in Florida, my husband and I had the priviledge of meeting a wonderful Haitian couple, Dr. Joel and Rev. Doris Jeune.

Picture from Grace International.Org

The Jeune's oversee 200 churches, 66 Christian schools, 3 orphanages, and feed over 3,000 street children daily in Haiti.  They are one of the most awesome couples I have every had the privilege of knowing - yet, very meek and unassuming.  I can attest to the uprightness and character of these two.  And, along with so many others right now, they need help.  LOTS of help.

Picture from the Boston Globe

Their ministry, Grace International, is based in Carrefour, which was the epicenter of the major quake.  Most of the help that has been sent to Haiti has been unable to reach Carrefour.  Thank God, the mission campuses that they run were unharmed, so they have become refuge centers for between 15,000 and 20,000 of the hurt and displaced.  However, they have no food, no bathroom,  no shelter...

Picture from Grace International.Org

Haiti needs help...in the form of doctors, nurses and volunteers to go there and help with the devastation, in the form of supplies, in the form of host families/facilities to house displaced Haitians until their land is once again habitable, in the form of money (for all of the above and more), and in the form of prayers.

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds?  Can such faith save him?  Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food.  If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?  In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. ~ James 2:14-17

I believe that we should help those in need when we can.  I also believe that no act of kindness is too small.  Don't let the thinking of 'it's not enough' stiffle you from doing something, anything.  If we all do something, much will be accomplished.  Maybe you're not in a position to go to Haiti and help, but you could host a family or a child.  Maybe you can't host a family or child, but can send monetary help.  Maybe you're not in a position to even squeeze an extra $5 out of your finances right now, but you can offer up prayers.  Every act of kindness is a seed that will reap a harvest.

If you would like to find out more about what is needed and how you can help, then please take a moment to visit Grace International.  Actually, please take a moment and visit anyway... (Keep scrolling down - there are many pictures and much information).  There is also a way to give on that page.  The funds will go right to Grace International and provide assistance to places that haven't been able to be reached much, yet.

Thanks for listening,

Pam

Her Name Is Konichiwa

Do you ever feel as though like you're being pulled in a thousand directions? Do you ever wish that you could temporarily clone yourself? I don't necessarily dream of cloning myself - but, I do find myself in a semi-catatonic state with a starry look in my eye and drool running down my chin beneath an open mouth daydreaming about "Konichiwa". She's my house girl. You know, the one who washes all of our clothes and dishes, and does all the housework? Then at the end of a long, hard day she gives me and the master of the house a hot stone massage. Her presence frees me to do all of the fun things in life: homeschool the boy, work on my projects, learn new skills and hobbies, shop. Go ahead - wipe the slobber off of your keyboard now. I'll wait for you. Surely, I'm not the only one who has this fairy land in my head. But, alas, I do not live in this reality. At least there was always summer... Yeah, right. Whatever...

In my other ideal world, or the way it seems that my world used to be, summer is a time to slow down, relax, let your hair down and just breathe a little. It hasn't been that way this summer. It seems that I have stayed in a state of overwhelmed. Overwhelmed with all of these things that want my attention at the same. The garden needs tended. The vegetables need canned. The curtains that need made. The ceiling and furniture still needs painted. The jeans that need hemmed. The never ending mountain of laundry that needs washing. The meals that need to be prepared. Then the kitchen that needs cleaned in response to the meals being prepared. And that's only the inside of the house. It seems that all of these things pull at me so that I have a hard time remembering what's really important in my life. Lord, please grant me a Konichiwa. And bless all the little pygmies in Africa. Amen.

So, what is really important? Is it all of the tasks that scream at us every time we enter the room or walk out into the yard? No, chores, projects and duties aren't what's really important when it's all said and done. This is something I've been battling with lately, though. The most important things that I can tend are not my projects lists, but my relationships.

My husband works in a 24 hour emergency business. Last week was his turn for the pager. That means he put in 48 gazillion hours in a week. Whaaa, you didn't know there were 48 gazillion hours in a week? Well, that's what it felt like anyway. When your man is gone working 48 gazillion hours in a week and then spends the other 13.872 hours sleeping - well, let's just say you don't get to see much of him. I like to see LOTS of him. He is a pretty man, after all! So, he finally got rid of that blasted pager and had the weekend off. But...when Saturday morning rolled around I was feeling pressured. Pressured to get busy make 9,000 gallons of salsa out of the 22 truckloads of tomatoes that I had picked from the garden. They aren't going to clean and chop themselves, you know. My pretty man could tell that I was already feeling stressed. He knew those tomatoes needed dealt with. But he also knew something that I needed to be reminded of. He knew those tomatoes COULD wait just a while longer. He knew we needed to spend time tending our family before we tended those tomatoes.

He ever so gently said to me, "How do I love thee? Let me count the ways..." No. Wait. That's not what he said. That's what I would have liked for him to say. No, that's not true, either. I would have burst out laughing if he started talking to me in the King James dialect. He did say something to me along the lines of letting the tomatoes wait and that he hadn't gotten to spend any time with us that week and so it would be good if we could just spend some time together that day. He reminded me that the most important things aren't usually the ones that scream at us the loudest. It's the quiet things in our lives that are easily overlooked and shoved to the back burner that truly deserve the most important seats at the table of our lives. I don't want my dirty laundry at the table. I want my peeps there.

So, I have a challenge ahead of me. I still have a list of projects lined up for me to do during "down" time. I will always have laundry to do, meals to prepare and dishes to wash. I have come to terms with that. But, yesterday marked the first day of our new school year. So, I can now add teaching to the top of my list. With the holidays quickly approaching and extra curricular activities getting ready to start - I am determined this year to keep perspective. I will be striving to take it one day at a time and not let my messy house and dirty laundry keep me from enjoying every day and making time to nurture relationships with the people, family and friends, who are important to me. And, while I'm learning to keep perspective - I'll still be praying for Konichiwa. What's so wrong with wanting a house girl?

Have a great one!
Pam

I'm Gonna Miss This

I'm feeling a bit emotional today. This is the reason why.

My baby, my one and only son that I love, is growing up - WAY TOO FAST. He mowed the lawn today - all by himself for the first time. MW let Little Britches help him some with it last year, but he had to walk right with him because he still couldn't handle the mower up an incline by himself. That's not a problem this year. You should have seen the smile Little Britches wore while he was man-handling that mowing machine. There was such a sense of pride and accomplishment on his face.

Little Britches is eight. He'll be nine this summer. It seems like just yesterday that we were re-doing that nursery fit for a princess! (We were told we were having a girl. SURPRISE!) Part of me is so proud and excited at how he is growing up. Getting to sleep through the night, not have to take half the house in a diaper bag when we leave, toting strollers around and not changing poopy diapers anymore helps, too. Actually, just getting to go and enjoy places is a wonderful perk of him growing up. He was NOT an easy baby. He comes from a long line of babies that didn't sleep at night. Honest to God, he was six before he slept all night long. We couldn't get that kid on schedule no matter what we did. He was a homebody from the time we brought him home from the hospital. If we tried to go anywhere he would scream something awful. And I'm not talking as a toddler, either. I mean from the time he was a tiny infant this would go on. And, oh, how he loved music! But it had to be really hyped up, fast music. You know how you put on lullabies to soothe most children to sleep? Not Little Britches. It was the extremely up-tempo rockin' songs that calmed him down. When he was five months old we were going to drive around and look at Christmas lights. I brought our Kenny G Christmas CD to play on the drive. The moment I turned off the other music and put that CD in - he began to scream. He wanted to listen to Bob Dylan sing "Saved". Remember, he was five months old. So, we experimented. It didn't matter what song was on - if it wasn't "Saved", he was screaming. The second we'd put that song back on he'd quiet right down. Can you guess what we listened to as drove around looking at Christmas lights that first holiday as parents? That was the only song we listened to for at least five months. I promise you - that's not an exaggeration. But...

Little Britches was also pure joy! Oh, he was happy. And laugh...honest to God he would laugh from the time he was born. My mom commented on it when her and my dad came down when we brought him home from the hospital. I simply told her, "His name means 'laughter' after all." And he was always so affectionate - a real lover. He still is.

We knew that after the ordeal we had getting him here that he would be our only child. So we decided from the get-go that we were going to savor every minute of every stage of his life. And we have. I'm so thankful for that. My sister-in-law made a suggestion when he was born that I buy a journal and keep a record of all the mile stones in his life or funny or sweet things that he said growing up. I'm glad I took her advise. Sometimes I'll get it out and read through it. It's amazing how many things I had forgotten until I read it in those pages - things I just knew I'd never forget. Some of the stages he's been through I was happier to see go than others. I have just always tried to keep in mind that it's all part of the growing up process. Trace Adkins has a song, "You're Gonna Miss This". If you're not familiar with it, it talks about all the phases in life that we don't enjoy and want to hurry through and how one day we'll look back and miss it. It's so true.

So, as I write this today, I feel just a little emotional. I'm so proud to watch my baby develop into a little man. But part of me misses that infant that I rocked so many nights. Or the toddler that was absolutely hilarious and I watched learn to walk and feed himself. And the little guy learning to tie his shoes and write his name. So, I'm just gonna sit back and watch him grow and learn new things - start spreading his wings a little wider. I'm gonna savor it and try to soak in every second of this season of his life because I know that one day I'll look back on today and 'I'm gonna miss this'.

A Challenge

I have this tendency to like old things. I love old houses. I lived in one for the first twelve years of my life and cried like a baby when we moved into a newer ranch model. That home has imprinted my heart for life. Oh, how I miss the formal dining room with the big, bay window, the claw foot tub, the arched doorways...sigh. Good memories. Gooood memories. I like old furniture. Old, beat up, banged up, beautifully flawed furniture. I think it has character - it tells a story of a life fully lived. I like old people. My parents and mother-in-law are all old, after all. Just kidding moms! Example: My parents just don't have character - they are characters. Remind me to tell you about the year my sister got foot notes (the ginormous keyboard that lays on the floor and you play with your feet) for Christmas sometime. Good memories. Gooood memories. Funny thing about age, though - it seems like the older I get, the younger my parents seem.

Older houses and furniture, vintage jewelry and cars. Are they perfect? Pristine? Hardly ever. But I find something very comforting in them. I don't inspect each flaw they have. I tend to stand back and take the piece in as a whole. If I fixated on it's flaws then I wouldn't appreciate it's beauty.

Actually, it seems that new and perfect things tend to give me stress. I feel like I have to keep them that way and therefore can't enjoy them. Let me give you an example. Three years ago, when we moved from Florida to Indiana we decided to buy a new kitchen/dining room table. Remember, I haven't had a formal dining room since my day in that glorious childhood home. So, I found a great deal on this beautiful cherry wood table that had a self-storing leaf in it. Perfect! I swear, we hadn't had that thing no time at all before someone left a glass sitting on it and marred it for life. It now has this water ring towards the edge where it absolutely can not be covered up by a runner or place mats. I have tried every remedy on it I come across. I have even tried those furniture markers on it. Nothing works. My "perfect and pristine" table didn't stay that way long. It could have - as long as we never used it. That kind of defeats the purpose of having a table, though, doesn't it? Now I DO fixate on that flaw - to the point that I've thought about banging it up so the one flaw would blend into obscurity with all the others. A bit neurotic? Maybe. I'm a character, too. Anyway, I'm just trying to say that it is unrealistic expectations to think that things will always be perfect. And that's OK. Like I said before - I find comfort in "lived in" objects.

With all of this in mind, I am learning to apply these same principles to myself. I am my own worst critic. I am terribly flawed. Honestly, I think we all are. BUT, I tend to fixate on my flaws. I don't like the little lines that seem to be appearing on my face even though I read in one of my magazines recently where they took pictures of young, unwrinkled people and put their picture next to one of the same pictures that they had digitally added crows feet. They then did a poll asking people which person looked happier. Guess which one won? Yes! The one with the crows feet. My, you are a sharpie today! Evidently, people associate crows feet with laughter and therefore happiness. So, really, crows feet make you more beautiful, right? That's my theory anyway.

I don't like the gray hairs that keep appearing on my head. Actually, I try not to see them at all. That's why Revlon Medium Golden Brown is my new BFF. When it goes on sale at CVS, I stock up and hoard it for the future. Seriously. I have 2 boxes waiting on me in my cabinet right now. Hmmm...could that be another flaw?

Then there is the amount of weight I've gained. Good Lord, we won't even GO there!

And my boobs. I remember when I was a teenager my slightly off-center family and I (the women anyway) were having this discussion about how you know if your boobs are sagging. Does anyone else have these discussions? The verdict was if you could hold a pencil underneath your breast without dropping it, your boobs were starting to head south. I couldn't have held a straight pin underneath my ta ta's in those days. Now on the other hand - I could probably safely store a small jar of mayonnaise under them. That would probably make the mayonnaise spoil, though. So, maybe we ought not try that. Hey! Have you heard the one about the old lady who had been widowed and had no children? She was lonely so she wanted to commit suicide so she could be with her husband again. She asked someone how to do it and they told her to shoot herself behind her left breast. The newspaper headline the next day read, "70 year old woman enters ER with self-inflicted gunshot wound to the knee." Sometimes I see those breasts in my future.

Let's continue to talk about boobs for a while, shall we? When I lived in Florida before my child-birthin' days I worked with this really beautiful 30-something lady. I'll call her Hot Momma 'cause it's my blog and I can call her whatever I want. Hot Momma had a couple of boys and a live-in boyfriend that she had been with for years. She was crazy about him. The thing was, though, she was never secure in their relationship. She was always fixating on trying to look prettier and younger so he wouldn't find some younger/prettier model and trade her in. I'm guessing she probably had been burned pretty badly in the past. She ended up getting a breast augmentation thinking that this would be the act that sealed the deal with her man never leaving her. She must have thought that if she could just have the largest darn boobies any man had ever laid eyes on, she'd be set for life 'cause, let me tell ya, those suckers were HUGE. I mean the kind of huge that makes you look all deformed and think, "Awe, that poor woman" type of thing when you looked at her. I don't know what ever happened to them. I hope they are still together and happy. But what I do know is that no amount of silicone is going to keep those things where they were when we were 18 for very long.

I guess what I'm learning, and I believe that the Good Lord is the one helping me with this, is to start relaxing and cutting myself a break. Time happens. Outward beauty fades and no amount of surgery or silicone can fix it. Oh, we can try, but then we risk looking like Joan Rivers or Kenny Rogers. You know what I'm talking about - shiny, plastic, people. Just like old, flawed furniture is full of beauty - so are humans. Even me. I have GOT to stop fixating on my flaws or else one day you'll read a headline about me that says, "70 year old woman enters ER with gunshot wound to left knee."

Really, wouldn't we enjoy life more if we stopped focusing on what was wrong with us, our husband, our kids, our economy, our home, or any of the other 50 thousand things that want to frustrate us in a day and began to focus on the things we love about them? I've been trying to work on this in my life and it makes a huge difference. I'm much more relaxed, joyful, and at peace than ever before.

I still am not thrilled with the lines I see on my face. I just try to put them into perspective. They are mapping a story of my life - every tear I've shed, every time I've laughed until my stomach hurt - it's all right there. Truthfully, I love my life and I don't want to forget the details. Even if it means that I'm storing them on my face like some new-fangled hard drive. Hmmm...just a thought here. Could it be that because it is a memory storage system the life is remembered on the face 'cause the brain doesn't too great of a job after a while? Something to think about (while you still can)!

I still don't like the stretch marks on my stomach. I just try to remember that those are battle scars - every one a tribute to the life it carried.

Do I often wish that I didn't have to fold my boobs to get them into my bra? Certainly. But I try to keep in mind that these are the same breasts that nursed a husband. I mean baby. Yeah, these are the same breasts that nursed a baby.

So, I leave you with a challenge today - the same one I'm giving myself. Determine to cut yourself (and those around you) a break. You don't have to be perfect. Actually, I love the header on Nester's blog: It doesn't have to be perfect to be beautiful. Boy, that's the truth. Let's work on appreciating what's before us and living life to the fullest each and every day - crows feet and all.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend!

Revelation Song

Feels Like Redemption

Need I say more?

What A Week It Was!

The ending of this week has been somewhat (actually quite a bit) of a challenge for me. After our awesome afternoon in the snow Wednesday - my emotional roller coaster ride began.

That evening after just finishing up our school day, I was headed back downstairs for the rest of the night, when just as I stepped off of the last stair - it happened. I still don't know exactly what it was - but something went wrong in my foot right below the ankle. I didn't think it was broken but if I tried to apply any pressure to it at all - it sent me through the roof! I was literally crawling through the house. Not so good on the knees. I couldn't even fix Isaac dinner and Chris was having another one of his later nights. Poor kid had to scramble his own eggs and make himself some toast for dinner. Thank God he's big enough to do that, but it still makes ya feel like a Loser for a mother.

Thursday, Chris brought an office chair down for me so I wouldn't have to crawl everywhere. I'm REALLY thankful for wood floors at this point - and for a husband who has the brain enough to come up with these knee appreciating ideas! Yesterday, I was finally able to put some pressure on the ball of my foot and limp around a little bit. Today, I am happy to report that I haven't used my make-shift wheel chair at all. I can cautiously bear weight on my entire foot. Whoo hoo! I think we may even venture out for a bit.

It was a really emotional time, silly as that may sound. But especially on Thursday when the only mode of transportation I had was by my "wheel chair" - I was really bummin'. I had to rely on my kid for just about everything. Me - the one who is SUPPOSED to be the care taker. Instead, my eight year old was taking care of me. I got tired of saying, "Isaac, can you give Layla some food and water? Isaac, can you let the dog out? Isaac, can you bring me a bottle of water?....." Of course, I had my pity party. Kissed my wounds. Cried. Pouted. Cried some more. You know...real mature stuff. Not a shining moment for me.

Then...God rang my bell. Instead of wallering in my misery, I should probably try to find a bright spot - something to be thankful for. Then I started thinking about all of the people out there who have actually lost an arm or leg or something that completely alters their life forever. My injury was just temporary and it completely threw me out of sorts. So, I began to thank God for two hands, two feet, two eyes, two ears... I thanked him that he never ceases to bless me. I thanked him for being my healer. And I started to get better.

I have seen where studies have been done on the power of gratitude in our lives and how it not only affects our mental state, but our physical state as well. I'm a believer. I think that when we begin to quit focusing on the problem and thanking the one who is the solution - then we position ourselves for God to work. I don't have all of the answers or theology to how this works. I don't really think that I need it. I don't really care how throwing a switch causes a light to come on. I just need to know that when I throw it, it will. I really don't even care to know how it works. I'm just thankful that it does. And today, I'm thankful that my God is a faithful God, even when I throw my temper tantrums and act really mature. And today, I'm thankful that I can cautiously bear weight on my entire foot. I have faith that tomorrow will be even better. There is a silver lining in every cloud.

Hope for the Future

It seems that the older I get the quicker each year goes by. I hear this is pretty common. So, as we've entered another year on the calendar, I've been thinking about it's significance some. Every New Year's Eve is quite a big deal. Technically, it's really no different than any other day. One Winter's day flows into the next. But psychologically there is something very different about it. At the stroke of midnight we don't just change days. We enter a new year, sometimes a new decade, and for the fortunate few of us in history that get to experience it, a new century or millennium as we did in 2000.

As I've been pondering what the big deal is I've realized that starting a new year symbolizes a fresh start. No matter what happened in the previous year - how many diets we stopped and started, how many resolutions we broke, how many times we blew it and fell down - the slate is wiped clean. We get a fresh start when the calendar changes over. We are optimistic at the prospects of what the new year holds. We are filled with hope for the future. That's a beautiful thing.

The more I've thought about this though, I realized something. As a Christian, every day is like New Year's. My heart is flooded with scriptures that confirm this.

"Because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail. They are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. - Lamentations 3:22-23".

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! - 2 Corinthians 5:17".

" 'In the time of my favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.' I tell you, now is the time of God's favor, now is the day of salvation. - 2 Corinthians 6:2".

"I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. - Isaiah 43:25".

"For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
- Psalm 103:11-12".

How exciting is that? I don't have to wait for New Year's Day to start fresh and new. I can live every day that way. What happened yesterday is history. Heck, what happened 5 minutes ago is history. No wonder God told us to always be rejoicing. That's something to really get excited about.

So, as I enter 2009 I resolve to make no resolutions. LOL! Really, the only thing that I am going to focus on this year (day by day by day) is spending time with my Father and letting Him fill me with His love and hope that every day is going to be the best day of my life. And no matter how many times I fall, I know that He's there to keep helping me back up. All I really need to do is stay on the wheel and all these resolutions that I have failed so miserably at in the past will automatically begin to fade away as I am changed into His image. I think I can handle that!

A Pure Heart

Lately I've been praying the same words that David prayed so long ago:
"Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me. Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me." Psalm 51:10-12

It started back in the summer. I was out in the garden praying one day for God to help me with my speech when he revealed to me that my speech wasn't the problem. My heart was. He reminded me of Matthew 12:34 - "For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks." So, my words are simply a reflection of my heart. Thus began the start of this prayer. One day I was praying it..."Create in me a clean heart, O God, and..." and I was prompted to go look at that scripture in my Bible. When I did, I realized that I was praying for a clean heart and my Bible actually says pure heart. "So, what's the difference?" I asked. The illustration God answered me with is pretty cool.

If you think about two gold rings it makes a lot of sense. Say I have a 10 karat gold ring that I have just scrubbed up and polished. I also have a 24 karat ring but I had dropped it in the mud and haven't cleaned it up yet. The 10 karat ring is cleaner, but the 24 karat ring is still more pure. That's how it is with people. No matter how much I try to "clean up" my act and "do" good - that's just my attempt to get to God or self-righteousness. Unless I allow God to work on me from the inside out I'll be just like the Pharisees. "Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and dish, and then the outside also will be clean." Matthew 23:25-26. When I'm washing dishes I can get the outside of a cup clean and miss the dried up milk stuck to the bottom of the inside. But I can't scrub the inside up without it spilling over and cleaning the outside, too. In God's eyes the heart of the matter has always been the matter of the heart.

Getting back to David, now. Look at the man: he was full of lust when he saw Bathsheba, he acted on it, schemed and murdered her husband to have her for himself. Yet, God said that he was a man after his own heart in 1 Samuel 13:14. God knew that David would do all those things before he anointed him king. Maybe that's why David went on to write Psalm 103. You can go read that yourself. It's one of my favorites. See, David was quick to repent and understood grace, even before the time of grace had come to all people. It was still available.

That brings me great comfort. No matter what I have done in my life - it didn't rock God's boat. He made provision for it. He knows me. He created me. He knew all the times I would mess up and blow it. And I love Job 23:10. "But he knows the way that I take; when he has tested me, I will come forth as gold." You see, gold can't purify itself. The refiner must do that. And the interesting thing about it is that the more pure it becomes, the softer and more pliable it gets. Think about the 2 rings.

My job is to let my Father, the Refiner, do what he wants to do with me. I can't make myself pure. Only Jesus' blood could do that. As I sit at the Father's feet he will do in me what I can't do for myself; and I will become soft, pliable and pure in his hands. Then all of the stuff on the outside I'm dealing with will begin to disappear.

And here's one more thing that I found interesting. I'm not sure if 24 karat gold is as good as it gets here or not. But, if there is gold more pure than that I've personally never seen it. 24 karat gold is still 76% impure. We don't focus on it's impurities, though. We focus on the precious metal that is mixed in with all the other stuff. God is the same way. He doesn't look at my faults. He sees the treasure in this jar of clay.

Be blessed and Merry Christmas!

Seasons

I love having seasons. It wasn't always such a big deal to me, though. I grew up in the Midwest. We have 4 seasons, but Winter always felt like it lasted forever. Oh, it started out great - the excitement of the holidays and the first snowfall! But long about February I was soooo over it!

A couple of years after we were married, my husband and I moved to Florida. It was awesome at first. They have seasons, too. They are just very subtle. I remember when we first got down there it was the end of August. The church we were attending had a Labor Day cook-out. While we were there people kept talking about how you could really feel "Fall in the air". We thought they were nuts. (We were the people who had to keep wiping sweat off our foreheads.) Before it was all said and done we felt "Fall in the air", too. We were rarely encumbered with little more than a sweatshirt to fight the chill in the air during the Winter months. And in the Spring when the citrus blossoms were in bloom! The smell was near Heaven on earth, I tell ya! Summer, however, was another story. We didn't like to venture out too much due to the severe heat and humidity so thick you felt like someone had thrown a thick, hot, wet blanket over you. We were there for nine years before moving back to the Midwest.

So here we are again. Four distinct seasons. But you know something is different this time around. The Spring air smells much crisper and sweeter. The summer sun on my face feels much gentler. And when it rains, I know that God is sending the provision I need to make my garden grow. Fall is one of my favorite seasons. The smell off changing (a.k.a. rotting) leaves is comforting. So is the smell that lingers in the air from people burning those leaves or limbs that have fallen to the ground. The crispness that once again fills the air is exhilarating. So we get to take advantage of both the fallen limbs and cool air by having friends over and sitting around a bonfire. Then there is Winter. You know it never really felt like Christmas to me while we were in Florida. Something about running the air conditioner while you're opening presents just throws a smidgen of water on the holiday fire. But now...well, the first Winter we were back the Christmas tree went up before Halloween, if that tells you anything!

I now realize that life is all about seasons. And not just the 4 that deal with changes in the weather. You see, those nine years we spent in Florida were also a season. So is this time in my life where I'm homeschooling my son. The list could go on and on, but you get the picture. Some of them last longer than others. Some we wish would last longer than others. But the thing that God has shown me since we've been back home is that seasons always change. It's part of the design. Each one has elements that make it spectacular. Each one also has elements that may not be so great. My job is to stop focusing on the bad, or wishing for the next season, or longing for the previous one. My goal is to live in the moment. Embrace it. If I'll just look around, I will see the magic of ordinary miracles. Every season is a gift to be treasured.