Limited Planning

By Jarrod Spencer –

Planning in life can have its good qualities but also can have its bad. I have areas in which I am flexible, but there are also parts of life which I might be described as inflexible. I have a side of me that likes to have things go a certain way each day. But there is also a side of me that enjoys some unplanned things. Of course those are subjective, so I may prefer some and not prefer others.
Even though a side of me is resistant to being flexible, another side looks forward to the possibility of interruptions. I have had days where God threw me a curve ball and I had to switch gears very quickly. Those are the days when I look forward to what He might be sending me. There have been some very interesting curve balls thrown at me through the years.

What have you experienced in the “unplanned” department?

This topic reminds me of a quote by Joseph Campbell, “We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.”

Trying to hold on to the planned in life can be dangerous and wearisome. It binds us to where we are. If we have our minds ready for the unplanned, then we have a sense of freedom which we can go about life without being confided or holding on to the plans and seeing what God will bring our way.

As you go about today, tomorrow, or next week, you may have to plan out certain parts of your day but be ready for the interruptions and unplanned things that are going to come about. You never know what is waiting for you up ahead…God might have something super exciting for you!

PRAYER: Thank You, Father for teaching me that even when I have plans, Your plans are higher and greater. Help me to submit to what You bring into my life.

“May he give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed” (Psalm 20:4 NIV).

A Season of Joy

By Judy Davis –

Christmas, what a wonderful time of the year! I’ll never forget the memories of our older grandchildren celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. Each Christmas Eve I baked a cake and lit a candle as we all sang “Happy Birthday” to Jesus. After we finished singing, I read the Christmas Story.

As I read the Christmas story, I was captivated by the simple words that there was no room in the inn. On the morning our Lord was born, there was no room for Him. In many lives today, there is still no room for Him. The Jesus of the first Christmas is the Jesus of this Christmas. Christmas means that God is where you are with your needs. Whatever you are going through, the answer is and always will be Jesus Christ.

Billy Graham stated in his message “Christmas: God With Us,” that “many cynics will blame God for the troubles of the world. We should blame ourselves. We have a spiritual disease, and that disease is called sin. Until sin is conquered, the world will not be a better place in which to live.”

Christmas is more than tinsel and lights. It is more than gifts under the tree. Christmas is a joyous time to experience Christ, to have our needs met and help meet the needs of others.

I’ll never forget the Christmas when our younger grandson Connor started to open a present. He saw my little olive wood manger scene I bought in Bethlehem many years ago. He slowly picked up Baby Jesus, the manger, a donkey, and a camel, in his tiny hand. He laid down his gifts that were still wrapped and began to play with Baby Jesus.

It was not long before he ran to me and said, “Nana, where is Baby Jesus? I can’t find baby Jesus.” We began to look for Him under the rug, etc. We both got down on our hands and knees, crawling all over the living room searching for Jesus. “I found Him! I found him!” squeaked Connor. At that moment I thought of the verse, “Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these” (Matthew 19:14).

Jesus told his disciples not to keep Him from little children, He wants them to know and love Him. As we prepare our homes for this festive holiday let us also prepare our heart and make room for Christ in Christmas.

When the holidays seem hectic with all the shopping, gift-wrapping, decorating, baking, addressing Christmas cards, and cleaning house, take time to plan. Start early with a list. If you do, you can get ahead and be ready to enjoy this most wonderful time of the year.

Remembering Christmas

By Kathleen Brown –

The techno tree stood on a maple table in the den. An unlikely hero, less than two feet tall counting the motorized revolving base, it thrust stiff green branches into the darkness of the room. A Christmas tree totally unadorned save for Fiber-optic lights that at the flip of a switch glowed in changing colors from the tip of each branch.

My sister gave the tree to my parents in the hope it would brighten this holiday dimmed by Alzheimer’s. But as I went to their home each day to help Dad care for Mama, I saw no signs this year would be better than last.

A year ago, Dad and I wrapped gifts, lit lights, and hung ornaments on a small, fragrant fir tree. I draped a white sheet over a side table and there, on 250-thread count snow, I arranged the old figures around the shaggy stable. Joseph held a pottery lantern in his upraised hand. Mary gazed on her sleeping Son. Even the donkey and the sad-eyed cow looked to the manger where Jesus, Light of the World, dozed in the flickering rays of Joseph’s lantern.

But Mama had forgotten about the stable and the Baby. And the gifts evoked so many questions, I finally put them out of sight. We took the tree down Christmas afternoon.

So this year, until the gift of the funky little tree, we made no Christmas preparations.

Almost forgotten, the tree sat dark until late evening on one of Mama’s difficult days. Her face still wearing the anger that had propelled her through the afternoon, she perched crooked and stiff on a chair at the kitchen table.

Dad and I sat with her. Our spirits were brittle with fatigue and the house was chill with despair. Perhaps it was desperation that turned Dad’s gaze away from the heaviness that shrouded the table. Abruptly he rose and walked toward the den.

“Where are you going?” Mama’s voice was hoarse and hard. She half stood then sat again and watched Dad walk to the table where the metal tree stood. He said nothing, only bent down and flipped the switch on the tree’s plastic base. From the Fiber-optic branches, tiny beams of color, delicate as starlight, ventured out across the room.

With a tiny hum, the tree turned ever so slowly. And ever so slowly, Mama relaxed. Her frown melted away and her shoulders sagged into the back of the chair.

“It’s a Christmas tree, honey.” Dad’s voice was low and soft. “Do you like it? It’s a Christmas tree.”

Just as softly, I began to sing. “O Christmas tree, O Christmas tree, how lovely are thy branches….”

The old German carol. My mother’s favorite. As a child, I waited each Christmas for Mama to hear “her” carol playing on the radio. She’d stop and sing along every time, lifting her chin and raising her eyes to a long ago past. When the music ended, she always said the same words: “We learned that song in school.” It was like a story to me—Mama’s singing and her words.

Peace. Happiness.

That was Christmas, Mama taught me, using only her memories and the words of her favorite carol.

Apparently, not even Alzheimer’s could steal that remembrance from her. Somehow, evoked by the techno tree with its sweet hypnotic light, the melody of the old carol had survived in Mama’s memory, like a gift still wrapped in bright hope.

“O fir tree dark, O fir tree fair…” I sang on to her. Then at the end, “You learned that song in school, right?”

Here, in the December of her life, unaware, Mama reminded us what the season is about.

Peace, the heart of Christmas. A tree. A Gift. The sweetest story. The oldest, the eternal carol.

Glory in the highest.

The Gift

By Liz Cowen Furman –

My class went until 4:45 and getting back to the dorm in time for the 5 o’clock dinner bell was very important to this college freshman. If we went in right at five we got the best seats and a great show of the handsome young men as they came into the cafeteria for dinner. I cannot believe some of the things we did that year.

One afternoon while racing up the sidewalk to get back to the dorm in time, I looked up at the sound of a very large, very loud bird flying over my head. As I looked back down, he deposited a gift on the top of my head that ran down my forehead and cheeks. I was horrified! When the gals who were waiting for me to go in to dinner realized what had happened they burst into gales of laughter. I had to shower before I could go in so no show for me that day. Can you believe they went in without me?

Many years later, when I had children, we were waiting on the lawn of the Veteran’s Hospital for my Dad to come out. An eagle flew over our heads and dropped what looked like a gallon of the same gift the other bird had bestowed upon me. It reminded me of the present I had received that day back in the dorm. The boys and I laughed out loud, as I shared my story with them. We all agreed that it was a good thing it wasn’t an eagle flying over me that day. We mused over some poor driver buzzing along when blam right on their windshield…blindsided. That could be dangerous.

Isn’t it funny how things that happen to us in our lives years later become a great story? I make wedding cakes and I always tell the bride that I hope something goes wrong. Not a catastrophe or anything really bad, but if nothing out of the ordinary happens all they can say is “We got married.” How boring is that? After making all those wedding cakes, I could tell you some great stories. Candles catching things on fire, little ring bearers refusing to walk down the aisle, inebriated officiates that knock over lit candelabras …little things that at the time seem important and later just crack us up.

I read somewhere that you can tell a lot about a person by how they handle three things…tangled Christmas lights, a long queue at the store or a clerk’s mistake. I would be so bold to add; a bad referee at your child’s game, an attitudinal teenager or unfair treatment. I have failed on many occasions to shine the light of my Jesus into difficult situations but I am learning. I hope that before I go home to glory I can adopt an eternal perspective on current events or at least give it the “Will this matter in five years?” test. So next time those Christmas lights all tangled and put away badly stare you in the face, think of it as an opportunity to shine. Merry Christmas!

Are You Like Herod?

By Cheri Cowell –

I hate to admit it, but sometimes I am like Herod. Yes, Herod.

I fall into the trap the devil sets before me by expecting the Savior to be a military-type ruler. Sometimes I fear that somehow He has a list of all my wrongdoings and is waiting for me to make a wrong move.

Now, before you get all worried about me, I know this is not true. I know that Jesus is a loving, compassionate, and just ruler. I know this, but sometimes those doubts creep in, mainly when I am feeling low, persecuted, and threatened or when my expectations are not met.

Herod felt the same way. He had expectations that the newborn King would usurp his power. Herod knew that he was not the rightful heir to the throne of David, and thus he was fearful of a military uprising. So he devised his own plan. He invited the Magi to his palace and asked that when they found this newborn King they would return to him with the news “so he might go and worship him also.” This was a lie. He planned to kill the child and thus get rid of his problem.

How familiar this reaction to an obstacle is for me, and maybe you too. We see that our wrongdoing might be revealed, someone might see the real us, or our mistake might be made public and we devise a plan. Our plans probably don’t involve murder, but they do involve a cover up or a “softening” of the truth. The real truth is that God is willing to forgive and forget the whole thing. He can even take the bad we have done and turn it into good. Herod completely misunderstood the reason for Christ coming. Christ didn’t want Herod’s throne, He wanted to be King of Herod’s heart.

PRAYER: God, I praise You for coming as a loving and compassionate Savior and not a military ruler. Help me to see Your love for me when my own plans have gone wrong. I’m sorry for wanting to take your throne and ask You to be the King of my heart today.

“After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem and asked, “Where is the one who has been born king of the Jews? We saw his star when it rose and have come to worship him.” When King Herod heard this he was disturbed, and all Jerusalem with him” (Matthew 2:1-3 NIV).

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