It is indeed beginning to look a lot like Christmas. Every store is decorated and full of Christmas items, enticing you to buy me, buy me. I admit I have gone to a few craft sales and enjoyed looking at all the beautiful Christmas decorations which do indeed put a person in the Christmas spirit. I am now thinking about Christmas baking - especially the cutout cookies that I love to bake. I also love the walnut filled dates, rolled in sugar. Is that an ethnic treat? All I know is that my mother used to make them and I loved them. We are still with our daughter - it seems that looking for a place to live should not be so hard, but we are still at it - I am sure the Lord has a place for us somewhere!! Our daughter loves to decorate - so the outside area is lit up with lights and decorations. So very pretty and festive. I helped our son-in-law put up pine and cedar bows he cut from their trees. Big mistake - I itched for 2 days. No, I am not forgetting the true meaning of Christmas - I will get to that later!!!
a traditional tree - decorated with many different ornaments - some of mine from years ago, even ornaments her now grown children made in school
I do love writing out and sending out Christmas cards - It gives me a chance to think and wander down memory lane. I am still sending cards to a girl who lived next door to us years ago in Chicago - at least 70 years ago. Thinking about all that has happened in that time - as well as in the present as I write to new friends. I love receiving cards - I read them over and over often during the Christmas season and think about the person who sent it. After I take start to put the cards away, I chose one at random each day and take time to pray for that person.
Saturday, the presents ffrom the Angel Tree were given out. These presents were for the children who parents are incarcerated - the presents are given to them as if those parents had sent them. It is a great ministry and I was glad to be a part of it.
Sunday in church was quite interesting. The church we attend (and I am sure many of them here in the South) never had an Advent wreath. At our last Bible Study the minister (our study leader) mentioned that we would have an Advent wreath for the first time. I was really surprised that many of our members had no idea of what he was talking about. It was interesting to hear him explain it and how a candle was lit every week until Christmas. He asked our class (the Joy class) the light the first candle - one person light it and the rest of us just going up to the front. It was interesting to see the reaction of the congregation to witness something they had never seen before. Vance then delivered a sermon based on the first candle - hope. "Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life". Proverbs 13:13 What are you hoping for for Christmas? A material gift or a spiritual gift. There is a general observation in the scripture from proverbs which is a book full of observations about life. The observation in this case is the hope - to find satisfaction and hope. Hope is the anticipation of things to come. Sometimes waiting involves more serious complications. If you are waiting for something it can make you heartsick (hmm, like waiting to find a place to live?). When you are waiting for something and you finally receive it, it is the fulfilment of anticipation (the tree of life). Sort of like a child waiting for a much wanted Christmas present and actually receiving it. We long to be connected to God but we are separate by sin. God has set the promise of eternity in the lives and hearts of men. God has a plan to heal our hearts. There is a Christian application - the people of God in the Old Testament had hope for a Messiah. they longed to be free from slavery and to be not separated from God. God did not work on their time table . So many centuries has passed before He came. There were 400 years of silence, waiting for the Messiah. After thousands of years, God sent an angel to the shepherds to announce that the Savior had come. God sent His son for a rescue mission for us. There is also a personal transformation. We are also looking for a peace. Jesus Christ is the fulfillment of all our longings. He is the one we have been looking for all of our lives. In this world people are chasing after fulfillment. Having more and more of stuff is never enough. What are you setting your hope in? There are sinful desires - things our hearts want that are not true fulfillment. We cannot trust our own hearts. We are always chasing after something. There are ultimate desires. There is nothing in this world that can satisfy your heart. We can have legitimate desires. According to Proverbs if you live wisely there are things you can enjoy on this earth. But don't let legitimate desires become ultimate desires. put your And then there are transferred desires. You need to put your hope in the One who is our ultimate desire.
Please keep the family of one of our newest chaplains in your prayers - he contacted COVID and his time on this earth is short. The family is with him as he lives out his days on this earth and enters into the heavenly realm.
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