MERRY CHRISTMAS!

The Nativity – John Donne

 

Immensity cloistered in thy dear womb,

Now leaves his well-beloved imprisonment,

There he hath made himself to his intent

Weak enough, now into our world to come;

But oh, for thee, for him, that th’inn no room?

Yet lay him in this stall, and from the Orient,

Stars, and wisemen will travel to prevent

Th’effect of Herod’s jealous general doom.

Seest thou, my soul, with thy faith’s eyes, how he

Which fills all place, yet none holds him doth lie?

Was not his pity towards thee wondrous high

That would have need to be pitied by thee?

Kiss him, and with him into Egypt go,

With his kind mother, who partakes thy woe.

 

The above is one stanza of John Donne’s longer poem detailing the mysterious glory of our faith.  I love it.  I wanted to share it with you and one more reading that has captured me this Advent.  This one is from “Watch for the Light” a book of readings for Advent and Christmas.

 

“Perfect love, the apostle John writes, casts out fear.  So when God’s angel broke the good news of the Savior’s birth to the cowering shepherds of Bethlehem, “Fear not” was more than in instruction for them to get up off the ground and stop shielding their frightened faces.  It was a declaration of war on fear. “ – Johann Christoph Arnold

 

Wow.

 

It is Christmas Eve eve.  The world, my world is settling down in a quietness of still expectancy.  Settling down but not stopping.  There is no cease fire from pain into the lives of those around us, next to us.  Not for the world, not for those we love and not for us.  And yet, it is exactly into this life, this pain, this glory, this mess that Jesus came with his holy interruption and interrupts us still.

 

There is hope.  Pain and sorrow and grief are not the truest thing.

 

There is hope.  There is life.  There is JESUS!

 

Jesus did come.  He is coming again.  He will come for us today.  He is our hope.  He is our Love.  He is perfect.  And perfect love casts out all fear.

 

I want to wish you a Merry Christmas and everything good and holy and hope filled and hope fulfilled that that means!  Jesus has you and is very near.  Fear not.

 

And cheers.

 

And halleluiah!

 

And let Heaven and Nature Sing!

 

Hoorah!

DECEMBER 15TH!!!

About ten years ago or so, I  told God that I would offer anything from my life story to others that he asked me to if it would help them know him better, experience more hope and healing, love Jesus more.  Really, it was simply a deeper surrender to the One I belong to. 

 

And God has asked me to share.  And sometimes, it has been really, really hard.  But I have been blessed to see LIFE come out of it.

 

God asked John and I to write a book on marriage and share our journey and what we have learned.  So we did.  It’s the most honest, vulnerable thing either of us have written and our earnest prayer is that God uses it in people’s lives for his amazing, beautiful purposes.  We’re actually pretty confident that he will.  J

 

That said, I can only say, “Yikes!” and “You go GOD!”.

 

Tuesday, December 15^th is the launch date for Love & War!  To kick things off, John and I are doing this live webcast interview chat thing that anyone who has access to internet can watch online!  Oh, please join us!  We’ll just be talking.  Sharing. Taking questions.  It’ll help calm me down to know that we are talking with you! We are actually pretty excited about this!  God cares so deeply about our marriages!  There is so much hope; for all of us!

 

So below is the link to the webcast deal.  It’s at 7pm MST.  Come on by!   And oh, Jesus, be glorified in all we say and do!

 

http://livestream.com/WaterBrookMultnomah

 

WAITING

I like Advent; the waiting for Christ to come.  I like the anticipation of Christmas.  Maybe it’s partly because a woman figures so prominently in the Story.

 

Mary.  I like Mary.  Oh, I want to be like Mary!  Such abandoned faith.  She says yes to God, come what may.  “Be it unto me…”.

 

And then she waits.

 

And God, who is so perfectly faithful, comes.  The Holy Spirit comes upon her and she receives a deposit of God himself and Jesus grows inside her womb until it is time for her to give birth to him and present him to the world.  Such a magnificent offering and she is just a human being.  She is a woman just like us! 

 

And just like her, we too have been given a deposit of the Holy Spirit.  God himself is  inside of us!  And the world waits for what it is we will give birth to and offer.  Jesus himself – growing inside of us.  We carry him!  And we wait.  Wait for him.  Wait for more.  Wait with wonder and anticipation and agony.

 

And like Mary, we are enlarged in the waiting.  Our souls are enlarged.

 

Tomorrow, our son Sam is flying in, flying home, from his semester in Europe.  Tears fill my eyes just as I write that sentence.  I can’t sleep.  I have been lying awake in bed imagining him coming around the corner and seeing John and I underneath the “Welcome Home” signs I have made for him.  My heart is bursting with anticipation.

 

Coming home.  Going home.  A long awaited reunion.  Is this what Jesus is feeling like right now?  Anticipating his long awaited return?  My thoughts turn to him and I can not wait to see HIM.  To greet him!  To fall into his arms or at his feet and weep with joy and the release of finally being with him, my true Home.

 

My heart is being enlarged.  As I wait.  As I long.  Is his heart being enlarged too?  Could that even be possible?

 

Tomorrow, tomorrow, tomorrow.  I will hold my son and kiss his cheek.  And it will be a foretaste of a homecoming that will be sweeter still.  Sweet beyond words.

 

I can hardly wait!