Dear Friends,
On this Sunday before our Lord's birth, I wanted to wish you a Merry Christmas and to say that I miss you. The last several months have been full of change and full of life-lessons. I must be a slow learner or something. I can't seem to get it right, no matter how hard I try.
There are a few "rights" in my life right now, and a few things that need tweaking. I'm trying to make good decisions and enter 2013 with peace and integrity - two things that are very important to me and two things that I must continually protect and preserve. As a woman of faith, I often step out in faith, expecting good things. Funny how that which I imagine is so good is sometimes not as it first appeared. But for now, I'm looking forward to my first grandchild, due in early April, and for this coming week, which I'll spend with family and friends.
I didn't fuss with the decorations this year. In fact, I bought a 4-1/2 foot artificial tree at the Salvation Army for $5.00 and put that in the front window in lieu of my usual big tree. My enormous stash of vintage Shiny Brite's stayed snug in their storage tub in the attic and I opted for just a smattering of gold, silver, and white ornaments. No time. No energy.
I couldn't resist some of my usual favorites, however. I hope you enjoy a peek at my Christmas pals.
Life sure is a puzzle and it has been for centuries. I'm sure the Wise Men didn't know what to expect when they set off on their journey, following only their celestial guide. An though they met the Christ Child, I can imagine they left that holy moment with many, many questions and few answers. It's much the same for us in many ways. We take a course of action, unsure where it will lead and often, it's not what we imagined. Sometimes things just don't make sense, despite our earnest efforts to obey and follow where we believe we're being led.
There are few set-in-concrete, irrefutable things in life but one truth comes to my mind and that is that we're born and we die. That's a fact. I've been thinking seriously about how I live, how I act, how I respond to others and frankly, how much I need Jesus, my Savior, and His forgiveness and grace. You see, all the jolly men in red suits, frosted snowmen with coal-black noses, and brightly wrapped packages piled under an evergreen tree can not change our need for a Savior. The carols and holiday lights and frosted sugar cookies add much needed whimsy and fun to our busy lives but they're just fluff. They don't change the fact that we live in a world that's pretty dark at times. Jesus is the Light of the world and when He's placed in His manger-bed on Christmas morning and we read Luke 2 before we tear into stockings and gifts, we always pause and recognize that the wee Babe, so innocent and soft, grew into the Man of Sorrows, intimately familiar with all manner of sin and death. Today, just like two thousand years ago, He is able to shoulder all that concerns you and He is the only One able to provide assurance, peace, and hope when all around is a perpetual puzzle.
I hope that your Christmas is full of the love of family, hope for a peace-filled 2013, and the assurance that He who began a good work in you will be faithful to complete it. I'm holding on to those things, anticipating more change, but content that I never walk alone. The Light of the World goes ever before me and though things don't make a lot of sense in my life right now, I know I can walk on, day by day, because my Savior lives and leads. Merry Christmas, Friends!