Decorations & Preparations

Julie

A few days ago Annika and Julie came by to help get the house Christmas-ready. Annika creates beautiful outdoor pots while Julie works her magic inside. It was a fun day. And the house decorations, both inside and out, look wonderful. 

Now that the decorations for Christmas are complete, it's time to start working on the preparations. And by preparations, I don't mean all the gift purchasing and wrapping nor the Christmas card writing nor the cooking. By preparations, I mean getting ready for Jesus. 

Annika

I think it's odd that it takes us a whole season to get ready for Jesus.  Why aren't we already ready? 

Why does it take stuff like lights, decorations, cards, cookies and presents to get us in the spirit? I'm not trying to sound like a bah-humbug. I really do enjoy the "stuff" of Christmas. But to be perfectly honest, I like Jesus better. 

So I've decided to give Him more than just a month. I've promised (myself) to be better at doing things that prepare me for His presence every day, not just at Christmastime. Decorations bring color and light. Preparations, on the other hand, bring hope and joy. This season, and all year, I hope you'll enjoy both. 

A good story deserves to be told

I love a good story.! Always have loved hearing them and telling them. 

My friend Stacie (pictured above) also loves a good story. In fact, listening and recording people's stories is what she does for a living. I think this is brilliant because listening to someone's life, firsthand, is way better than being told it secondhand. 

What's really cool about Stacie's job is that she loves doing it! She loves to share in people's memories. I can't think of a better way for a parent, grandparent, or friend to pass on important, serious, fun and personal recollections than to have them recorded. 

Or, how cool would this be--to have your entire family share how they came to know Jesus!

Wouldn't it be neat for each family member to recall and re-tell their story of firsthand encounters with Jesus? You don't have to do it in a recording (although that would be really special). Why not have a special dinner together where everyone shares? How about doing it tonight?

P.S. Let me know if you do this...I'd love to hear about it.

My favorite things...

One of my favorite things are people. Every Tuesday morning for the past seven or eight years, I have had the pleasure to learn about Jesus while enjoying the wonderful company of these awesome women. Each year we take a Christmas photo of our gang. And every year, there are one or two new faces along with a few absent ones. Whatever the case, they all mean the world to me. My life was pretty hard the past couple of years as I took care of two very sick, aging parents. And these gals (along with many other of my favorite people), were the life raft that kept me afloat.

My favorite things: Bible study and friends. Done together, life doesn't get much better than that for me. By the way, we always have an open chair. Join us if you like.

Walking on water

In this case, it's geese, not Jesus, walking on water.

The other day, I looked out my window and saw that the geese were not swimming in the lake in my backyard. Instead, they were walking on the partially-frozen lake. (Smile with me here.) The geese made me think of Jesus--because He really did walk on water. Sometimes it's kind of fun just thinking outside of the box and looking for Jesus in, well, geese.