A WONDERful time of the year

One of my favorite authors, Margaret Feinberg [www.margaretfeinberg.com], has a new book and 7-session Bible Study called Wonderstruck: Awaken to the Nearness of God  (releasing Christmas Day)—a personal invitation for you to toss back the covers, climb out of bed, and drink in the fullness of life. Wonderstruck will help you:

·         Recognize the presence of God in the midst of your routine
·         Unearth extraordinary moments on ordinary days
·         Develop a renewed passion for God
·         Identify what’s holding you back in prayer
·         Discover joy in knowing you’re wildly loved

To learn more, watch the Wonderstruck Video, here.                    

"Peel back the curtain. Reveal your holiness. Transform us forever."

God works in Wonder.  It's His modus operandi.  His ways and His hand in our lives will leave us awestruck, if we take the a moment to notice.  

Source

I most closely experience the wonder of God whenever I have the opportunity to hold a baby fresh from heaven.  I am content to just gaze on the tiny face, listen to each new breath, and take in the distinct sweet smell of a newborn baby.   

Like a moth to a flame we can’t help but gather at the endearing coo of a baby to ooh and ahh over the tiny creation!

When He sent us the gift of salvation, I think He caught us all off guard by sending His son in the form of a precious baby boy.  I don't know any of us would have anticipated that he would reveal himself so tenderly.

So fragile. 
So small. 
So intimate.
So holy.

Who could resist?  Did this King really just come to us so helpless and vulnerable?  Did the great I AM truly humble Himself so exceptionally? Did He really just give us the power of life in a bundle so tiny we could literally hold it in our hands? 

We were drawn in.

So great is His love for us, He trusts us to our own free will to crush or cherish this gift.  He is literally ours, unveiled and laid bare to accept or reject.  This precious gift of unabashed love breaks past the barrier of our sin and resulting distrust, to the depth of our hearts where truth is re-awakened. 

We are transformed. 
All is made new. 
We can start again. 
No condemnation.
Just love. 

For if He would humble himself and enter into our humanity, then we must be worth more than we have let ourselves imagine.  He believes in us.

We drop our defenses and He sets us free.  The debt is paid.   Now without fear or anxiety, we can emerge from our shame, bitterness and resentment to the fresh air of forgiveness. 

Oh how he loves us!  Oh how we love Him in return!

Christmas is the season for wonder.  It's why we look forward to it each year.  I wouldn't mind a little more wonder every day of the year. Start your journey of wonder with this new book. 

Follow Margaret’s inspirational posts on Twitter,  Facebook , or her blog. You can learn more about this great book by visiting www.margaretfeinberg.com/wonderstruck where she’s offering some crazy promos right now with up to $300 of free stuff.  I ordered my own copy for only $7.57 on Amazon!

Forgotten gift

Busy, busy, busy is what we mumble and grumble at this time of the year.  Ask anyone how they are doing and they'll tell you they are over-extended, over- scheduled and over-worked.  It's as if it would be shameful to admit anything less. 

We are sufficiently busy!

Most of those I talk to are geniunely stressed, tired and near the point of burn out.  In fact, I include myself in that count!  More times than not I find myself complaining about the perpetual demands of the holiday season.

What fuels our busy-ness anyway? 

Could what I perceive to be self-sacrifice really be self-serving, self-indulgence?

If the first words from my mouth are "listen to what I've done, what I've sacrificed, how I suffer" am I kind of showing up at the greatest birthday party of the year, and stealing all the thunder? Seeking gifts of  sympathy, apathy, or praise for myself?

Protesting about now?

Self-indulgence?! 
Everything I do is for somone else!
I run.
I cook.
I bake.
I shop.
I decorate for days and days.
I'm exhausted!

Hmm.  See the trend?

Give God the glory.

The holiday, or holy days, season. The reason for the season: Jesus, right? 

So often we fail to actually take time out to reflect on the source of this season. Do we honestly take the days of advent to savor the beauty and wonder of the big event?

If you do, I commend you!  Lead the way!  If not, it's time for a serious self-check.

The wonder of this season lies in the quiet moments.  The first snowfall, morning devotions next to a warm fire, cuddling with sleepy eyed pajama clad children enthralled with the wonders of Luke 2, kneeling at the altar with the one's you love on Christmas eve. 

Stop and consider the miracle of a God who loved you so much that he descended from His throne, so that today instead of lives of worries, troubles, and hectic anxiety we could live our lives filled with hope, love, joy, peace and rest.

Mal 3:16: 

Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse

...test me,

and I will pour out for you a blessing

until it overflows.

The magi brought Christ gifts upon His arrival.  What gift are you preparing for the Savior this advent?  What are you willing to sacrifice for Him?  An act of kindness or service?  Are you willing to commit yourself to His work?  Is there something in your life that you need to lay at His feet?

"Small resolutions,

over time,

can lead to huge revolutions

affecting not only our lives,

but also the lives of those around us."

-Dr. Tim Gray

Resolutions are usually reserved for the New Year, but why not make a resolution this Christmas season.  Let's look inward and consider what tiny offerings we can bring before Christ this Christmas.

Don't forget to add Christ to your gift list this year.

Nonversations

I blame fear and anxiety, my usual scapegoats, for the bitter fountain of words that raced across my mind.  Sitting in the the cold, sterile examination room of the ER, the waiting unsettled me.  Disappointed again by the doctor's inability to pinpoint the cause of my pain that afternoon, I turned to God in frustration.

I'm not sure what combination of words flowed that afternoon.  I couldn't tell you what was said or how long this went on.  I can tell you what I didn't do.  I never paused long enough to listen.  I never stopped to consider who it was I was addressing.

Margaret Feinberg calls this "nonversation" in her new book Wonderstruck: Awaken to the Nearness of God, and I am guilty of it.

In the privilege I have of speaking with God as my most intimate friend, I forget that He is the most High God.  Where He graciously cares for the minutiae of life, I mistakenly assume He needs me to regurgitate partially processed, emotional, thoughtless prayers. As if such an offensive offering would move Him.

She presents a question:  How often have I rattled on with God and said nothing at all? It reminded me of another question, out of the Catechism,  "when we pray do we speak from the height of our pride and will, or out of the depths of a humble and contrite heart"?

The point being, are we having one sided conversations with God?  Are we so busy thinking up fancy phrases, complicated formulas, or so self absorbed that we are just plain nonsensical in what ends up being a string of soap box moments, rather than an intimate exchange?

Sometimes God lets me wander into darkness so that he can get my attention.  When there are no answers, when I feel lost and helpless, that is when I finally slow down, reach out and stop to listen.

When I stop prattling on about being afraid, how it's unfair, why I don't deserve any of this,   exhausted and spent, I become a child again sitting in the lap of her heavenly father.  In the sure comfort of his embrace, I am ready and willing to hear his will for my life and see the lessons he has for me. 

As I breathe in His presence, and drink in His Word, I am awakened to the fact that I have a Father that knows my name. He shows me how in every moment, at every turn, He is there.  Then he reveals how all the little pieces of my life, especially the ones that didn't make sense, were all working for my good. 

I stand amazed at His mercy, faithfulness, and love orchestrating every movement in the fugue of my life. Overwhelmed, I relent. 

Less of me, more of you God.

So often, this simple statement of humility, this desperate hungry petition becomes the damn to the plethora of words that want to burst out.

Less of me, more of you God.

That's when I experience His presence so tangibly, so beautifully that I would be happy not to say another word, if I could dwell in that place all the days of my life.


******

It was such a privilege to get to read a preview of this new book releasing in December and I cannot wait to add this book to my collection.  As always, Margaret takes us on a journey of self-analysis rich with masterfully painted pictures for her reader's minds.  Pre-order yours today!


 

Keep your heart slow

"Don't react. Instead respond out of wisdom, grace and love."  -M. Feinberg

Call it the mama-bear in me, but I certainly am one to react.  Over the years, I have learned to keep my initial rolling reactions beneath the surface.  Mostly.  Ok, perhaps only sometimes.

But I certainly know that those reactions usually come from an emotional place.  And usually that place is a tangled web of incoherent sporatic experiences, memories or unresolved thoughts.  My brain's effort to problem solve, to self preserve  or make sense out of the senseless.

In my humanity, I am apt to get it wrong.

More often than not, my secondary reaction is much more reasonable, rational, maybe even wise.

I am loving the new song by Mumford in Sons.  To me it epitomizes the exact process my mind goes through. The racing tempo of the chorus representing the frantic, hurried pace at which I tend to respond.  The verses the slow, wise revelations.

If I can hold back the surge, my fleshly impulse to react, then my mind can step out of its mental race and my thoughts can reduce their pace.  No longer breathlessly sprinting to a destination, I am free to stroll through garden's of wisdom, grace and love.

In God's garden of prayer, scripture and wise counsel, the answers are never wrong.  The answers are gifts of peace and reassurance.

That's not to say that the pressure behind the damn grows quiet.  The surge still threatens to erupt.  Even when I've resolved that I need to wait.  In the waiting there are moments when your mind's voice becomes a little frantic. Fearful.  The pressure from the surge mounts.

I will wait.  I WILL wait.

Ah the waiting is never a passive process, usually requiring monumental efforts of strength and will to pass through.

When in fear or anxiety your heart is pounding so hard that it deafens you.  Stop. Don't react. Breath.  And as your heart slows, and the world quiets down, that is where you'll hear God's voice rise up in answer to your situation.

Keep your hearts slow my friends.




So I'll be bold
As well as strong
And use my head alongside my heart
So tame my flesh
And fix my eyes
That tethered mind free from the lies

But I'll kneel down
Wait for now
I'll kneel down
Know my ground

Raise my hands
Paint my spirit gold
And bow my head
Keep my heart slow

Flashback: A little ditty on love

I've been reading Craig Groeschel's book WEIRD: Because Normal Isn't Working .  In it he has a chapter titled Love is ...Weird.  It reminded me of a post last year, where I described love as being beautifully Strange.

So often when we talk about Love we aren't thinking about how we can love others, but how we can be loved.  How will I know that someone else really loves me?

And so we begin to imagine how our Dream Love will be one day.  The things he'll do and say.  The gifts he'll bring me on Valentines day.  The flowers I'll receive on just random days.  How he'll just know when I need something and of course say the perfect thing that will make it all better.  And if any of these are ever missing, well then I'll know it isn't true love. 

Hmm. 

I challenge you today:  Decide to change how you define Love. 

• Assume first that love isn't a noun, as in something to be received. 
• Assume now that it's a verb, something that requires action on your part. 
• And finally assume that that person you love will never deserve it or earn it.

Decide you will love your someone just because you can.  You are capable of giving a precious gift, over and over again. 

That's right, you ARE equipped to love how HE loves us.

Without condition.

It's so much better that way.

Really.

You know that warm happiness you feel when you give someone a gift?  You know, the one that had you smiling ear to ear all day long?  Remember how great that feels?

Yeah.  You can feel that way ALL the time.

Weird.

Love for everyone

It's been a while since I've been to my little blog.

Hmmm. I really need a new start to my posts.

I always intend to blog more often, but it seems like as soon as I say it I run into some life turmoil or massive writer's block. If nothing else, my blog has become snapshot perspectives that give me a clue when I am in desperate need of one.

So what have I been pondering lately? Love.

That's right, its a big one. Probably triggered by this AMAZING song that I've been swimming in the past few months. I realized lately how much I've been telling people I love them. Very uncharacteristic for me. I am usually very very very - you get it - slow and reserved about opening up, taking people in and pouring over them.

Yet lately it's like some the dam has sprung a leak, starts out just a trickle and suddenly I am GUSHING all over people. Very random. Very uninspired. Just a surge of feelings and a burst of words, with the occasional hug.

Awkward? Uncomfortable?

For me, yes.
Maybe others too.
But mostly?
No.
Surprising.

It's amazing how receptive others are to encouragement, optimism, comfort, a smile, a hug, a sliver of light in what can be a terrible day, a tough season, a harsh and scary world.

And yet we're so reluctant to give, share, love ...because we don't want to make anyone uncomfortable, or worse yet - we don't want to seem "strange"

But Love IS sTranGe. By definition it's astonishing, astounding, remarkable, curious, exceptional, marvelous, amazing. Thank God it's strange!

He has placed some extraordinary people in my life over this past year that have demonstrated this strangeness over and over again. They humble me, they inspire me, they bless me as they demonstrate love and grace in various facets. They have shown me the most intimate, beautiful, wondrous and crucial essence in the message of salvation, the heart of God!

Their outpouring of love clued me in to the source, and has birthed my own spring. Its contagious. It's all consuming. There's enough for everyone.

It's holy week. The same power that conquered the grave is thicker and more tangible this week as we all focus on the victory of the cross. Someone you know needs to encounter the love of God today. Someone somewhere is desperate for this life saving message.

Get a little strange. Be extraordinary for someone this week. Share the love. Please.


"If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love. I gain nothing.

Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres." - I Corinthians 13: 1-7