Perplexed in Advent

    

   What would it have been like, 9 months pregnant, bouncing on the back of a donkey for days, only to find there was nowhere to lay your head, not to mention give birth? Or for Joseph, charged with protecting the Savior of the World, as well as His human mother, and yet at a total loss for how to do so? We know the rest of the story. They didn’t. “No worries, Joseph,” we say. “Help is on the way!” [“What are you afraid of, Moses? That sea is going to stand up and separate any second now!”] But they could only stand still, trusting and waiting for deliverance. And that is precisely what they awaited….in fact what we all awaited in this birth.

   You and I may at this very moment have worries, disappointments, griefs, fears, or frustrations swirling through our heads. Yet It never ceases to stop me short in Advent…..never ceases to put circumstances, disappointments, joys, longings, thanksgivings, mistakes, and concerns of all kinds in the perspective of eternity. Not just ‘the sweet by and by’ of someday in heaven, but now’s eternity. That is where our true Shalom lies………entrusted to the Trustworthy One, the one and only Three-in-One. Knowing He knows the end of every story and has already prepared an Abigail for us. Wise men are already heading our way with provision. Seas are ready to stand up at His command.. He’s about to give angelic direction for our protection. All we need do is listen, receive, and obey.. Though we may be clueless about how things will play out, our ABBA is not. Trusting Him goes hand-in-hand with doing what we best understand of His will for us at the moment. Our ‘faith of a child’ warms His heart.

   I am fond of the following passage from one of my favorite Max Lucado books, In the Grip of Grace: 

“Stepping from the throne, he removed his robe of light and wrapped himself in skin: pigmented, human skin. The light of the universe entered a dark, wet womb. He whom angels worship nestled himself in the placenta of a peasant, was birthed into a cold night, and then slept on cow’s hay.

Mary didn’t know whether to give him milk or give him praise, but she gave him both since he was, as near as she could figure, hungry and holy. Joseph didn’t know whether to call him Junior or Father. But in the end he called him Jesus, since that’s what the angel had said and since he didn’t have the faintest idea what to name a God he could cradle in his arms . .” .

*****

“For only a God could create a plan this mad. Only a Creator beyond the fence of logic could offer such a gift of love. What man can’t do, God does. So, when it comes to goodies and candy, cherub cheeks and red noses, go to the North Pole. But when it comes to eternity, forgiveness, purpose, and truth, go to the manger. Kneel with the shepherds. Worship the God who dared to do what man dared not dream. “

——-And the Angels Were Silent, Max Lucado

 ***

“This isn’t the way I planned it, God. Not at all. My child being born in a stable? This isn’t the way I thought it would be. A cave with sheep and donkeys, hay and straw? My wife giving birth with only the stars to hear her pain? This isn’t at all what I imagined. No, I imagined family. I imagined grandmothers. I imagined neighbors clustered outside the door and friends standing at my side. I imagined the house erupting with the first cry of the infant. Slaps on the back. Loud laughter. Jubilation. That’s how I thought it would be. The midwife would hand me my child, and all the people would applaud. Mary would rest and we would celebrate. All of Nazareth would celebrate. But now. Now look. Nazareth is five days’ journey away. And here we are in a . . . in a sheep pasture. Who will celebrate with us? The sheep? The shepherds? The stars? This doesn’t seem right. What kind of husband am I? I provide no midwife to aid my wife. No bed to rest her back. Her pillow is a blanket from my donkey. My house for her is a shed of hay and straw. The smell is bad, the animals are loud. Why, I even smell like a shepherd myself. Did I miss something? Did I, God?     

—Max Lucado, Cure for the Common Life and He Still Moves Stones  

***

“I could not comprehend God’s plan, but my understanding was not essential. My obedience was.” —-Gabriel, from An Angel’s Story; Max Lucado

***

“…why would you say, “Yahweh isn’t paying attention to my situation. He has lost all interest in what happens to me.?” Isaiah 40: 27

“…Yahweh….is never puzzled over what to do! He empowers the feeble and infuses the powerless with increasing strength” Ibid  29

***

May the rest of your Advent season be a tender, obedient, and trusting one.

Julie

Breath of Heaven:  

https://youtu.be/TOQRtYYERGo?si=wUd_DdOS3PGth-On

Mary, Did You Know?   https://youtu.be/trW_lD9sBt0?si=JpDYwYHdpEF6jABg

Abba’s Advent Calendar

   

 

   After Christmas last year, I found a half-price wooden Advent calendar with drawers our grandchildren could open each day in December to discover assorted treats.  I then purchased a Scriptural cardboard one to accompany it, so its true meaning wouldn’t be lost. When I gave it to them yesterday on Thanksgiving, my granddaughter asked me if the paper one also had candy inside the doors (as it had one year). I asked her, “What is better than discovering the Word of God each day?” She enthusiastically responded, “You know what I think is better, Nuni*? The Word AND chocolate!”

   This morning in my devotional time, I was thanking the Lord as “the Giver of every good and perfect gift”** when that conversation came to mind. How often I want His God and….   As the loving Parent He is, He does delight in giving us good gifts. His lifetime Calendar of drawers is chock full of blessings which He loves watching us open, His eyes sparkling, His face wreathed in a broad smile when we delight in and appreciate the treasures He has hidden inside. Treasures extending from tiny to life-changing. Divine appointments waiting to be met.

   He knows us so well that He never gives peanuts to those allergic or Mounds Bars to those who dislike coconut. Rollos surprise the caramel lovers, and coins are tucked inside for those whose piggy banks are running low. The specially-chosen peppermint that flavors the M’nMs, causes the child in some of us to say, “Lord, You remembered!” But of course He does. He knows us down to the roots of our (sometimes grey) hair, not to mention reading the longings of our hearts. To Him, we are forever young, forever His children, forever the ones in whom He delights. The ones whom He enjoys surprising with good gifts, even if we sometimes don’t recognize them as such.

   Let’s respond by flinging our arms around Hs neck in affectionate abandon. Let’s recapture our wonder, opening each drawer of our days in excitement and anticipation of what our ABBA has carefully deposited inside, tailor-made for each of us, His beloved children. 

   And while we’re at it this Advent season, let’s 

   “Fling wide the portals of your heart, Make it a temple set apart for earthly use and heaven’s employ, adorned with prayer and love and joy” —Lift Up Your Heads, Ye Mighty Gates, George Weissel, 1642

+++++++++++++++

*My grandmother name

**”Every gift God freely gives us is good and perfect, streaming down from the Father of lights, who shines from the heavens with no hidden shadow or darkness and is never subject to change. —James 1: 17 TPT

***”Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvelous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children.” —1 John 3: 1 

**** It is said that ‘gratitude unlocks blessing.’ I know that ABBA often blesses before gratitude, as well. Let’s imitate our Dad and be lavish in giving our thanksgiving back to Him. Let’s also be lavish in sharing what He has provided. Because we can’t outdo Him, this in turn unlocks bigger drawers stuffed to overflowing….’over and above what we can ask or imagine’.

Rendered

 

   Recently, in response to one of my prayers, the Lord said the following: “I will continue to prompt you, never fear. I will also transmit, transport, and render. Tenderly render.

   “What do you mean?” I asked Him. (Not an infrequent question on my part). He responded by telling me to look it up. (LOL God never stops being a parent.) I knew the words render and rendering as related to making a model or depiction of a design, as well aa its meaning of ‘giving to.’ (“Render to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s”+). Beyond that, i had no idea how many other meanings there were for the word. Here is what I found for render (verb):

• To make; to cause to be or become
• To do, perform
• To furnish, provide……afford, contribute, supply, give
• To exhibit or show….including obedience, attention
• To present for consideration, approval, payment, action
• To return, to make a payment, as by a tenant to a superior
• To pay as due (tax, tribute)
• To deliver formally or officially; to hand down
• To translate into another language
• To represent, to depict, as in a painting

   Immediately, the thought occurred to me: “Lord, if You are ‘tenderly rendering’ so much to and for me (and to all those who put their trust in You), what am I tenderly rendering back to You?” Am I ‘showing obedience and attention’? Am I ‘representing’ You well?

   “Explain more about what You meant by tenderly rendering me and then how I can better render what will make. you happy in return? I look at the dictionary list and  realize the distinction between formally giving you Your ‘just due,’ out of obligation, versus tenderly desiring to respond in love to what You are creating out of my life. 

   I see Your Artist’s hands at work, molding the lumpy, awkward parts of my personality, my actions, my disappointments, and my failures. Massaging them in with the happier more joyful, fruit-bearing parts.. Tenderly sculpting, scraping off bits here and there which need to be removed, smoothing out the rough places. Lovingly turning my aging struggles and my lifetime of experiences into someone who can tenderly partner with You according to Your plans in rendering others. Others who will render unto You the love and fruitfulness You deserve and who desire to see more of Your form and beauty manifested in their lives. Are there relationships for me to form, mentoring to humbly provide, mothering to do, targeted, surgical prayers to offer, unconditional love and encouragement to lavish?

  I looked again at the definitions:

Meaning 1: “To make, to cause to be or become.” 

Meaning 2: “To do, to perform.” 

Meaning 3: To supply, furnish, provide.”

   You, Lord, are the Renderer. You do the work. You provide and cause and perform. Our part is to be willing, to be surrendered. All the while You continue the sometimes painful process in us, the beauty of others is being enhanced. If we’re operating in the fruit and gifts of Your Holy Spirit, no one else knows but You. Despite how we may  sometimes feel about our lack of usefulness (including some of us in our senior years), You are never at a loss. You say, “I can work with this!” You don’t set us aside, broken. Even when we make mistakes, are too lazy to obey You, or temporarily grieve You, Your creative juices still flowto create ‘beauty from ashes.’+ You rub Your hands together with glee and declare, “My child, there is so much more to come! Give yourself to me every day for continual rendering, that I may sculpt and paint your life, as more and more of Who I Am is manifested through you: My light, My Shalom, My creativity, My joy, My forgiveness,, My Agape love.. Until one day I take My  unique rendering of you Home with Me, where your fuller, more beautiful life will truly begin. And while you’re at it, let your continually rendered self encourage as many others as possible along the way, that they will one day rejoice with you There.

**********

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10

+Matthew 22:21

+Isaiah 61:3

If you missed my two “No Greater” posts, you might want to go back and read those: February 14 (No greater love…) and February 19 (No greater creativity…”.)

 *To find earlier posts: If you’re on a phone, click ‘see Web version’ at the bottom of the post, or open my blog on a computer or tablet. All posts since 2015 are listed on the right at Tennyandi.blogspot.com)

An ‘oldie but a goodie’ from the very early days of contemporary worship:

https://youtu.be/MneanjtBRns?si=DlrrKrtKQXd2Ev1U

 

Surprised by Sweetness

    I was feeling all yucky inside, with all the ‘stuff’ happening and the sickening words and actions of the times. Just yesterday I had spoken in church about the crucial need for listening to God directly, rather than relying on our own or other people’s understanding. For decades I have used those little speckled journals to listen and try to write down (by 'taking dictation’) what He says, as best I can. 

   Writing down has helped me stay focused, with my thoughts zinging around my mind and external distractions calling out to me.  If there’s ever been a time to commit to significant times of listening to the Holy Spirit, it’s now. Yet sometimes it’s difficult to quiet our souls to just be with Him and listen. To persist until His voice breaks through and begins to flow in our minds. 

   This morning was a challenge to LIVE what I advised just yesterday. I was tempted to just give up and start the rest of my day. Thankfully, I didn’t. His deep peace descended, and He told me to ‘soak my dry bones in His Spirit...His ‘abiding place,’ to absorb His life-giving nutrients’. “Let me refresh your mind," He said..."wash, wash, wash (image of a washing machine), cleansing it from the ‘stuff’ that has attached itself. “

   I can only describe what I then experienced as a sweetness which came to me. It was like hearing a tender Christmas carol and smelling the scent of evergreen,  while tucked up on the sofa in front of a lighted tree. "Oh yeah, that's what that feels like...purity, innocence, and peace all rolled into one.  I'd forgotten."  The Holy Spirit is the source of all that is pure and beautiful and life-giving.

   At the same time that I was trying to listen to Him, sweet and creative ideas were flowing faster than I could record them. “Are these distractions, Lord?” I asked. “I’m trying to pay attention to what you’re saying!”

“I know creative ideas are flowing all around you,” He answered...“faster than you can pull them out of the water.. When you place yourself inside My Stream, they will flow continually along with and around you. They always exist there by My creative Nature. You will be like Lucy and Ethel at the chocolate factory!”

“You are SO funny, Lord.  And a pun on 'sweetness', too? Really?"

Need a good soak in the tub?

This is my first Christmas in this new season of my life. I can luxuriate now in large doses of quiet on a weekday morning, with no parameters looming. I’ve often wished to soak in the tub of the Holy Spirit’s presence and dwell in the reverence and holiness of the time of angels and shepherds, keeping the shopping world at bay while His Star shines forth onto the silent hillside of my heart .

Even so, my ‘get-er-done’ personality is tempted to jump up and accomplish various tasks on my to-do list. I have to say no to this Martha self and tell her to wait, while I participate in my Mary’s ‘better part’.  When one is soaking in a tub, the door is closed to everything outside it. So should it be in the tub of the Holy Spirit.  The light of God’s candle shines, the fragrance of lavender wafts in the air, the sacred music touches the deep places of body, soul, and spirit.

This morning, as I was remembering and longing for the holiness and intimacy of some church experiences past, Adonai reminded me that this exquisite intimacy is always available to me, no matter where I am. His habitation beneath His Canopy, His Tent of meeting with its canvas flap, is open day and night because of His gift of Himself as Emmanuel.

There is an old praise song whose lyrics say, “Commune with Me...beneath the wings of the cherubim...I’ll meet you there...commune with Me....” Whether woman or man, we are His Bride; He draws us under the bridal canopy as His own forever. As Babe, Bridegroom, and Mighty Savior, He is always Emmanuel, God-with-us. He longs for us to come with swift, expectant feet into His dwelling place, where we find He’s also chosen to dwell within us.

Emmanuel, God with us, is also God within us.   When we yield ourselves to Him in grateful abandon, we are encompassed by Him in such a way that we don’t even know where we leave off and He begins. Yet we revere Him as Holy beyond our understanding. That He paid the price for us to be wholly and completely His in the midst of His holiness, is incomprehensible but wonderfully true.

Let’s push from us, as my mother used to say, ‘the tyranny of the urgent’ and instead urgently run into the arms of His Holy Spirit. Let’s soak in the vibrant quiet of the Holy Night and all that He offers us because of it, rejoicing in the Gift of His all-encompassing Presence.

Preparing the right gift

In this Advent season, as we prepare to celebrate both the first and second coming of our Lord, the continual search to please Him should be resounding in our hearts. What gift would He most enjoy for His Birthday present from us? When you love others deeply, you search for ways to delight them, to make them happy, to outdo them with kindness. The more Yeshua’s love pours out to Me, the more I want to love Him bigger. Don’t you?

When it’s the birthday of someone we love deeply, we don’t just quickly wrap a gift we’ve grabbed from the shelf at the last minute. We ponder and plan what would delight and surprise that person. We want to see his or her face light up in joy. Now, surprise is not an option for our Yeshua’s gift, since He already knows the future.  However, pleasure is.

Sometimes, when our children were young, we would write our birthday gifts to Jesus on slips of paper and put them in a wrapped box under the tree. We never opened this gift Christmas morning, but we knew He would do so, treasuring each one in His heart. Somehow that tradition faded away as we all got older. I wish we’d carried it on every year. This year I want to bring it back, even though our children have their own families now.

Let’s take time this Advent season to ask Yeshua what He would most like for His Birthday celebration this year. Is there someone you need to forgive? Someone lonely who would love your attention? Might Adonai be missing that time you used to devote to conversation with Him or just basking in His Presence? Is there someone He loves who would be blessed by a special gift? Would Yeshua love to hear you serenade Him with love songs?

Let’s draw in our children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews, as well as family members in the Spirit. Write love notes, wrap them in boxes with loving care and determine to fulfill any outward or inward acts of devotion they might contain. May He be showered with so many gifts this year that we hear the echo of His laughter from Heaven.