Decedent Day

Yesterday was decedent.

I finally just sorta did what I wanted. No agenda. No schedule. No rush. No need to pick up and tidy. Nothing to wrap. Long sigh - JUST what the doctor ordered.

Most of the day was spent reading - pleasure reading. It felt so wonderful - reading something just for the sheer enjoyment of it - not an assignment, not work...just fun. What delight is to be found in the world of words. In reading we can leave our own small plane for a few hours and live the life of another - seeing what he sees, knowing what he thinks, smelling his smells - it's an expansion of life. Reading is a gift. A good book is a treasure. Oh to have a good book every time I want to read. THAT is the tricky part.

Actually, the day started on the 25th, when what to my wondering eyes should appear - no, not the jolly old elf and eight tiny reindeer - but two pieces of paper wrapped and under the tree. E-tickets. To Paris. Frank and I are going to Paris on April 26th. Since he travels a lot, he saved up miles to go to a foreign destination in honor of our 25th wedding anniversary. I picked Paris.

In anticipation of this gift, I had purchased a couple of novels by John Baxter - A Paris Christmas and We'll Always Have Paris. For Christmas we each gave each other a Paris travel guide, and Frank gifted me with the wee Moleskin travel planner and diary for Paris - includes maps and metro station information. So yesterday, as I lounged with MANY cups tea and lemon, the ottoman held all things Paris, and I sampled from each of them throughout the day. Putter in the sweetest sense of the word. Just plain decedent. My Moleskine travel journal has it's first notes, such as where to find the best baguette, which cemetery has the lovely statue of the woman weeping, and which cafe is a favorite - a hole in the wall kind of place. What fun it will be to research over these next few months and make notes in the tiny book. Just my sort of thing!

A Paris Christmas: Immoveable Feast, is fabulously written. Here's the back cover description: A witty cultural and culinary education, Immoveable Feast is the charming, funny, and improbable tale of how a man who was raised on white bread - and didn't speak a word of French - unexpectedly ended up with the sacred duty of preparing the annual Christmas dinner for a venerable Parisian family... Baxter's memoir of his yearlong quest takes readers along his misadventures and delicious triumphs as he visits the farthest corners of France in search of the country's best recipes and ingredients. Irresistible and fascinating, Immoveable Feast is a warmhearted tale of good food, romance, family, and the Christmas spirit, Parisian style."

Just now curling up for my Sunday afternoon, and about to crack open John Baxter's We'll always have Paris. Pencil in hand, tea on the side table, feet up and blanket surrounding...I'll soon be napping and reading the afternoon away. Still under the weather with a plague in my lungs, but today...it's not such a bad plight.

Bonne après-midi tout le monde! (Happy afternoon to everyone!)

Presence

This morning I will be working from home. Week four of a nasty bug has finally quarantined me. Week one was body aches and weariness. Week two was down and out, missing work and zoning out on the couch. Week three was sinus and sore throat. Week four is lungs. Fa la la la la. I finally succumbed to visiting the doctor, and was well lectured. Stop. Rest. Or else.

And so after a chest xray yesterday I stopped in at work just long enough to gather information for a day at home at my computer. I had already missed two and a half days of work this week again, so it is necessary for me to get a few things done and clock a few hours. Tomorrow will be spent in the car for a one hour far away meeting, so that is a stress free way to put in nine hours. Today I will listen to Christmas music and do a lot of computer input, updating all my client files. Sounds dull, but it will be a great relief to be caught up.

And so...I am present. I am sipping coffee and spending some leisurely time with my Savior, the star of the Christmas show. Such luxury.

When Jake appeared I asked him if he'd like a hot breakfast, knowing that he would light up and request chocolate chip pancakes. Presence. Although I'm almost always here until he leaves for the bus, I'm not always "present." Today I brought my coffee to the table and read from our Advent reading while he savored his favorite treat.

Immanuel: Praying the Names of God through the Christmas Season by Ann Spangler is my new advent devotional for the year. I love advent. The advent candle on the kitchen table that must be at least 15 years old. Tradition.

Today we read of my second favorite name for God, "Immanuel." Technically it is a name for Jesus, foretold twice in the Old Testament and mentioned once in the New.

Isaiah 7:13-14 (NASB95)
13 Then he said, “Listen now, O house of David! Is it too slight a thing for you to try the patience of men, that you will try the patience of my God as well?
14 “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, a virgin will be with child and bear a son, and she will call His name Immanuel.

Isaiah 8:8 (NASB95)
8 “Then it will sweep on into Judah, it will overflow and pass through, It will reach even to the neck; And the spread of its wings will fill the breadth of your land, O Immanuel.

Matthew 1:22-23 (NASB95)
22 Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
23 “Behold, the virgin shall be with child and shall bear a Son, and they shall call His name Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.”

The author's words are so beautiful and succinct, let me quote her here:

One of the most comforting of all the names and titles of Jesus, it is literally translated "with us is God" or, as Matthew's Gospel puts it, "God with us." When our sins made it impossible for us to come to him, God took the outrageous step of coming to us, of making himself susceptible to sorrow, familiar with temptation, and vulnerable to sin's disruptive power, in order to cancel its claim. In Jesus we see how extreme God's love is. Remember this the next time you feel discouraged, abandoned, or too timid to undertake some new endeavor. For Jesus is still Immanuel - he is still "God with us."

Presence. God's presence. He brings much more than chocolate chip pancakes to our table, for He is the Mighty God, Wonderful Counselor and Prince of Peace. Meditate on those titles and that reality for a period of time, and you might more fully appreciate that He is Immanuel. God with us. God with us as we prepare to celebrate His birth, as we recuperate, as we type on the computer. God with us at our breakfast table, as we drive about, as we hustle and bustle.

God with us.

Firm Place

Up early this morning, awakened by a disturbing dream. Since early morning is one of the most peaceful times in our busy household, I crawled out at 5:30, turned on the tree lights, made a cup of coffee and put on George Winston's "December." For whatever reason that music has always been melancholy to me, stirring up deep longings for ... Christmas past? Christmas future? a Christmas that isn't? Yet every year it is a part of my Thanksgiving and Christmas weeks, something through which to work each year. The music works at the knots in me, releasing ... something. Interestingly, this Christmas I've enjoyed it more, and hearing it has brought peace rather than tears. Reconciling with what is. Settling in.

This morning's reading is in Luke 23, and I continue to be amazed at the depth of meaning it brings to read of Christ's passion week, betrayal and crucifixion while gazing at a nativity set. God timed that I would be at this point in my Jesus study at this point in the year. I'm simply enjoying the journey.

Beth Moore remarks on Isaiah 22 in today's study. In a prophetic statement in verse 23 it states,

23 “I will drive him like a peg in a firm place, And he will become a throne of glory to his father’s house.

Beth considers this passage to apply both to its contemporaneous context and to be prophetic of Christ. The context of the readings on the crucifixion certainly intensify the driving of the peg. The word "firm" is the word that draws Beth's attention, and so I looked it up in my Hebrew lexicon.

Firm: # 539 to make firm, to confirm, to support; to be firm, to stand firm, to be enduring, to trust.

Trust is the word of the month. At our church's women's brunch the speaker spoke of the simple words, "Trust Me." During an especially difficult time she wrote those words on an index card and set it on her nightstand. Trust Me.

God will drive us like pegs into firm places. Places that will make us firm. Without being driven to experiencing some hard places, we cannot test our firmness. We cannot test our simple trust.

Does this season bring you to some hard places? Do some of the songs bring out the melancholy in you? Are there stresses testing you?

Be firm. Be enduring. Trust. That's what I'm hearing this morning as I listen to the melodies, sip strong coffee and bask in the twinkles. And I feel hope. Hope that my spot in the firm place is becoming more comfortable. At some point the driving of the peg stops, right? At some point the peg is in the firm place, and the driving, the pounding, the pushing subsides. I am beginning to sense that relief. I don't think I'm going to be taken from the hard place, but there is the promise of holding firm in it.

Heavenly Peace

Just received this article from Nicole Johnson, and thought it lovely enough to share. Enjoy.

I'll write soon. The class papers are emailed, the cards are addressed if not sent, the gifts are bought, the tree is alight, and the blogger is ... exhausted. A chest xray today will see if the H1N1 settled in my lungs as pneumonia...its been a long month.

Christmas movies with hot tea are in my very near future.

Stay warm!

You know where to find it...

Oops. I forgot to post the link to the December 6th Advent blog. So...hopefully you still found it...and will continue to find it this month. I'll write again soon. Don't forget to say HI in the comments!

December 5

Good Morning! I'm up early for a FULL day ahead. Bible Study at 7:30, our church women's Christmas Brunch at 10, and then to Chicago with friends for some window shopping and dinner before we go to Candlelight Carols. I've been fighting a nasty bug - only worked one and a half days this week - so I'm praying for an extra dose of energy. I'll just duck into a Starbucks on Michigan Avenue and people watch (zone out) while my girlfriends window shop...there's already a book in my purse...

Have an extraordinary last day of the first week of Advent. Let's keep our focus on HIM.

December 4

Happy Friday! Here's your ADVENT reading for today. Enjoy!

December 3rd

Happy Thursday! The reading for December 3rd is posted here. (don't pay attention to the posting dates - this year or last - just the BLUE TITLE DATES) - (GREEN ones on the advent blog.)

Peace to you!

December 2nd

I hope you enjoy today's ADVENT reading! And the BONUS Advent reading. :o) (Somehow last year I posted twice for December 2nd.)

Advent

In 2008 I wrote an Advent blog.
I am revisiting it now, and enjoying the fact that I'm *totally* surprised by each day's writing. Ha. Must be a midlife thing, eh?
Here is the link to December 1.

Let's enjoy it together. I might edit some of the posts as I reread them this year, so please don't get ahead of the date. A request of the author. :D

One more request. COMMENT. Comments are the ONLY feedback I get. I LOVE comments. Pretty please? I have readers that I don't know. Who are you in Missouri? Such a faithful reader, and I have NO CLUE who you are.

And if anyone (Diane?) can give me the instructions on a simpler comment methodology, PLEASE share.

Happy December everyone!

Desired and Chosen

It's odd to be reading of the Passover in the first week of Advent, but that's where I am at in the Jesus study. In Day 76 Beth quotes part of the "Kiddush" as it is likely what Christ said as He celebrated the Passover with his disciples in the upper room. (Luke 22:14-22 is today's passage.) The Kiddush is a blessing recited over wine or grape juice to sanctify the Shabbat,or other Jewish holiday. I googled "Kiddush" and came to the following English translation in Wikipedia.


English translation of Friday night kiddush
[And it was evening and it was morning], the sixth day. And the heavens and the earth and all their hosts were completed. And God finished by the seventh day His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done. And God blessed the seventh day and sanctified it, for on it He rested from all His work which God created to function.

Attention, gentlemen,

Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, Who creates the fruit of the vine. (Amen)
Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has sanctified us with His commandments, has desired us, and has given us, in love and good will, His holy Shabbat as a heritage, in remembrance of the work of Creation; the first of the holy festivals, commemorating the Exodus from Egypt. For You have chosen us and sanctified us from among all the nations, and with love and good will given us Your holy Shabbat as a heritage. Blessed are You, Lord, who sanctifies the Shabbat. (Amen)

Such a very lovely blessing. Before this reading I did not know it existed. There is such beauty in the Jewish traditions. It would have been a lovely prayer at Thanksgiving... perhaps I will print it and put a copy in our china cabinet...where it will be available for appropriate use.

As I study it, I see that it is a blessing of remembrance. Lord. God. King of the universe. Creator. We need to remember WHO God is.
It is this King of the Universe who sanctifies us - changes us - fits us for Himself - through His Word.
It is AMAZING that the King of the Universe desires us. Ponder that. God has one longing - even as God - and that is for relationship with His creation.
The King of the Universe has given us Sabbath as a heritage, a reminder to rest for 1/7 th of our week, as a remembrance of His work of creation and His example of rest. (Now THAT is a good reminder for the Advent season.) Isn't it funny how we love to FIGHT this - call it ritual, and unnecessary for New Testament believers. But it is a GIFT. A gift "in love and good will." Why do we fight what is so good for us?
The King of the Universe gave us Passover to remember His deliverance of His people from Egypt.
We are chosen. I am chosen. If I remembered this each day it would certainly change my perspective.
We are chosen and sanctified from among the nations. Do you ponder this enough? If you have accepted Christ's free gift of salvation and are living in obedience to Him, then you can know you are CHOSEN. I'm not interested in debating predestination, but I'm grateful that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I AM CHOSEN. God did it right - however He did the choosing - and I am among the chosen. I don't know about you, but I don't thank Him enough for that, nor do I mention it in my prayers nearly enough.
Blessed be the Lord of the Shabbat.

This kind of ritual - not as a NECESSARY, but as a LOVELY REMEMBRANCE - excites me. I love the heritage of it. I love that Jesus likely said these very words with His disciples. At this site you can listen to it in Hebrew.

I love learning. It really just invigorates me. I'm home sick today, for the second day in a row, but today I am at least able to be reading and studying a bit. And honestly, my dilemma is WHICH Bible study to work on. My favorite is this Jesus one, I have a lesson in Proverbs to lead on Saturday morning, and I'm working through Immanuel by Ann Spangler for Advent. (Praying the Names of God through the Christmas Season) After my first morning nap (I am, after all, home to recuperate for the rest of my work week) I will dig into Christian History. I have SO MUCH reading for that, too. I so prefer my time in the Word, but will continue to plod on through the background information I am learning through my seminary classes.

Remember today that you are desired by God. Will you respond to Him in a new and fresh way during this season of Advent?