Monday, December 24, 2007

What Can We Give Him?


It's a timeless question.What do you give the man who has everything?And when that man is the Lord Himself it becomes an even deeper conundrum.What do you give the ONE who has everything,owns everything.?What do you give Him who holds all of time and eternity in His very capable hands?The answer is found in the following words penned by Christina Rossetti:

In the bleak midwinter, frost wind made moan, earth stood hard as iron, water like a stone; snow had fallen, snow on snow, snow on snow, in the bleak midwinter, long ago.
Our God, heaven cannot hold him, nor earth sustain; heaven and earth shall flee away when he comes to reign. In the bleak midwinter a stable place sufficed the Lord God Almighty, Jesus Christ.
Angels and archangels may have gathered there, cherubim and seraphim thronged the air; but his mother only, in her maiden bliss, worshiped the beloved with a kiss.
What can I give him, poor as I am? If I were a shepherd, I would bring a lamb; if I were a Wise Man, I would do my part; yet what I can I give him: give my heart.
We celebrate God's greatest gift at this time of year.Christmas.The birthday of our Saviour Jesus Christ.We gather with family and friends around a table laden with food or a tree laden with packages.Yet,the reason we gather is often lost in the commercialism of the season.We give gifts to each other and that is good.But what about the Guest of honor?The Lord Jesus Himself.Enjoy,even relish time with your loved ones.But don't let the One who loves us with an everlasting love go away empty handed this year.
Blessings~Sharon

Monday, December 17, 2007

Merry Christmas

The people walking in darkness have seen a great light;on those living in the land of the shadow of death a light has dawned.~Isaiah 9:6

Light in the midst of darkness.Love, pure and holy love was born that night in Bethlehem.Hope was born.We celebrate hope,the Light of the world,at this Christmas season.We celebrate Jesus.He is the only reason for the season.May His light,His hope,His love fill each of your hearts this season.And may you rejoice just as they did so long ago in Bethlehem.Merry Christmas to all of you.
~Image courtesy of Source of Joy Graphics~



Saturday, December 08, 2007

Anger Management

Once again our Granddaughter Hope has provided fodder for a blog entry.Smile.We were watching her today as we do every weekend.I was in the kitchen cleaning up lunch dishes.We'd had sloppy joe's made with ground turkey on whole wheat buns and pears.I was enjoying the rare winter sun streaming in my kitchen window as well as the simple act of washing dishes by hand(my dishwasher was full).Hope was out in the living room playing a Sony driving game(some game where you race ATV's over various tracks both pro and amateur).As I finished up the dishes Hope came walking into the kitchen and gave me a hug."Is your game over?"I asked.""No"she replied.""I just find that it helps me to get rid of my anger if I hug someone."Hope was living out a biblical principle without even realizing it!I knew I had a blog entry with her statement.Big grin.I probed further.The source of her anger?Running out of time on her racing game.As she left the room I pondered what had just transpired.And I reached some conclusions.Would'nt it be nice if the worst thing we had to be angry over was running out of time on a game?And ,even better than that,would'nt it be wonderful if all the anger issues and results of that anger could be solved by simply hugging another human being?It's quite possible that all the world's ugliness,sin and sadness,caused by anger,could be eradicated in it's entirety.That's something to think about the next time we as humans are tempted to get angry over something.

~In your anger,do not sin.Do net let the sun go down on your wrath.~
Ephesians 4:26 NIV
Blessings~Sharon



Monday, December 03, 2007

Prayin' Grammas

"I am reminded of
your sincere faith,
which lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and,I am persuaded now lives in you also."
Paul speaking to his "son"in the faith,Timothy.
II Timothy 1:5

As I stepped into the shower and was reveling in it's warmth yesterday I was pondering the night before.We were babysitting our granddaughter overnight.Beofre we all went to bed we joined hands by her bed on our soft,comfortable hunter green couch.She and Bapa Steve and I had prayed for good sleep,sweet dreams and a good breakfast the next day.Hope had also thanked God for answering her prayers and healing Bapa's back.I pondered what a gift it was to be able to pray with this child.To have her know us as her grandparents.To know she prays for us and to have her know we pray for her.We were simply enjoying each other and the benefits of being children of the most High God.Access to the throne.This was extra special to me as I never knew any of my grandparents.They all passed before I was born I am told.But I would love to pull back the curtain on my life.To see things from the perspective of a heavenly timeline.To shine a huge floodlight into the now dark and dusty corners of my ancestral past.I would love to see,to know if I had any prayin' grammas.I wonder if as they baked their bread,tended their gardens or reared their own children did they pray.Did they ask the Father to save the future generations to come?Did they ask His blessing upon us?Did they pray for me?One whom they never knew was to exist.Did they pray for me to have faith in Jesus?I wonder if they loved writing and music and nature and did they ask God to bless and gift future generations with that same love?I'm blessed to pray for and with our granddaughter Hope.But I wonder if I had any prayin' grammas?Maybe I'll know someday.Maybe I won't.But I think I'll just enjoy what I've got.A faith in God and family and friends who love me.And I'll continue to be a prayin' gramma.
Blessings~Sharon
Image courtesy of Snapshots of Joy