A little Christmas *cheer*...

There truly is nothing like Christmas music.  I've been playing it every chance I get in my classroom...probably to the point that my kids are sick of it...:)  (Of course, they could be sick of it because I tell them that if they can't hear the music, they're too loud...and then I turn it down super low...evil, but it works!)  We've been singing carols at church, they're all over the radio...I even wake up singing them in the mornings...

I never can make up my mind which is my favorite.  Every year it changes.  Lately though (if I had to choose...), I would have to say that the one that most stirs my heart is "Hark, the Herald Angel Sings..."  It tells, in musical form, the beauty of the gospel, and the sheer joy with which the angels must have proclaimed the birth of Him who would bring the reconciliation of man to God and with His blood redeem us from the wrath we deserved.  The words are beautiful, and so powerful:

Hark the herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!
Peace on earth and mercy mild
God and sinners reconciled"
Joyful, all ye nations rise
Join the triumph of the skies
With the angelic host proclaim:
"Christ is born in Bethlehem"
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Christ by highest heav'n adored
Christ the everlasting Lord!
Late in time behold Him come
Offspring of a Virgin's womb
Veiled in flesh the Godhead see
Hail the incarnate Deity
Pleased as man with man to dwell
Jesus, our Emmanuel
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

Hail the heav'n-born Prince of Peace!
Hail the Son of Righteousness!
Light and life to all He brings
Ris'n with healing in His wings
Mild He lays His glory by
Born that man no more may die
Born to raise the sons of earth
Born to give them second birth
Hark! The herald angels sing
"Glory to the newborn King!"

My favorite words, however, are in the third verse:  "Mild He lays His glory by/Born that man no more may die".  It's a part of the Gospel we don't think about nearly often enough:  what a humbling, gracious, beautiful thing!  Jesus, the very Son of God, set aside all the glory He knew in the heavenly realms, the radiance, the praise, the majesty and chose to come here; to be born as a baby (which is in a whole other realm from God of the Universe...), to grow up and live as a man, that He alone might put His righteousness upon us by serving as the only perfect sacrifice.  And not only that, He did it mildly, with absolute humility and grace! 

The thought of such humility, such grace, holiness, love, and perfect, majestic redemption overwhelms my heart.  His sacrifice is our only hope.  I pray that today, your heart and mind might be overwhelmed with these truths and that you might find absolute delight and satisfaction in the One who mildly laid "His glory by". 

A revelation...in Pizza Hut...

Not the place you normally expect to hear a revealing word from the Lord, right??  But then again, who am I to limit anything He does or is...He is a God who knows no bounds...no limits. 

Several of our friends from Panfork came to see us this weekend...we got to celebrate Bekah's birthday :) as well as each other.  Saturday night some of us went to a local basketball game.  One thing you have to love about small towns is that it keeps you from taking a really long time deciding where to eat:  our options were pretty much Pizza Hut or Dairy Queen (pizza won :), if you can imagine that...:).

As we were sitting waiting for our food, a priest came in to pick up an order.  I'm not sure everything that was said, but the manager of the store ended up giving him everything for free.

My tendency is to be so cynical.  Immediately my mind began thinking of so many things:  is something like that done just to be nice?  Or is there the hope that it maybe pays off good for you in the long run?  Would managers be as quick to give something like that away to a homeless person with no way of buying their next meal?  How often do people dress up like that just to pull a scam?  My last thought was about the priest himself:  did he even thank the Lord for something like that, or just brush it off as a really nice thing?  Was he thankful that God had just provided his next meal...completely for free?

And then it hit me...not only had the Lord provided for that priest's meal, He had provided for mine as well.  No, it wasn't given for free, but the money to pay for it...there's no doubt it came from Him.  The jobs Kade and I have that He uses to provide us money...those are from Him.  The fact that we have hands and arms that get the pizza to our mouths, and senses to taste and enjoy it...that's not my doing, or anyone else's.  It's from God.

Yet how often do I truly thank Him...even for pizza?  Oh Lord...don't let me lose sight of the fact that all I have is from You...and is such an evidence of Your grace.  Teach me what it means to acknowledge that in everything...even pizza.

Prepared beforehand...

How much of my life do I waste on tomorrow?  Everything about our mindset has us trained to live and to strive for what is to come....we let ourselves dwell on the future:  hopes, dreams, questions, aspirations...I spend so much time yearning for tomorrow and what is to come that I lose the joy and the beauty of where I am right now.

Think about it:  so much of life is geared toward this.  Just make it to the weekend, to Christmas break, to payday, to the time when I've finally paid off my debt, to that job promotion I've been waiting on, to my house looking the way I want, to the jeans size I thought I would never get to...I am constantly living in a place in time that has not yet arrived.  So then, why do I give up so much working for it, desiring it, waiting for it...?

I'm not saying it's wrong to have a mindset that wisely looks ahead: stocking up on groceries, making sure there is some money in case of an emergency, working towards a new home...but what is wrong--sinful even--is to be consumed with that time, rather than enjoying a sense of peace and contentment.

If I truly believe that my God is sovreign, holy, and perfect, I have to believe that where He has me at right now is also perfect and good.  Every moment is indeed His perfect work in us, teaching us, molding us, shaping us, transforming us to be more of an image-bearer of His glory.  Paul says that "we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." (Ephesians 2:4).  The beauty of where I am at right now is that it is perfectly designed, molded by my Creator, with a sovreign purpose.  Because of that, no dream of tomorrow--no matter how good--could be better.

Lord, let me see the beauty of Your work in me, right where I am...today.  Don't let me be deceived into thinking that I must always be pressing toward the next thing.  Teach me joy and contentment with what You have for me in this moment, and may it serve to transform me into a greater image of Your glory.  Thank you, Father, for Your perfect work in today.

My time in prison...

The majority of my time this weekend was spent in prison...

Together with about 65 other people, I trekked into the Clement's prison unit in Amarillo.  Our goal there was to bless with the love of Christ and to pass out a small gift:  a paper sack filled with an apple, an orange, a bar of soap, a bottle of shampoo, and a handful of peppermints.  How would you like to receive that for Christmas?  Believe me...it was worth gold...

You can't do something like that and not expect to be affected in some way.  I was...in every way.

Prison is nothing like what you see on the movies...it's grey, drab, and dreary.  It smells, the food is horrendous, you have nothing to do, and there's absolutely no privacy (unless you're in one of the super high security areas, and believe me, you don't want to be there...)  Even worse, you are slammed in the face every single second with the fact that you are bad, evil...no more than an "offender," less than a human being.  It's humiliating, degrading...and you can't escape it.  I cannot tell you how many men I watched try to wipe off their hand before they would shake mine...as if they had some vile disease of humanity that wasn't worthy of touch...I'm not saying that wrongs shouldn't be punished...and I know that some men there were guilty of some horrific wrongs...but beyond that, I was reminded of the fact that God never does that with me.  His grace and His love cover my sins with the weight of His glory...His sacrifice redeems me, and sanctifies me.  He promises to transform me...renew me...to make an image-bearer of His glory.  Oh God, thank you for Your grace!

Beyond that, my eyes were opened, and my heart humbled, so incredibly much.  As briefly as possible, I would love to share...

The humility of these men was astounding.  Never once did I hear any of the ones that I spent time with complain or gripe.  They held no bitterness about their situation or the bad treatment some of them got.  They humbly accepted it as their punishment, and bore it with grace.  God forgive me...how quick am I to gripe and complain the instant something doesn't go my way...expecting that I actually deserve that??

Beyond their humility, I was so blessed and challenged by the way they chose to completely GLORY in the Lord and fully rest in His sovreignty.  Over and over, they praised Him as good, as great, faithful and true.  So many of them had no doubt that He was in control (even when they were rejected for parole ten times...) and they loved Him regardless of their circumstances--simply because of who He is!

Oh Lord, what a challenge to me!  Teach me what it means to live with the same fervor and passion, to deeply rest in You as aboslutely sovreign, and to praise You in all things...

God, you are good...be with my brothers tonight.  May they know Your grace, peace, and love, even as they live in a place that is anything but...

But God...

I don't know that I have ever heard the gospel more clearly than in those two words.  They're everything:  purpose, hope, love, life...everything. 

I was reading this morning in Ephesians 2.  I had just finished chapter 1, which is full of hope in Christ, the promise of inheritance, and the beauty of redemption.  And then, in the very next chapter, the light and glory were gone (or, they seemed to be).  The first three verses tell me exactly what I am, and the picture is not very pretty.  I am guilty of sin, following after my own desires and wants, disobedient...it even goes so far to say that I was "dead" in my ways, that I was worthy of the very wrath of God...

Not exactly a feel good message is it?  It's not the kind of thing I like to hear, or even more, the kind of think I like to admit.  But I cannot deny it.  Try as I might, there is not good naturally within me.  I would be lying if I tried to believe there was.  Paul says that by my very nature, I deserve God's wrath, His anger, and I have no hope against it on my own, no matter what I do. 

And then, I kept reading...

The very next two words are everything...they bring joy and triumph, grace and hope.  In the midst of my hopelessness, my sin, and the deadness of my life, comes intervention..."But GOD...".  All of a sudden, the depth and darkness of all I am is covered with the light of His glory.  Divine intervention.  What I could not do, my God, my Savior, who is "rich in mercy" and who has a "great love, with which He loved us," makes a way.  The verses go on to say that HE, "even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us ALIVE together with Christ..." 

All of a sudden, hopelessness becomes hope...death becomes life...and the love of my Savior transforms me, a sinner who had chosen my own way, into an image bearer of His glory, as One who has a purpose, to make Him known, to delight in Him.

May the eyes of our heart be enlightened to know the hope to which He has called us...

...grace and peace...

...sovreign...

I never realized how much I like to be in control...until I came to the place where I was forced to surrender that "control" to the Lord.  I like feeling as if I have power over tomorrow...as if I have an effect on what is going to happen to me.  If you think about it, it doesn't really make sense to be that way, does it?

If my life is truly centered upon my God, if He alone is my delight, my hope, my expectancy, then to fight for control over my life, to fight to make much of myself rather than following the will of my Father, would be an absolute slap in the face of everything I believe.  If I cling to the words of Ephesians, that the Lord has chosen me "before the foundation of the world" (Ephesians 1:4) for a purpose, and that He alone "works all things according to the counsel of His will," (Eph. 1:11), then I must believe that His control over my life will lead to His glory, and my good.

Perfect words...words of truth and grace...words that spark hope and life.  Yet, they are not always the easiest to follow...:)  My prayer is that I will find myself resting so completely in the Lord's sovreignty that I am fully surrendered to His will and His ways--which is, without a doubt, the best place to be.

The Art of Thankfulness...

I'm trying to teach my first graders what Thanksgiving's all about...they get that it has the word "thanks" in it, and so they can somewhat understand that it has to do with being thankful...but part of me wonders if they really understand it beyond saying a quick thank you right before they grab their tray in the cafeteria, or right after I share some of my caramel popcorn with them (that usually gets a lot of thank yous...and one or, "You're the best teacher ever, Mrs. Wilcox!).  But then, do I really even understand what it means to truly be thankful?
I was reading yesterday in Psalm 108, and found myself richly challenged by the words there.  David says, "My heart is steadfast, oh God!  I will sing and make melody with all my being!"   He said his heart is steadfast...pretty bold talk if you think about all that steadfast means.  He's saying, "my heart is immovable, sure, solid, holding, not shaken, confident..."  Can I say those words about me?  Is my heart truly steadfast?  Can I say that I am solid, confident, unshaken, bold?  More often than not, I find myself up and down, completely parallel with my circumstance at any given moment.  I let myself be so easily affected by what is happening, what I feel...far from being steadfast...
Why could David so boldly proclaim such words?  Because they were true.  He had no doubt his heart was steadfast, because he had completely put his confidence in the Lord.  As you keep reading his words, he makes it very clear where his hope and expectation lie:  not in his own power or might, not in his people or his army, but in his GOD:  "With God we shall do valiantly; it is HE who will tread down our foes." (108:13).  David had chosen to rest in, delight in, and rejoice in who the Lord is and what He has done....rather than being affected by his circumstances.  He truly had "set his mind on the things above" (Colossians 3:1), and in doing so, had found a source of hope and praise that would never fail...
Oh Lord, teach me what it means to be humbly, deeply, abundantly thankful to You.  Don't let my praise to You be based upon how well things are going in a given moment...rather, let me cling to You and Your glory as life, as passion, and as delight...teach me what it means to rejoice always in You.