Let’s Not Miss Him
As we wind up our Christmas celebration and look toward the New Year, I think about the words to the following song. Bethlehem missed the Savior’s coming. Then Jerusalem missed the Savior’s work on the cross.
And us, here in America and around the globe? Will we miss His work in our lives and, one day, His coming? I sure hope not.
As you read these lyrics and look toward 2015, take a moment to awaken to His presence, His love, and His promise of eternity. Happy New Year, friends!
While You Were Sleeping
By Casting Crowns
Oh little town of Bethlehem
Looks like another silent night
Above your deep and dreamless sleep
A giant star lights up the sky
And while you’re lying in the dark
There shines an everlasting light
For the King has left His throne
And is sleeping in a manger tonight
Oh Bethlehem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
For God became a man
And stepped into your world today
Oh Bethlehem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping
Oh little town of Jerusalem
Looks like another silent night
The Father gave His only Son
The Way, the Truth, the Life had come
But there was no room for Him in the world He came to save
Jerusalem, what you have missed while you were sleeping
The Savior of the world is dying on your cross today
Jerusalem, you will go down in history
As a city with no room for its King
While you were sleeping
While you were sleeping
United States of America
Looks like another silent night
As we’re sung to sleep by philosophies
That save the trees and kill the children
And while we’re lying in the dark
There’s a shout heard ‘cross the eastern sky
For the Bridegroom has returned
And has carried His bride away in the night
America, what will we miss while we are sleeping
Will Jesus come again
And leave us slumbering where we lay
America, will we go down in history
As a nation with no room for its King
Will we be sleeping
Will we be sleeping
United States of America
Looks like another silent night
A Baby Changes Everything
It’s been a fun week with a two year old, a four year old, and an eight month old in the house. Our home is happy and busy, loud and cheery, and definitely full of life. Those three babies have changed everything in our house!
We’ve moved furniture and knickknacks. We baby proofed and put up gates. We added furniture and other small-child necessities.
Yet to think of Mary, a young teenage girl, and all the changes she went through when the Angel Gabriel announced she’d bear the Son of God? Well, that makes all the work I did getting ready for my grandgirls pale at the thought.
Mary was so young, unmarried, and scandalously unprepared for such a heavenly task. Yet God chose her. All her plans and dreams for a “normal” life no longer mattered. “Normal” would never again be Mary’s world. She had a higher calling in store for her.
And what about us? Do we strive for our lives to be “normal”? For our Christmas holiday to be “normal”? Why? He also chose us for a higher calling!
So this Christmas season, I want that Baby to change everything—everything about my day, my thoughts, my relationships, my heart. I want to be filled with the wonder of that Baby—Jesus! As you and I read the lyrics of this song, may that Baby change everything.
A Baby Changes Everything
by Faith Hill
Teenage girl, much too young
Unprepared for what’s to come
A baby changes everything
Not a ring on her hand
All her dreams and all her plans
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything
The man she loves she’s never touched
How will she keep his trust?
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything
And she cries!
Ooh, she cries
Ooh, oh
She has to leave, go far away
Heaven knows she can’t stay
A baby changes everything
She can feel He’s coming soon
There’s no place, there’s no room
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything
And she cries!
And she cries!
Oh, she cries
Shepherds all gather ’round
Up above the star shines down
A baby changes everything
Choir of angels sing
Glory to the newborn King
A baby changes everything
A baby changes everything
Everything, everything, everything
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
Hallelujah
My whole life has turned around
I was lost but now I’m found
A baby changes everything, yeah
A baby changes everything
Face-to-Face
In just a few days, my three adorable granddaughters will be coming for Christmas. It’s been over six months since I’ve held them and giggled with them and seen them face-to-face. And although Skype and texting keep us connected, the personal, skin-to-skin, eye-to-eye connection has no comparison.
As I anticipate their coming and get ready for their visit, I ponder the lyrics of Joy Williams’ song “Wish”. I, too, wish I could have seen Jesus as a tiny babe, had watched Him take His first steps, had heard His first words, and had enjoyed His giggle. And what about those “silent years” of Scripture from His birth to when He was twelve, and then the silence from twelve to thirty?
What was Jesus like as a teenager? As a young man? It must have been a wonderful to hold Him, to play with Him as a child, to be His neighbor, to see Him walk on water. Oh, how I wish I could’ve been there!
Yet, one day, we will see Him face-to-face, and all those tiny glimpses of His presence as we live on this earth will become nothing compared to how we will know Him—one day. May His presence be yours today and throughout this holiday season, and may you catch a glimpse of Him in the lyrics of this song, today, and every day.
Wish
By Joy Williams
For just a moment I wish I could have been there
to see your first step
to hear your very first word.
Tell me, did you ever fall and scrape your knee?
Did you know your wounds would one day heal the world?
For just one moment, I wish I could have seen you growing,
learning the ways of a carpenter’s son.
Just a little boy gazing at the stars.
Did you remember creating every one?
If you passed by would I see a child or a king
or would I have known?
[Chorus:]
I wish I could have been there
My only wish is to see you face to face.
I wish I could have been there
just to see you Jesus face to face.
For just one moment I wish I could have been there
when you left your footprints upon the waves.
To walk along beside you and never look away
just your whisper and the wind and sea obey.
To see you feed the people
to feel the healing in your touch.
I wish I could have been there.
[Chorus]
To hear you pray in the garden alone
laying down your will with each tear.
To see you walk that lonely road
willing to die for me.
And in that
moment I know I should have been there.
You took my cross and gave your life.
But you live again!
I wish I could have been there
I wish that I could have seen you rise again.
I wish I could have been there
My only wish is to see you face to face.
Someday I’ll be there
I’m gonna be there
I’ll see your face
your mercy and grace
someday
Someday I’m gonna see you Jesus face to face.
Love Came for Me
As I’ve been decorating and baby proofing my home in eager expectation of my daughter, son-in-law, and three sweet granddaughters coming all the way from South Africa, I crank the Christmas music and enjoy the season. But more than the touching and cheery tunes, I hear some profound lyrics in many of the songs of the season.
“Love Came for Me” by Shannon Wexelberg is one of those songs that touch me every time I hear it. It makes the Christmas season deeply person and puts Christmas into a 30,000-foot perspective that we all need to hear. Enjoy, and remember why He came.
Love Came for Me By Shannon Wexelberg
If You had not come, Tender baby King
And humbly left Your throne to reach someone like me
If You had not walked upon this broken ground
Where on earth would I be now?
If You had not come
If You had not come to seek the sick and lame
To set the captive free, to break the prisoners chains
I’d still be in the dark, grappling for the door
Longing for some way, somehow
Love came for me, Love rescued me
Love called my name, Love took my place
Sweet Lamb of God, I’m bowing down
My eyes have seen
I’m finally free
Love came for me
If You had not come, willing, spotless Lamb
My sin would be too much for You to take me as I am
But, oh, the blood of Christ that washes over me
Flowing from Your hands and feet
Don’t have to worry where I’d be
(repeat chorus)
This manger King
My everything
Love came for me
C/2010 Shanny Banny Music / BMI
The Adventure of Thankfulness
For the past few years I’ve been doing the “30 Days of Thankfulness” challenge, posting what I’m thankful for each day of November. Maybe next year you can join me in this adventure or at least the rest of this month? This simple exercise has had an interesting result—it brings the entire year into focus.
Somehow, intentionally taking a few minutes each day of the month of November to think about all I’m grateful for has put everything into perspective. Gone are the bah-humbug thoughts of sickness, frustrations, and let-downs I’ve endured these past twelve months—or at least lessened them.
I’m grateful for the little things. The beauty of the deer that are munching on my lilac bushes while I write this. The wonder of technology that allows me to sing and play and read and blow kisses to my granddaughters in far-away South Africa. The warmth of a nice home when it’s one degree outside! The colors of autumn, and the many friends I have through personal contact, church, work, Facebook, and this blog.
I recently read these ideas about thankfulness and thought it was inspiring. I hope it’s a blessing to you. Enjoy!
Be thankful that you don’t already have everything you desire,
If you did, what would there be to look forward to?
Be thankful when you don’t know something
For it gives you the opportunity to learn.
Be thankful for the difficult times.
During those times you grow.
Be thankful for your limitations
Because they give you opportunities for improvement.
Be thankful for each new challenge
Because it will build your strength and character.
Be thankful for your mistakes
They will teach you valuable lessons.
Be thankful when you’re tired and weary
Because it means you’ve made a difference.
It is easy to be thankful for the good things.
A life of rich fulfillment comes to those who are
also thankful for the setbacks.
GRATITUDE can turn a negative into a positive.
Find a way to be thankful for your troubles
and they can become your blessings.
—Author Unknown
Add to the Beauty
Sara Groves’ song, “Add to the Beauty” is one of my favorites. In many ways, it’s like an anthem declaring why I write. I want to add to the beauty of life through my words.
As writers, we do have beautiful secrets and purposes for our writing. We come to our computers every morning with amazing word possibilities. And through our words, we hope we can bring just a little bit of redemption’s story in their wake.
We all want to tell a better story and add to the beauty of life through the words we put down on paper or in a blog or on a FaceBook post or in a Tweet. They may be small inspirations, little words and phrases, and stories that help other feel loving community or worth or redemption.
So thanks, Sara, for giving us writers, friends, and fellow pilgrims on this journey a way to articulate what we do everyday.
How do you “add to the beauty”? I’d love to know!
“Add To The Beauty”
by Sara Groves
We come with beautiful secrets
We come with purposes written on our hearts, written on our souls
We come to every new morning
With possibilities only we can hold, that only we can hold
Redemption comes in strange place, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are
And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That’s burning up inside
It comes in small inspirations
It brings redemption to life and work
To our lives and our work
It comes in loving community
It comes in helping a soul find it’s worth
Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out the best of who we are
And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That’s burning up inside
This is grace, an invitation to be beautiful
This is grace, an invitation
Redemption comes in strange places, small spaces
Calling out our best
And I want to add to the beauty
To tell a better story
I want to shine with the light
That’s burning up inside