What Christmas is all about

In all the different times I have heard "The Christmas Story" this is by far my favorite. Simple, to the point. The complete passage can be found in Luke 2  At Luke 2:10 the angel states "Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all the people." 

ALL

THE

PEOPLE

Everyone.  Not just a few, not just one or two, but for ALL PEOPLE.  That's one of the things I love about my Jesus.  He is an equal opportunity Savior.  Not based on skin color, height, weight, hair color, eye color, politcal or economic views.  All based on your heart.

I pray your heart is filled with the love and joy that today holds and if I could give you one gift it would be that every day would be Christmas for everyone.  Think how much better the world would be if we celebrated Jesus every day. 

Happy Birthday to my Lord and Savior.  Thank you for giving us the most important gift of all, You. 

Merry Christmas everyone.

Coffee Talk Week 2

I’ve been a bit busy this week, you know that whole Christmas thing, well, actually, I don’t HAVE to do anything and Christmas will come but there are so many expectations that I feel like I have to meet. My WH even said that he was actually getting to the point that he dreads Christmas, not because of what it means (the celebration of the birth of our Jesus) but what it has turned into.

I’ll be honest, I have had very little time to spend with my Lord this week and I am really feeling the impact of it. Last night we had our Coffee Talk and I had been attempting to read my chapter for the past week and with frequent starts and stops. I finally was able to absorb some of it. I realize now why Satan really didn’t want me to read this particular chapter because it helped open up eyes to how to hear from God. Do you hear from God, do you recognize His still small voice?

We played a little game last night. I had asked two of my girlfriends who didn’t know each other very well to participate and they were willing (I wonder if they will do that again?). I had seen my pastor at C3 do this before but I sorta tweaked it a bit.

I blindfolded one and then set up an obstacle course. The other volunteer stood mid-way down my walkway and guided the “blind” through the path. However, the rest of us stood around screaming out opposite instructions. The one who was blindfolded was not really familiar with the person’s voice that she was supposed to be listening for and she had to really focus and concentrate to hear her voice over the screaming around her. Once she made it through my impromptu obstacle course, (water bottles and candle luminaries) she removed her blindfold. She shared how she had to really focus on the voice of the one that she was to listen to. That it was distracting and hard to concentrate with all the other noise going on around her. Do you see where I am going here? How often do we get distracted by all the voices? How does our crazy pace make it hard to hear when God calls our name?

The second chapter in “What Happens When Women Say Yes to God” talks about discerning God’s voice and how to know if what you are hearing is God’s voice. But you have to be able to quiet the noise of all the other voices around you so that you can hear His voice. I haven’t been able to do that very well this past week and the lack of time with Him has shown up in all aspects of my walk. Feelings of being overwhelmed, the disorganization, inadvertent shortened conversations (sorry Renee), and a short temper has my life feeling like it is spinning like a top and I’m just holding on. I had to stop the spinning and get on my knees. I had to shut off the music, shut down the computer, put away all the lists and turn off the phone and be quiet.

Being quiet for me is difficult (those that know me are nodding their heads right now). That was the other challenge for me from this week’s chapter. It is only logical that in order to have a relationship with anyone that yes, you talk, but it is important that you stop talking and listen. I get so excited about God and the changes He has made in my life that once the mouth starts going, it’s hard to shut it up. Well, my heavenly Father loves to hear my praise, I know that but my heavenly Father has all the answers to my questions and wants to hear my prayers. He’s just waiting. But if I come to Him in a hurry, frantic pace, rushed and inattentive, and am not willing to hush and listen, I am like a young child who runs to her father crying with a problem and then runs out before he can fix it.

I have to stop. Completely and totally stop. Take a deep breath and bring Him the needs of my heart and then I have to wait. To be quiet and listen and slow down so that He can fill me up with His love, guide me with His direction, and replenish my waning energy with His power. It’s all there, I know that, but I keep running by it full tilt, mouth on fast forward. How about we all slow down, grab a cup of decaf (cause I certainly don’t need any more stimulation) and just listen for His still small voice.

My wonderful, patient, heavenly Father,
I want to hear you, I want to know you and I want to know that I am following your instructions in every aspect of my life. Help me to turn off all the distractions and the noise in my life, and the distractions and the noise in my mind, so that my soul can receive the peace, beauty and stillness that I long for. Amen.

FIVE DAYS UNTIL CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!

Sunday, December 20, 2009.

Contest business: The winner of the I-Tunes gift card was…

Leslie Pennington!

Leslie if you will email me at leigh at leighfrance dot com I will get that in the mail to you this week. I promise it will get there before my Christmas card does. Thanks to everyone who signed up to follow my blog. Will have more contest just for my “followers” throughout the coming year. LOL, membership has its privileges.

Five days until Christmas and my list of things to do is feels like it’s longer then Santa’s and I will certainly be checking it more then twice to make sure I get everything taken care of this week.

Each year I tell myself, “Self, you need to start Christmas shopping in January, you need to put aside a certain amount of money each paycheck, you need to take a family picture in August so you can send out Christmas cards, etc...” And every Christmas I still find myself scrambling to know what to buy, never getting out Christmas cards, and getting bogged down, overwhelmed and frustrated during what should be a time of joy, praise, thanksgiving, and celebration.

This morning I am making out two lists. I will be listing the things I need to get done by Friday and asking WH and DD to help where they can, but my second list will be something I can do daily with my family or alone.

To think about this week for Mary and Joseph and what it meant to them. To imagine what they were experiencing 2,000 years ago this week. There was no Christmas. But there was a journey, a young woman traveling on a donkey. A woman who was very pregnant and far away from home. Far away from her mother and other women to help her. A woman who would deliver the Savior.

In the song, “Mary Did You Know,” the most powerful lyric to me is, “Mary did you know that the child that you delivered would soon deliver you?”



I don’t believe that Mary or Joseph had any idea of what was to come. If you knew what God’s ultimate plan was for your life do you think you could wrap your head around it? I know I never thought 10 years ago, 5 years ago, even 1 year ago I would be doing what I am now for my God.

I am going to make my two lists and become very intentional with making sure Christ is at the beginning, middle and end of every single day. I will go look at Christmas lights and remember the light of the world that came down and how the beauty of a Christmas tree will pale beside the light of my Jesus.

I will wrap my gifts and pray for each person that will receive it that not only will they know how much I care for them, but also that the gift I have given them pales in comparison to the gift from our heavenly Father.

I will slow down, way down, and realize that satan would love nothing more then for me to rush through all this and miss the real meaning. A birthday is a celebration and a chance to show love and appreciation to someone. But with Jesus’ birth a life was begun that became a gift beyond compare. Love came down and walked among men.

So, Mary did you know and my friend, do you know as well what the true meaning of this week. How are you going to slow down this week? What are you going to do? I would love to hear from you and in case I forget it on the list, have a wonderful and wonder filled Merry Christmas.