Celebrating Christmas All Year

Posted on February 4, 2019 by Wendy

Pine needles still show up in the strangest places reminding me that Christmas is always with us.

As I write this, Christmas is over. The tree has been taken down, the decorations put away and the New Year has been rung in. It’s already February.

It amazes me how back in November, people were putting their trees up even before Thanksgiving, proclaiming it their favorite time of the year. Gorgeous pictures of Christmas trees crowded my Facebook feed. We couldn’t wait to celebrate Christmas. But, by New Year’s everything is put up and packed away, as if it never even happened.

Humanity has always had a super short attention span.

I’ll have to admit, I always take my Christmas tree down before New Year’s Eve. As much as I enjoy the tree, I long for my regular space back. But, this year, we put up a real tree for the first time, instead of the artificial pre-lit deal. It was an experiment of sorts for our family.

All my life, I have heard complaints about real trees shedding and I didn’t really notice much, until we took it down. Even though we swept and vacuumed repeatedly, little green needles continue to show up in the strangest places. I have discovered them in rooms all over the house when the tree was only in the family room. I have even found them on the stairs.

Who knows how they got there?

Interestingly enough, my vacuum cleaner won’t pick them up unless I use the hose. I have to reach down and pick it up myself and every time I find one I feel a nudge reminding me that Christmas is never really over even though the decorations are gone.

The true heart of Christmas is about the birth of a savior and the birth of hope and light for a dark world in deep need of Him. While the gifts have been exchanged and the calendar quickly moves on, the gift of salvation remains. The retailers might be telling us it’s time for Valentine’s day and the radio stations have stopped playing Christmas music, but our souls need to remember that hope and light remain with us everyday, all year long.

That truth alone, is reason to celebrate every single day we wake up. Some stray pine needles reminded me that the meaning of Christmas really doesn’t have a date, even though humanity would like to give it one. It’s much too big and wonderful to be confined to a single day or even a single place. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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Christmas Writing Break

Posted on December 10, 2018 by Wendy

My daughter is home from college for Christmas break. My son will be out of high school in another week for his break. My hubby and I have two Christmas functions to attend after work this week. The hustle and bustle has definitely been taken up a notch for me. In an effort to enjoy every minute of this Advent season, I need to be very intentional with my time, so I’m taking a writing break until January. I can’t wait to see how God will show Himself in the details of this season and I look forward to meeting you back here in January to share. I hope you and your family have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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Seeking the Light

Posted on December 7, 2018 by Wendy

Christmas is coming!

As I sit typing this post, it’s pitch black dark outside and really cold. It’s supposed to drop into the twenties tonight. I feel exhausted from a busy day. My body feels like it could be close to midnight, yet it’s barely 7:00.

I am reminded of a conversation I had with a dear old friend at church on Sunday. I hadn’t seen him in a while and we were catching up. He has recently retired and I told him I had been praying for him. He thanked me and asked me to keep praying. He told me he was keeping busy, but really struggled this time of year with the dark, and lately, rainy days. I nodded in agreement and assured him I would.

Tonight, sitting at my keyboard, I agree with him. I much prefer to write in the daylight with sun shining brightly through my windows. It’s so easy to see God, in the chirping birds and blooming flowers, or even in the fall foliage.

It’s sometimes much harder to find Him in the darkness.

There’s actually something called Seasonal Affective Disorder, where people become moody and depressed during seasons with less light. Our physical bodies and minds instinctively crave the light.

I find it beautifully symbolic that the days grow shorter and shorter, the closer we get to Christmas. It’s as if the earth itself is groaning for the light that we are readying our hearts to celebrate. On December 21st, we experience the shortest day of the year and after that, the days begin to lengthen little by little.

Then, just three days after that longest night of the year On December 24th, we celebrate the light from heaven that came to earth to change the fate of mankind forever. Thanks to that baby, we never have to walk in spiritual darkness again.

Maybe it’s just a coincidence that it was also three days between that dark Friday and the glory of Easter morning…

As I ponder these coincidences and the power, goodness, and timing of God, I glance over at my dogs who are always at my side when I write. They don’t carry watches around and they don’t seem to care whether the sun is shining or it’s the dark of night. They like to be near me.

I smile as I’m reminded that we worship a God who is also by our side, rain or shine, day or night. He likes for us to be near Him. When we search for Him we will always find Him even in the darkest of circumstances. After all, He is the light.

So, let’s all take a deep hopeful breath and remember that the darkness never wins. Christmas is coming soon. Hallelujah!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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Growing in Faith

Posted on December 5, 2018 by Wendy

Faith teaches us that we have nothing to fear.

Yesterday, a little girl came into the school clinic. Her mouth was bleeding and she was a little panicked. Our nurse had stepped out, so I did a little triage. I asked her if she had lost a tooth and she said no. I gave her a cup of water to rinse her mouth out, so I could get a clearer look.

She rinsed and I took a look. There was a baby tooth that was the source of the bleeding. I asked her if it was loose and she told me that it started bleeding when she bit into an apple. All of the pieces fell together and I assured her that all was well, that her tooth was bleeding because it would soon come out and that she didn’t need to worry.

She looked like she wasn’t sure she believed me, but she took a tissue with her and went back to lunch.

It wasn’t long before she came back in grinning, with a tiny tooth in her hand. This time the nurse was in the clinic, but she stopped by my desk to show me. We talked about the tooth fairy coming to visit. She got a bag from the nurse to keep it in and she was on her way, much happier than she had been when she came in the first time.

I thought about that little girl on my drive home. I thought about how she panicked when she saw blood and how she wasn’t so sure that I knew what I was talking about. How could something bad like blood in her mouth, mean something good was about to happen?

Sure, I knew what was coming, because I’m older and I’ve been there, but how often have I panicked myself, when something was different than I thought it should be?

Things that we consider bad, happen to us all of the time, the job we didn’t get, that we wanted so badly, the relationship that didn’t work, even thought we gave it all we had, that no, that we wanted so desperately to be a yes, can all seem devastating at the time.

Yet, the passage of time, coupled with age, allows us to look back and more often than not, see all those “bad,” things were actually good and led us to a better place, or a better situation, or even better people.

The longer we walk with God, the more we come to realize there’s always a plan and that He’s always in control. There’s a peace that comes from knowing and believing that since He’s got it, we simply don’t need to worry about what comes next.

We’re really no different than the little girl and her tooth. We don’t have to panic because something good is in the works. We call that faith.

Sometimes I need reminding. Perhaps you do too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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The Candle of Hope

Posted on December 3, 2018 by Wendy

Our hope in Christmas is so much more that anything we can buy or create ourselves.

Yesterday at church, we celebrated the first Sunday of Advent, which marks the beginning of the period when we expectantly wait for the birth of Christ. Every Sunday until Christmas, someone will light a new candle and read some Scripture and then say a prayer. The Church takes the opportunity to prepare our hearts for Christmas.

As Christians, Advent reminds us to prepare for Christmas in a different way than the secular world prepares. It’s a thoughtful time of reflection that doesn’t require us to spend any money or to do any physical running around at all. I remember when my children were little and we were asked to light a candle, we would talk it over several times before we actually did it and everyone was a little nervous.

Yesterday, a sweet couple had been asked to light the first candle of the season. I always admire how polished they are each Sunday. They usually look like they stepped out of a clothing advertisement. After the husband read, the wife went to light the candle and the lighter didn’t light. After several attempts, she looked up at the congregation and told us they had practiced. The pastor stepped in and she couldn’t light it either and she finally passed it to the husband who had no better luck.

There was some laughter in the congregation at that point. But, then another parishioner handed the wife a different lighter and she lit the candle. The entire congregation erupted in cheers and clapping. The husband then said a prayer and they returned to their seats.

Although I’m sure that couple would have never chosen to have their technical difficulties, I ended up thinking about the Advent lighting much longer than I usually do.

I thought about how we often lose the meaning of the season when we are intent on creating the perfect Christmas. We live in a broken world. Our children or other loved ones, sometimes get sick at Christmas, or the turkey turns out dry, or the picture perfect cake didn’t turn out like we hoped, or finances are strained, or relationships are strained.

Perfection does not exist on this side of Eternity no matter what our friends at Pinterest or Facebook would like for us to believe. We will often fall short of the world’s ideal picture because sometimes no matter what our preparation was, the lighter just won’t light.

As Christians, Advent calls us to remember that we are in this world, but not of it and when we struggle and overcome, Heaven cheers for us, just like our congregation did for that couple. We are preparing for the One who overcame it all.

The first candle lit in Advent was for Hope. Our hope is something so much better than anything we could buy or create ourselves, this Christmas season. An advent candle mishap, reminded me. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Categories: Building Christian Character, Christmas | Comments Off on The Candle of Hope

Table and Chairs Lessons

Posted on November 30, 2018 by Wendy

If this was my first project, I might have given up.

This past summer, I refinished several pieces of furniture for my daughter’s college apartment. I found that I really like creating with my hands and that there’s something incredibly rewarding about bringing new life to something just sitting in storage and gathering dust.

One of my daughter’s roommates decided to move out and another girl is moving in, so they needed a table. Naturally, I knew right where one was. It was sitting in my parents’ barn just waiting for me to give it new life. I gleefully went with my hubby in the freezing cold to pick it up.

It’s interesting that this particular project happened to be last of the apartment projects. First of all, it was a table and six chairs. It took up a lot of space and a lot of time. Secondly, all of my other projects were done during the summer. There was lots of light and I could store everything in the garage.

This time, most of it had to be done in the house and I didn’t have much light to work with. I had to step over or around chairs for weeks. To top it off, most of it wasn’t solid; it was veneer which is particularly difficult to work with. The chairs and base took a primer coat and three coats of paint. The top had to be sanded carefully, yet repeatedly and took several coats of stain as well as polyurethane.

If this would have been my first project, I might have given up. I might not have even tried all of the other ones out of sheer frustration, but it wasn’t my first. I had created and seen too many before and afters and I was simply too stubborn to give up.

In the end, it turned out just fine. My daughter was happy and she and her roomies have a place to gather to eat, or talk, or work on projects that require them to spread out.

I don’t know what it is about a kitchen table that calls us to sit and stay a while. There are far more comfortable places to sit in most homes, yet time and time again, I have found myself sitting either at my own kitchen table with friends and family or at someone else’s.

What is it about a kitchen table that calls us to sit and stay a while?

My table adventure reminded me that everything we do in life, is preparing us for the next step, the next project, the next calling. It’s part of the Divine Design. God always has a plan and is always working even when we can’t see Him. Nothing is by chance and nothing is trivial. We don’t have to know how it will turn out because He does. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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Christmas Tree Adventures

Posted on November 28, 2018 by Wendy

Every chapter in our lives has a beauty all its own.

On Thanksgiving Day, after the meal was eaten and the dishes were put away, my mama and I were sitting at the kitchen table, looking at the pictures we had taken. We were appreciating a little break after a day of cooking, when my college student came in and announced that she, her brother and her daddy, were going out to find a Christmas tree and asked if we wanted to go.

I had serious doubts about the success of this venture, but I was game and so was Mama. We piled up into the truck, found some Christmas music and away we went. We did eventually find a tree, but we couldn’t find a tree stand, and no one was willing to brave the Walmart madness. We went to six places from one end of town to the other and eventually gave up and went home.

But, we had fun and we made some new memories.

We did go the next day and picked out a tree and a stand. We have always used an artificial one, so this was an entirely new experience for us. When we began decorating, my daughter decided we needed a new garland, so she and Mama and I, pulled up Pinterest and got some ideas. Then we grabbed my son, and we piled into my car, turned on the Christmas music and went to Hobby Lobby. It was complete Black Friday chaos, which I usually avoid at all costs,but we got in and out without a scratch and a couple of rolls of ribbon.

Once again, we made some new memories.

We got home and my daughter and I, finished decorating our new real tree, with our new garland. We laughed a lot and my son threw in his two cents worth from time to time and we made more memories.

I share this story because my son is a senior in high school and my daughter attends college a few hours away from home. This time next year, my hubby and I will be empty nesters. Gone are the days of little ones and milk and cookies left for Santa. Those days were fun and magical, to be sure.

But, this chapter is turning out to be fun as well. We can be more spontaneous and there are no bed times. We can start new traditions. I get opinions from my mostly grown kids on things like garland and I have to say, I’m enjoying the input.

My family Christmas tree adventure, reminded me that every chapter in our lives has a beauty and magic all its own. Looking back can be fun, but longing for the past robs us of the present and there are still so many memories to make. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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Celebrating Anne

Posted on November 26, 2018 by Wendy

The love and kindness we share, remain long after we are gone.

The Sunday before Thanksgiving, I attended a funeral. It was for one of the most influential women in my faith walk. Her name was Anne. She came in every Sunday morning, when I was a child, carrying a black flannel board and little cut out paper characters to introduce a new Bible story.

She began each Sunday morning with songs, that are forever etched into my heart. One of her daughters would play the piano and we would sing, “This Little Light of Mine,” or “Jesus Loves Me,” or “Deep and Wide,” or “Zacchaeus Was a Wee Little Man,” or “Joy, Joy, Joy, Down in My Heart,” (she would always pause during that one and ask us where and we would loudly sing it back.”

She taught kindergarten and she happily used her gifts, week after week, and year after year, to teach Sunday School as well as Vacation Bible School. I don’t think she ever had to be asked, she just did.

She taught me and my sister, and there’s no telling how many other children over the years, about the Bible giants. I have vivid memories of Jonah and the Whale, Noah, Joseph, Moses, Paul and of course Jesus, and countless others, marching across that black felt board.

She laid a foundation that would one day encourage me to dig deeper and learn more about God’s Word. She was a seed planter.

There was another lady in that tiny country church, who was also as influential for me as Anne was and she went home years ago to be with Jesus. She was definitely a Martha. As I was praying for comfort for Anne’s family, God reminded me that my sweet Anne was a Mary, spending countless hours at the feet of Jesus and then sharing what she learned with everyone around her in the kindest, gentlest way possible.

My daily devotion two days later just happened to be about those two sisters and I was reminded how both are needed to do Kingdom work. My personal faith walk was influenced by women with both of those gifts and I learned so much from them both.

From one, I was encouraged to plan and direct Vacation Bible School for almost ten years. From the other, I was encouraged to dig into the Bible and write about and share Jesus with others.

As I stood at Anne’s graveside, the day was spectacularly beautiful. The sky was a brilliant blue and the temperature had risen to close to seventy. It was as if nature was rejoicing that she had moved onto a better place, out of the sickness and pain where she had been.

I’ve no doubt, heaven was rejoicing at the addition of a new saint and I’m sure she heard the words: “Well done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful in a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” Matthew 25:21

Remembering Anne reminded me that we should keep planting and using our gifts, whatever they may be. We just never know what might take root. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Categories: Biblical Wisdom, Building Christian Character | 6 Comments

Happy Thanksgiving!

Posted on November 19, 2018 by Wendy

My daughter is home from college for Thanksgiving this week. My senior is off this week as well. I’m taking this week off to spend as much family time as possible, so I won’t be posting anything. I hope you find this holiday full of things to be thankful for. Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

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Advent Kindness

Posted on November 16, 2018 by Wendy

Sometimes the simplest kindness can inspire others to do the same.

Yesterday was a really busy day at the school where I work. It was our annual Thanksgiving Feast celebration and we had close to a thousand people signed up to come and eat. There were people checking in and out all day long with very little down time.

On top of that, it had been a long week. It had rained all week long, pouring rain, and we had flash flood watches and river flooding watches. I hadn’t seen the sun in days. By Thursday, I really just longed to be home on my couch, underneath a blanket.

On that previous Sunday, when we returned from church, there had been a gift leaning up against my garage door. It was an Advent Calendar with a big Santa Clause on it. I knew immediately who it was from, but I wondered how it got there.

An elderly widow lived across the street from us from the time we bought our house until last summer, when she announced to us she was moving into a retirement community. She had shared with that me she was lonely and she was ready to move. She told me with a twinkle in her eye that she had heard that place was just like living in a sorority house. I was so sad to see her go, but really happy for her.

She bought my kids Advent Calendars our very first Christmas in our new home and continued every year well into their teenage years. I hadn’t thought much about this year until I saw it and the card she included brought tears to my eyes. She said she thought my son might enjoy one last Advent Calendar before he went off to college.

Her thoughtfulness and kindness really touched my heart and I gave thanks for her influence on my childrens’ lives. She certainly didn’t have to be so kind to them, but she always was. She was an inspiration to me and I prayed that God would show me opportunities to show kindness to others when I didn’t have to.

Yesterday, at the end of the day, I walked down to a classroom to get some kiddos to check out. The office was packed and there were some classes in transition and I was grateful for the escape. I walked purposefully to my destination holding a radio in my hand and after I found the teacher, I headed back.

But, as I headed towards the office, a kindergartener stopped me. She was at the water fountain trying to fill her water bottle. She asked me if I could loosen the top for her. That Advent Calendar blazed across my mind as a teacher came down the hall and offered to help her. I smiled, put the walkie underneath my arm and told her that was okay, I loosened the top and handed it back to her. The little girl beamed and thanked me as she walked back to the fountain.

God has often spoken to me through children. I think they are sometimes beacons for Jesus. It didn’t occur to the little girl that I was tired, or in a hurry, or that I had something in my hand. She was thirsty and she needed assistance, so she asked and I was given the opportunity that I had prayed for.

I was humbled and thankful. A little girl and an Advent Calendar reminded me that as we travel through Thanksgiving and head towards Advent that our aching world is filled with opportunities to be kind, and that if we prayerfully keep watch, God will show us the way. Perhaps you needed reminding too.

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂

Categories: Building Christian Character, Holidays, Watching for God | Comments Off on Advent Kindness