GETTING CLOSER

Can you believe this is the last day of November? I am not sure where the last few months have gone. Especially the last eight months. It seems like yesterday that --

Do you think this might be what Mary was thinking? Was she wondering, “How did I get from ‘Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee; blessed art thou among women.’ (Luke 1:28 KJV) to being very uncomfortable?”

Did she ever say, “God, could you tell your Son to lie still so I can sleep?”

Did she ever tell Joseph, “There is no way this delivery is so near. And now we have to go to Bethlehem. I think that ole Caesar Augustus called for this new tax just to add to my stress level!”?

Wouldn’t you just love to sit down with Mary and ask her questions?

• What was your first thought when the angel Gabriel appeared?
• Did you question at all?
• Did you wonder, “Why me?”
• Were you scared?
• Did you gently touch your belly when Elisabeth called your baby “blessed”?
• How did you tell your parents and how did they react?
• Did you hug Joseph when he told you an angel had visited him?
• How did it feel when the Son of God moved inside you?

From experience, I can tell you that the first eight months of a pregnancy goes by very quickly. The last month is an eternity. You are uncomfortable. It is hard to stand up. It is hard to lie down. And there are still meals to cook, dust to redistribute, shopping to be done, a suitcase to pack and family members that believe they are still entitled to their fair share of attention. The last month --- HELP!!!

How did Mary feel?

SCRIPTURE: Luke 1:46-49 (KJV)

And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord. And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he hath regarded the low estate of his hand maiden; for behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.

AND NOW

As you are preparing for Christmas, put yourself in Mary’s place? Yes, men. This means you too. Stop and really think about Mary. Young. Pregnant. Just a few weeks from delivery.

What do you think she was thinking? Feeling? Praying?

LET US PRAY (Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.)

Dear Jesus, I am preparing for Christmas. I am preparing to celebrate your birth. I pray that as I shop, as I cook, as I work, as I rest, I will not forget why I am doing all of this. . . . . Amen

INVITING YOU IN

Last week I wrote about how, when reading a book, a sentence could just jump right off the pages into your imagination. This can happen during a movie too.

Reluctant to step out from behind the wall she had built around herself, the woman turned to the man and said, “Are you inviting me out?”

The man looked her in the eyes and said, “No. I am inviting you in.”

Now what woman wouldn’t just swoon at those words? And, of course, she said yes. The movie ended, in typical Christmas season style, and they kissed.

Think about that concept: I am inviting you in.

SCRIPTURES

encouraging, comforting and urging you to live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and glory. 1 Thessalonians 2:12

I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection Philippians 3: first part of verse 10

AND NOW

Have you heard God quietly call you into His kingdom and glory? Have you told Christ that you want to know Him?

Being on the outside is not what God wants for you. He is inviting you IN ! ! ! !

LET US PRAY (Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.)

O Lord, I accept Your invitation into your kingdom and glory. I want to know You and I invite you to be in my life. Amen

IT’S ONLY WORDS - REALLY?

I love to read and am thrilled when a picture jumps out from the pages.

Jack Reacher, in Lee Child’s The Affair, was riding on a bus. “The bus ride was magnificent, in its way. Not a radical distance, no more than a small portion of the giant continent, no more than an inch on a one-page map, but it took six hours.”

Are you ready? The next sentence made my imagination jump. “The view out the window changed so slowly it seemed never to change at all, but even so the landscape at the end of the journey was very different than at the beginning.”

OH MY GOSH! Can you say: Description of life? Day by day, our lives don’t seem so different. Get up. Get dressed. Go to work/work at home. Eat supper. Watch the same show we watched the week before. Go to bed. Get up.----- And it starts all over again. Each day a repeat of the day before.

It’s funny but we don’t notice the slight differences. A day is less than an inch on our travel through life. But one day, we realize our lives have changed. We realize our hair is grey. When did that happen? We realize our children have grown up. When did that happen? We realize those people we went to school with are old. When did that happen? One day we realize we are at a different place than where we began. And we wonder, “When did that happen?”

Have you read The Shack? I have, at least three times. C. Baxter Kruger, Ph.D. has written The Shack Revisited. Dr. Kruger tells about being twelve years old, lost and separated from his parents after a football game in New Orleans. He took the trolley, trying to find where they had parked the car. The streetcar made a complete roundtrip and the driver said, “Son, we have made the circuit. What do you want to do?”

Dr. Kruger called this the “Scared to Death” streetcar. “We don’t know who we are or why we are here, or what’s going to happen next.” OH MY GOSH! Been there, done that.

How often do we get lost and just don’t know what to do? Some give up. Some sleep. Some stay busy. Some pretend. But we are scared. We keep “looking out the trolley window hoping to see something that will give us a hint of home, of hope, of peace.”

Yes, I just love it when words jump off the page and into my imagination, into my heart, into my soul.

AND NOW

Read a book. Find those special words that stir your very soul and cause your imagination to soar. Soak them in.

Read the Bible. God has filled it with images that will cause your imagination to explode and open your eyes to wonders that were hidden.

Imagine this: Isaiah 6:1 -3-- I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him were seraphs, each with six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling to one another: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.”

Read the Bible. God has filled it with special words that will not only stir your soul, but save it.

Hold onto these words. John 3:16 -- For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

LET US PRAY (Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.)

Lord Almighty, I can close my eyes and see your robe flowing from heaven, to my feet. I can hear the seraphs calling, “Holy, holy, holy.” I read that you gave Your Son for me and humbly accept this gift of eternal life. Amen

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME

Greetings,

If you are looking for a new post, you won’t find one today.  My birthday was Wednesday.  Then had some mommy/daughter time.  So, no ne post. 

Have a blessed week,

Mary—now another year older. 

IS THAT WITH A “K”, “Y” OR “IE”?

When we first started attending a new church, I discovered something. There were already two ladies named Mary. No problem. One was always called Mary. One was called Mary with addition of her middle name. That left me with Mary plus my last name.

We have more than one Barbara and more than one Joyce. At least three Debs. Sometimes you have to clarify which Barbara or Joyce or Deb, but, 30 some years later; people still use my full name. It has become an “inside” joke.

But names can be confusing and I think those with name of Cathy cause us the most trouble. There is a Cathy. Two that spell their names Kathy. Also a Cathie. Plus one Cathlyn who goes by Cathy. Making sure you have the spelling correct can be quite a challenge.

I think I got to thinking about names, because in five days, I celebrate another birthday. Number 66! So 66 years ago, my mother gave me a name.

SCRIPTURE: PSALM 139:13-4, 16

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb, I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.

WOW!! God made me. He wrote about me in His book. That means God knows how to spell my name. He doesn’t need a middle name. Or a last name. And He knows just how to spell each and every Cathy/Kathy/Cathie. Now doesn’t that just make you grin from ear to ear?

God! The creator of the universe knows me. Knows you. And He wrote about us in His book.

AND NOW

How does it feel to know that God cares so much for you that He knows your name? That He made you and that you are fearfully and wonderfully made?

LET US PRAY (Please use this as a beginning of your prayer. Finish in your own words, words from your heart.)

God, You know my name. You made me. You consider me wonderful. You wrote about me in Your book. Thank you. Amen