gift | THE WORM IN MY APPLE

Crop of original painting “Anbetung der Hirten” (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

(For those of you who follow both my blogs, I’m posting this to both of them today. I don’t usually do this, but I felt it as appropriate to both.)

I’m just getting ready to spend some quiet time with God but I wanted to post before the day gets beyond me.

I don’t know about you but the closer I get to Christmas the more I think of all those projects I wanted to complete but didn’t. All those Pinterest DIY’s that beckon me and awake my creative juices. Making presents for the people in my life is one of the highlights of Christmas for me.

This year it was flannel plaid infinity scarves for the women. It was jute wrapped bottles with the word, “love” spelled out in separate letters on each bottle. It was adorable “HO, HO, HO,” wall :”thingees” I made for friends. Yes, I took pics but honestly doubt I’ll get them posted. I don’t know how everyone is posting Christmas tours of their homes. I have to say mine is beautifully decorated. It’s an old, old house so it lends itself to Christmas anyway. In fact it was during the Holidays that we decided to buy it. But whether you ever see the pics is in question at the moment. But I certainly enjoy those pictures that others have posted. Makes me feel I know them.

I’m winding down now knowing that many of the things I wanted to do aren’t going to get accomplished. But I’m OK with that.

Mary and Joseph were only thinking of one thing, the birth of their Son. That’s what I’m concentrating on today. How the birth of Jesus is meant to impact my life and how I relate to others.

Does Christ make a difference in my life or not?

So today I take time from a very busy day and reflect on a birth I don’t understand. I mean, seriously, a virgin birth? And yet I believe. And what amazes me at this very moment, even as I write, is that if I can believe something as “out-of-box” as a virgin birth, why do I question God in other areas?

Why do I ever question He hears AND answers my prayers? Why do I ever question He can perform miracles. Honestly, until I started writing today, I never made that connection What an unexpected gift of insight I’ve just been given.

Some will scoff at my beliefs. It doesn’t matter. Belief and faith are intensely private and personal. Besides, everyone operates from a belief in something. Everyone.

The Gift of Christmas (4mygodsglory.wordpress.com)
An Unexpected Gift (zechariah74.wordpress.com)
The Exchange (twrightloveblog.wordpress.com)
Unexpected Gifts (fancenance.wordpress.com)

christmas 2007 (Photo credit: paparutzi)

a quiet journey

Ugh. The flu bug has struck our home. I hate being sick but being sick at this time of year-OMG.

I was already behind due to the renovation and my mom’s care. I’m trying to convince myself I’ve been this far behind before during the Christmas season but I know it’s never been this bad. The truth is I’m one of those annoying people who’ve always been able to brag about being done with my shopping and wrapping by Thanksgiving. Seriously. By this time I’ve made and froze what cookie dough can be prepared this way in preparation for an all-day baking marathon later in the month. All the Christmas decorations would have been artfully displayed the week after Thanksgiving.

This year, the tree sits unadorned. The boxes and boxes of Christmas ornaments are still tucked away in their beds apparently for a long winter’s nap. Many gifts are yet to be purchased and those I have bought are yet to be wrapped. I haven’t even made out my master list of who is getting what and how much I’ve spent. Oh, and I forgot to mention all the homemade gifts I like to make. I should be panicking but I’m not. I tell myself that I always get it all done. I’m not so sure this year though.

I was just starting to get my footing when the flu bug bit. I remember little of it as I spiked a high temp and slept away a whole day. So now I’m even further behind. But here’s the thing. It’s o.k. It really is. (Maybe I’ve been too sick to panic. J)

I think not though. I think maybe I’ve finally realized that Christmas is not only a time to give gifts, it IS a gift. The season itself, I mean. It is the gift of serenity. The serenity that comes from knowing there is another story being played out in the “heavenlies”, a story that is so much bigger than me and my flu and obsessing about how I don’t have twenty-four hours to spare to be sick. But now I’m reminded that I don’t have the control over things I think I have. Things happen. The Christmas season can get interrupted for all kinds of reasons-some of our own making, some outside our control. Like the flu.

I’ve been thinking about how “quite” was the journey that Mary and Joseph took to Bethlehem. The whispered conversations they must have had as they snuggled under the stars with the gentle breeze cooling them at night and the sounds of the night singing them to sleep. This trip could well have been the first time they even had a chance to really get to know each other. Something tells me that in the years ahead they often looked back at this journey as the most peaceful time of their lives.

Maybe in the next couple of weeks I can have my own tranquil journey. Maybe this is the year I won’t get it all done. Maybe this is the year I’ll throw off the burden of perfection and learn to live with compromise. Maybe my own journey to Christmas will prove as “quiet” as the one traveled so many years ago. Maybe the gift awaiting me will prove as wondrous.