Hope for the Hopeless - The Real Christmas Gift

Well, here it is, Christmas Eve, probably one of my busiest days of the year. For once, I have finished my shopping and wrapping, but I still have groceries to buy and pies to bake. Oh, and my house is not as clean as I might like given the fact that my mother is coming over first thing in the morning! You might wonder, then, why I am taking the time to write, and even more so question why you should take the time to read. Just please do, as I am profoundly moved to share something very special with you.

I thought I’d check my email quickly this morning, as I hadn’t in a few days. A dear friend forwarded me a link to a story about her son’s school, a private Christian school in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Like you, I questioned whether to take the time to read, but I was so glad I did that I am now compelled to pass it on.

Last week, I shared some thoughts about God’s heavenly gifts to mankind through people. The link below is one of THE MOST PROFOUND examples of this concept I’ve ever heard of in my entire life. It is truly unbelievable! Some cry easily, and for others of us, it takes a little more to get our eyes wet. I need to remember to get a new box of Kleenex when I go to the grocery store.

Please allow yourself just another three minutes to click and read. I promise you will be glad you did, and you too will pass it on! In the midst of all the hustle and bustle today, you will be incredibly blessed by this real life story of Christmas hope, love and joy! Merry Christmas!

Click here: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnmag/story?section=magazine&id=3789373

What's Inside the Pretty Package?

Wrapping gifts is one of my favorite things to do at Christmastime. I love to buy things for others that I think they will like, and then cover them with festive paper and LOTS of tape! Thankfully, I don’t think I’ve ever wrapped an empty box and forgotten to put in the gift. How embarrassing that would be!

God’s gifts come in all shapes and sizes, wrappings and trappings. Many of God’s greatest gifts to me were wrapped in human flesh – Jesus being the greatest gift of all. God has used many people in my life as the packaging for His sweet gifts from above. I’m sure you have your own list of those whom the Giver has used to bring you a blessing from heaven.

I’ve had a lot of breakfast and lunch dates this Christmas season with friends, and, oh, what gifts I've received through each of them! God has blessed me through their lives with love and laughter, wit and wisdom, patience and provision, encouragement and equipping, and so much more. I’m so thankful for my Christian friends who open themselves to God continually, seeking to know Him intimately, experience Him personally, and reflect Him vividly.

It’s easier to recognize God’s use of another person in bringing a heavenly gift to us than it is to see ourselves as divine packaging for His blessings to others. But that’s how He wants us to view ourselves, as beautifully and wonderfully made for unique opportunities to bear His gifts to the lost world. But we must remember they are His gifts to share. We are to keep an attitude of availability to God, so that we welcome His direction and preparation of our lives for the blessing and benefit of others.

We ready ourselves each day with physical cleanliness, beauty enhancements and attractive clothes. But how well do we allow God to ready us with His gifts for others? How vital it is to be in His Word! How crucial to submit daily to His will! How imperative to pray continually, without ceasing! If we fail to be readily available for God’s activity in us, we may merely be beautifully-wrapped people with no divinely-prepared gift to share.

God wants to wrap up many of His gifts to others with our human skin – gifts such as the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the expression of His love, the act of His comfort, the word of His truth, and the reflection of His joy. Let’s not be guilty of forgetting to include the gift inside our beautiful wrappings. This season, let’s bow to the Giver not just in thanksgiving, but in surrender, to be His divine wrapping paper for His Christmas gifts to the world.

May you and yours experience the true joy of Jesus this Christmas season, and all the year through!

A Porch Swing Perspective

The view from my grandmother’s swing, now hanging on my back porch, isn’t particularly interesting, unless you look up. As I sat for just a moment today on that broken, paint-chipped swing, I began to relax as memories flooded my mind. I remembered sitting on that same swing as a young child after dinner, on my grandmother’s front porch in the small town of Gatesville, Texas, watching the cars go by. My how life has changed since then! We scarcely have time to enjoy a meal with our families, much less sit on a porch swing with them for hours afterward.

But as I looked out across the yard, there were no cars to consider, no people to ponder, and no one nearby with whom to discuss them had there been any. Instead I saw the many leaves that had fallen, reminding me of work that needed doing, and beyond that, the neighbors’ backyards. So my eyes turned upward in avoidance. What beauty awaited my simple glance! The tree limbs above were wound together like vines rising all the way to heaven. And each one was covered with brilliant fall foliage. Even in Texas we eventually get a taste of autumn’s debut.

Immediately I felt the gentle breeze and began to worship the Creator of it all. And in that moment, He reminded me of another beauty – the beauty of perspective. Instead of looking at the mountains of leaves past their peak requiring hours of effort, He wanted me to look at the splendor of their array overhead. How often I miss life looking down instead of up!

God created man to look up, not down. Animals look down, but man was meant to walk uprightly and look toward the heavens (Eccl 3:21). Our soul, too, was meant to ascend. Because of Jesus, our soul has the opportunity to be redeemed, to be raised up even now from living an earthly life dead in sin to a new life alive in Christ through the power of His Spirit. In Colossians 3:1-2, Paul says “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the things that are on earth.”

God had to remind me of this today in the leaves of my backyard. It’s natural for us to set our minds on the earth, to look at the world and all its work, difficulties, and death piled up all around. But beauty and joy are in abundance if we will only turn our perspective heavenward! Jesus isn’t dead in the earth; He’s very much alive today, seated above in all His glory and splendor. In the midst of our stress and struggles, our fears and foes, Jesus longs for us to look up to Him for our help and hope. He longs for us to live life focused on Him, His purposes and His promises. But we can only do this with His perspective. Don’t miss the life He has for you by looking down. Look up! Jesus is still there on the throne! Hallelujah!