Pregnant, Alone, and Scared On Christmas Eve by Bob Jones

The darkest night of my life and I was alone and scared. My little girl dreams of this moment always included my mother. But she was a long ways away. It wasn’t supposed to be like this - a cold cave at the end of an arduous journey with a baby on the way.

 

More than a week earlier my betrothed and I left our hometown of Nazareth, in the northern highlands of Galilee. We travelled 90 miles to the town of his ancestors: south along the flatlands of the Jordan River, then west over the hills surrounding Jerusalem, and into Bethlehem.

 

I lost count of all the ups and downs on our journey. Hills and more hills. The temperature was in the 30s during the day and it rained like heck. Nasty. Miserable. And we had to snuggle tight at night to keep from freezing. The dawn awoke us more than once to snow. Our trip took almost nine days, twice the usual time because of my pregnancy. Heavy, woolen cloaks were all that protected our bodies from the rain and snow. Tube-like socks given to us by our neighbour and the enclosed shoes kept our feet dry.

 

One of the most terrifying dangers we faced was the heavily forested valley of the Jordan River. The threat of bandits and ambush haunted us every day. We were aware of the lions, wild boars, and bears native to those woods. Fortunately, we didn’t see any, or they didn’t see us.

We appreciated our daily bread. Breakfast was dried bread; lunch was oil with bread; dinner was herbs with oil and… bread. The diet gave me the giggles as it made me think of manna in the wilderness.

Finally, we arrived in Bethlehem and none too soon. We had just settled into our makeshift accommodations – a cave housing livestock - when my water broke. Poor Joseph. He rushed out looking for a midwife. I was so grateful for other pilgrims who were aware of my plight and stayed with me until he returned. When the contractions came, I forgot all about the noise and dirt surrounding me. I wished the woman at my side was my mother.

 

I felt life being ripped from me. But this little one had to live. Even if I died, he must live. Oh, Jehovah, let it be. The contractions kept coming in waves and there was less and less time between them to try and relax. And then it was over. Or was it just beginning?

 

“…and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no guest room available for them.” Luke 2:7 (NIV)

 

I write to grow hope, inspire people to be real, forge an authentic faith in Jesus, and discover their life purpose.

Please follow my writing at REVwords.com

I would love to hear from you.

 

Beautiful Disruptions ~ Take 2 ~ Valerie Ronald

 

This post is a repeat of my first guest post published by InScribe Writers Online, back on October 31, 2019. It so perfectly fits this month's writing prompt that I decided to post it again. 

 

One day on a beach walk with a good friend, I told her about an e-mail I received that morning from a man I did not know. It seems I knew his brother and sister-in-law a long time ago. I watched the waves beat their way to shore, scuffed the sand with my shoe.  

“He asked if it would be alright if we wrote to each other.” When I glanced at my friend, she was smiling. She said, “I have such a strong sense that from this day out, things for you will change for the better. God is up to something.”  

My heart gave a hopeful little leap, then settled back to the cautious beat of one familiar with pain, disappointment and struggle. For several years all I had known was the war zone of a messy divorce and a life-threatening illness. Hope was hard to come by.

But now when I look back I recognize that moment on the beach as one of God’s beautiful disruptions. Sometime later I married the man who e-mailed me and moved on to a whole new life full of love, joy and fulfillment.  

Webster’s dictionary defines disruption as causing something to be unable to continue in the normal way: interrupting the usual progress or activity of something. A disruption is at first stressful because it throws things into disorder, putting us off the course we were used to. But God has a way of disrupting lives that opens up possibilities never imagined, even if at the time the disruption is unwelcome.  

The scriptures are full of beautifully disrupted stories where God suddenly steps in to redirect the current path of someone He wants to use to fulfill His purposes. In Exodus 3, Moses has spent many years tending his father-in-law’s flock on the far side of the desert. God captures Moses’ attention when He speaks from a burning bush. He sends Moses on a mission back to Egypt to free the Israelites from slavery. As a country herdsman spending days on end with only sheep for company, Moses’ life is beautifully disrupted when he becomes God’s chosen instrument to lead His people to freedom.  

As a lowly shepherd boy on the hills around Bethlehem, David was unlikely to be chosen for any significant role. But God changed David’s life by sending His prophet, Samuel, to anoint him as the future king of Israel. God’s beautiful disruption caused David to become a mighty king, a “man after God’s own heart” (Acts 13:22 NIV) and a forefather of Jesus, the Messiah.  

In the most glorious disruption of all, a Jewish peasant girl is visited by an angel announcing she is to give birth to the Son of God. “How will this be,” Mary asked the angel, “since I am a virgin?” (Luke 1:34) Through the power of the Holy Spirit, she becomes the mother of Jesus, God in human flesh, whose life, death and resurrection provides salvation for all who believe in Him.  

Sometimes God reveals Himself to me in subtle ways. To be honest, I would prefer He direct me slowly and gently. But when I think of the mountaintops of my spiritual walk, it is the beautiful disruptions that stand out. Those times when God breaks suddenly into my mundane life speak of a love so great He would do the extraordinary to capture my attention. 

Such beautiful disruptions cause me to exclaim, only God.

Only God could orchestrate so many details to fulfill His purposes.

Only God interrupts by making me breathless with His beauty and majesty.

Only God beautifully disrupted time by stepping down from eternity to live among us. 

Valerie Ronald lives in Portage la Prairie, Manitoba. She is a graduate of Vancouver's Langara College journalism program, and has worked as a newspaper reporter, freelance writer, public speaker and bookstore employee. She writes devotionals for her home church bulletins and her online blog. Her current book project chronicles how God's faithfulness saw her through the dark valleys of divorce and cancer. Along with her husband, Valerie enjoys spending time with their blended family and six grandchildren. She is a nature photographer, water colorist, cat lover and Scrabble addict.

More of her devotionals can be read on her blog https://scriptordeus.wordpress.com

Mary Did You Know?

Try this. Go to YouTube. Search the Pentatonix version of  Mary Did You Know? Turn up the volume. Close your eyes. Soak up the harmony and let the lyrics go deep into your soul. Listen to the end. You feel it, don’t you?

That’s the feeling of awe.

And that’s why I love Christmas and the music of Christmastime. Mary, the Palestinian Cinderella, inspires some of the best Christmas music.

Mark Lowry crafted the lyrics of the song that’s become a Christmas favourite on par with White Christmas and Silent Night. The lyrics of Mary, Did You Know? ignite imaginations with some of the deepest mysteries of Christmas. Its my favorite Christmas song.

Lowry’s mother, Bev, gave him the spark of his original idea. Mark says, “I just tried to put into words the unfathomable. I started thinking of the questions I would have for her if I were to sit down & have coffee with Mary.”

Did Mary realize the tiny hands of her infant were the same hands that scooped out oceans & formed rivers?

Did she know that “the blind will see, the deaf will hear and the dead will live again, the lame will leap, the mute will speak?”

Did she understand that “When you kiss your little baby, you have kissed the face of God?”

 

Christmas, at its core, is a celebration of the Incarnation.

 

Mary is told:

 

“You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you are to call him Jesus. ³² He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High.” Luke 1:31

“The Holy Spirit will come on you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you. So the holy one to be born will be called the Son of God.” Luke 2:35

If anyone knew Jesus was virgin born, it was Mary. Her silence at the cross is proof that her story was indeed true.

The song reminds that the baby to whom Mary gave birth would walk on water, heal the broken, and save us.

Mary’s baby boy is “Lord of all creation” and, in fact, “the great I AM.”

“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together… and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.’ (Colossians 1:15-17, 20)

Jesus entered our reality to save us, to make us new, to heal us, and to die for us as Heaven’s perfect Savior.

Ready to dial in the Pentatonix song again? Enjoy.

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Merry Christmas!

I am a recovering perfectionist who collects Coca-Cola memorabilia and drinks iced tea. The walls of our home are adorned with our sons’ framed football jerseys, and my bookshelves, with soul food. 

My writing grows hope, inspires people to be real, forge an authentic faith in Jesus, and discover their life purpose.

Follow my writing and book reviews at REVwords.com

Are You Frenzied or Focused? by Nina Faye Morey

Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.

(Romans 12:12, ESV)

Often when I sit down to write, my mind is swirling with so many “to do’s” that I find it hard to maintain my focus. I have a general idea of the topic I want to write about, but I can’t get a handle on the central message I want to convey. Or I may think I’m writing about one thing, but wind up going down so many rabbit trails that pretty soon I’m totally lost. In either case, I find it hard to focus on what’s important.

On these occasions, the story of Mary and Martha comes to mind (Luke 10:38-42). Martha had invited Jesus into their home, but she had no time to focus on His message because she was too distracted by all the work that needed to be done. She soon becomes angry that she’s been left alone to prepare their meal. Was it right that Mary should be so entranced by Jesus’s every word that she left Martha all alone to slave away in the kitchen? Was it fair that the Lord didn’t seem at all concerned that Martha’s sister had deserted her when she most needed her help with serving?

This perceived injustice so emboldened Martha that she confronted Jesus and accused Him of not caring enough about her or her dilemma. She even went so far as to demand that He order Mary to help her. But which sister’s actions truly showed the greatest care and concern for their Master?

Who do you identify with most, Martha or Mary? Like Martha, have you often felt that life isn’t treating you fairly? Do you, too, become so distracted by all the busyness that you fail to pay attention to the One who should be your primary focus in life?

Too often, we tend to base our worth on how busy we are and on how much we are needed. We brag to our friends, family members, and anyone else who will listen about how much we need to do and how little time we have to do it. We’re more frenzied than focused. We’re like Martha. Our priorities are out of order. Jesus tells her:

Martha, Martha, you are worried about so many things,

But few things are needed—or indeed only one.

Mary has chosen what is better,

And it will not be taken away from her.

(Luke 10:41-42, NIV)

As Christian writers, we need to stop and ask ourselves if we’ve become so busy trying to serve God through our writing that we fail to hear His voice? Are we so focused on the busyness of our work that we forget to pray for His guidance? Are we so lost in the weeds of our words, that we lose sight of our primary message and purpose?

Jesus explained to Martha that “Mary has chosen what is better.” Martha’s main focus was on their material needs while Mary’s primary focus was on their spiritual needs. In Matthew 4:4, Jesus said, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Jesus declares in John 6:63: “The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you—they are full of the Spirit and life.”

Like Mary, we must choose the best. The Lord should be our number one priority. Pray for His guidance so you don’t wander down rabbit trails that lead nowhere: “Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you the path to take” (Proverbs 3:6, NLT). If we maintain our focus on Jesus and His words, we will succeed: “Share your plans with the LORD, and you will succeed” (Proverbs 16:3, CEV).

Sharing a Son’s Suffering by Nina Faye Morey

“Which of the two do you want me to release for you?” Pilate asked the raucous crowd.

A spark of hope filled my heart, but it was instantly snuffed out by the throng’s wild shouts of “Barabbas!”

“What shall I do, then, with Jesus who is called the Messiah?” Pilate demanded.

“Crucify him!” they shouted.

I gasped, clutching my breast. My heart felt as though it had been cruelly wrenched from my chest. I’d always known this day was coming, but I’d buried that knowledge in the dark recesses of my mind. Now there was no escape. Tears brimmed in my eyes, blurring my vision.

“Why? What crime has he committed?” Pilate responded, trying to restore some reason to this unruly mob. Pilate was no fool. He knew why the chief priests and elders had brought Jesus before him. They’d whipped up the masses into this frenzied state, convincing them to demand Jesus’s crucifixion.

The seething horde simply shouted even louder: “Crucify him!”

Blinded by my tears, I tried desperately to force my way through the crush of the crowd. If only I could reach my precious son. Tears streamed down my cheeks, but I made no effort to wipe them away. I needed to get to Jesus, to wrap my arms around Him and protect Him, as I’d always done.

Pilate now realized there was no hope of reasoning with this rabble. Amidst the roar of the crowd, he rose from his judge’s seat and poured water over his hands, symbolically washing away any culpability for what was to come. “I am innocent of this man’s blood. It is your responsibility!”

Afterwards, Pilate released Barabbas and ordered Jesus flogged before handing Him over to be crucified. My hands flew to my mouth to stifle my anguished cries. As the governor’s guards scourged my son’s flesh, I heard a scream in the crowd. Then I realized it had been my own.

I followed the Roman soldiers as they led Jesus to the governor’s palace. There they stripped my son of His clothes, dressed Him in a scarlet robe, and fashioned a crown of thorns they placed upon His head. I wrung my hands helplessly as blood began trickling down His forehead. Then the soldiers put a staff in Jesus’s right hand and knelt before Him, mocking Him with “Hail, King of the Jews!” They spat on Him, took the staff, and began striking His head repeatedly. My heart ached to cup my son’s disfigured face in my hands, kiss His swollen lips, and tell Him once more how dearly I loved Him.

Finally, the soldiers put Jesus’s clothes back on Him. Then they forced Him to carry His own cross as they led Him away to be crucified. Weak from the flogging, Jesus collapsed and was unable to continue up the hill to Calvary. My heart broke at the sight of my once strong carpenter son brought to His knees by the weight of that heavy timber. The soldiers pulled a man from the crowd, Simon of Cyrene, forcing him to carry Jesus’s cross. When they reached Golgotha, “the place of the skulls,” they began nailing my son’s hands to the cross.

Every time a soldier pounded a nail through Jesus’s hands and feet, I felt as though it were piercing my heart. Those hands I’d held so tightly; those feet I’d washed so tenderly. When the soldiers hoisted that heavy cross and let it fall into its moorings, sobs suddenly wracked my body. I huddled close to the foot of the cross; determined to keep vigil over my dying son despite the vitriol flung by belligerent bystanders.

I remained by my son’s side throughout the growing darkness; silently pleading with God to quickly end His suffering. How much more could Jesus endure? At last, I heard Him cry out, “It is finished.” No more pain; no more suffering. “Thank you, God!” Despite my deep sorrow at the loss of my precious son, I finally felt at peace, knowing He was now in the loving hands of His Heavenly Father.

Colours of Christmas by Marnie Pohlmann

My small writing group once did a paint chip exercise. We pulled a paint chip out of a pile and were to write about Christmas being that colour. I pulled orange.

I'm not a fan of orange in the first place, but to think of an orange Christmas? Blechh! I don't remember what I wrote in that five minutes, but I'm sure it was not praise for a tree decorated in orange.

It seems these days orange would be an acceptable Christmas colour, as is pink, teal, and yellow. What happened to the traditional colours of Christmas? The songs sing about - gold and silver, green, white, and red? The traditional ones have meaning for Christmas. Do these new colours?

I'm sure you've heard the story of the candy cane, how the red can represent Christ's blood, and the stripes can represent the punishment of the whip that Christ endured on our behalf. Are you familiar with the evergreen fir history? Both pagans and Christians have used it to decorate their homes for the winter celebration. I did not look up why pagans use it, but for Christians, the green tree represents everlasting life. Wreaths, too, are formed of evergreen boughs in a round shape to show the eternal circle of eternal life with God. Poinsettias have become a Christmas flower, again because of the red and green leaves.

As you enjoy your decorations, whatever colour you desire, take a moment to reflect on how your colours and ornaments reflect your belief that the babe in the manger brought salvation to our world.

A Christmas colour that has a bad rap at Christmas but is becoming dear to me, is blue. As you know, I have struggled with SAD, depression, and PTSD for the last few years. Feeling blue at Christmas is more common than we might think. Perhaps you have experienced a blue Christmas. Or perhaps you have enjoyed this Christmas season but today, Boxing Day, when all the excitement is over, and everyone is tired from late nights, sadness has come in for a visit.

Be assured, however, that sadness is a feeling of the current, not a fact of the future, and blue is a colour, not a lasting condition. So, when faced with the blues at Christmas, or any other time of the year, there are a few things you can do to endure through. You are familiar with most of these, I am sure.

Lower your expectations of perfection or how you wanted activities to go. Have a nap. Eat something healthy. Read an uplifting book. Listen to happy music - not Christmas carols. Go for a walk. Write in your journal. Do something creative. Having the blues can slip into dangerous depression but blue does not need to be a fearful colour.

The most healing action I found for myself is to re-define the blue. You see, blue is as precious a Christmas colour as red or green. Have you noticed?

Mary, the young mother of Jesus, is most often portrayed wearing blue. Is that because she is sad? I don't think so. I think blue is a colour of reflection. Scripture tells us Mary treasured the various and precious moments of that first Christmas in her heart. She took time to reflect on them, to wonder at their meaning, to be in awe of the role she was asked to take part of in raising the promised Messiah. Blue is a colour of trust in God's faithfulness.

Yes, blue is becoming my favourite Christmas colour, despite the associated feelings.

I just don't think I can do the same with orange...

*photos compliments of Pixabay CCO license

Marnie is enjoying Christmas with her grandchildren this year. 

May God bless your holiday season and the coming year of 2019.

Phosphorescent

Ponderings ... Wonderings by Joylene M. Bailey

My husband and I raised three daughters. So when our first grandson came along things felt different. Not just because he made us grandparents, but because he was a boy.

I was privileged to meet him on November 21, 2013, the day after he was born. And in the month between his birth and Christmas Day that year, I found myself pondering the birth of Christ in a whole new way. He was a baby boy too. In fact, I pondered much more than His birth. And I pondered it from the perspective of a mother. More and more, I found myself thinking of Mary.

I watched my daughter fall in love with her new son. I watched her care for him and coo to him. I thought of Mary, loving her new baby boy, cooing to Him, cuddling Him. She knew He was very special, but did she know anything about what the future would bring? The angel Gabriel had only told her that she would bear a son and name Him Jesus, that He would be great and that there would be no end to His kingdom.

As I watched my daughter with her new son, my heart broke for Mary.

Joy and pain; love and fear. A mother’s heart goes through many things as she raises her child, but I wonder … could anything be more heartbreaking than watching your child suffer to the point of death? Mary, on that first Christmas Day, did you know your Son would have to suffer so?

It is probably a God-given kindness that we cannot see into the future.

Our grandson turned four this year. Every year that has passed, I have thought about Jesus at that age. More than that, I have thought about Mary, raising this boy she is growing to love more and more with each passing year; how He and His siblings are filling her mother-heart to overflowing and then …

I wonder ... Once Jesus had risen from the dead, and appeared to His disciples. Once He had taken His rightful place in heaven ... was her heart healed? Or, like Jesus’ risen body bore the scars of his death, did her heart still bear the scars of her heartbreak?

Perhaps I’ll ask her one day, when I meet her in heaven.

*****************

Joylene will be relishing her time this Christmas with four-year-old Little Man, as well as Sweet Thing, Sunny & Bright, all of their parents, her Cowboy, Babe, and a cat named Calvin. 

She blogs at Scraps of Joy.

Shifting from the Kitchen to the Living Room by Sharon Espeseth

Getting out of the kitchen

Jesus statement struck close to me.

Like Martha, I've spent a lot of time in the kitchen of my life. I still cook, clean and help those around me, but I am spending more time for the living room. I can still love and serve beside Martha, but I now strive to relax, read, learn, play, spend time with my family and also  at Jesus' feet. Mary is already in the living room adoring Jesus.

Being a perfectionist, I empathized with Martha. I felt for her when Jesus said, "Martha, you are bothered about many things. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her."







Comfortable or exhausted?

Striving to be the model homemaker, mother and wife, plus being a dedicated teacher, Christian, parishioner, daughter, sister, and friend was exhausting. I was so used to operating  on all eight cylinders that it seemed normal. How would I keep up if I slowed down?

In the mid nineties, my over-achieving efforts brought me to a halt. Knowing my life was wobbling like a table with a short leg, I began seeing a counsellor. Still l limped on in the classroom and at home without giving myself the attention I needed.

By mid-February, I had a total breakdown. My family doctor and my psychologist put me on anti-depressants and booked me off work. I didn't return to teaching until September.

When comfort zones become uncomfortable

This book was a life-changer for me.

Changing my ways became crucial. Counselling sessions, meds, journalling, long walks, listening more carefully to my husband's advice, praying, reading my Bible and other good books became the new order of my day.

In the Bible we are reminded often to seek rest. "Come to me, all you who are weary," Jesus tells us.  The Lord invites us to share the yoke with him. He will even make us lie down in green pastures.

Recent struggles

Recently while struggling to finish the jobs I had piled up in my kitchen, I felt God nudging me to unload some of it, but I had excuses.

I had co-led a church committee for more than a decade, but now I felt prompted to let this go. I could feel God showing me the way, but I couldn't let go of it without tidying the details. Not feeling up to the task, I "sat" on it.

God delivers his message


While  driving to the city in late March, the Norwegian and I observed the signs of spring. While
Hank drove, I watched a long string of geese flying beside us. Craning my neck as far as possible, I said, "I wonder why they aren't getting into V-formation." Just when my neck could turn no further, I saw a few front geese break the line. Knowing they were going to manage without my supervision, I turned my attention back to my journal writing.

Canada geese deliver message

Epiphany. That's what I need to do with my committee position. When we got home that evening, I phoned the friend I'd been planning to ask about my committee job. Without hesitation, Theresa agreed. I explained that certain details needed updating, but that I didn't feel up to doing it.

"That's okay, Theresa said." She didn't type, but she would ask the church secretary to do that. I felt like a heavy chunk of ice had slid off my shoulder. "Did God already have this lady lined up for the job?"

With one less responsibility, I hope to spend more time resting in green pastures, talking things over with God, and writing.

The geese incident had shown me how prideful I was not to pass on this job unless it was in perfect shape. Just as I knew the geese would manage on their own, I realized that Theresa, whose name God had whispered in my ear, would manage this job without my help.

What about comfort zones?

I love what you are saying, Sandi Somers: that God created each of us in a particular way and for a particular purpose. We are called to spread the gospel. We can do this through our writing, our living and our loving.

The Father also knows our limits.

I may never write the next great Canadian novel or set the world on fire spiritually, but I will do the best I can with the time I have left. I appreciate this quote by C. S. Lewis.

"God knows our situation; He will not judge us as if we had no difficulties to overcome. What matters is the sincerity and perseverance of our will to overcome them." 

This then reminds me of Paul's words to the Christians in Ephesus.

"For by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not of yourselves, it is the gift of God--not of works, so that no one can boast.
Setting my priorities

When it gets too hot in the kitchen, I can move to the living room. I will do the best I can each day in evsetting my priorities. You may remember the video, A Valuable Lesson for a Happier Life by Meir Kay. With minor changes, I could mentally rename this video A Valuable Lesson for a More Faith-filled Life.

https://www.youtubecom/watch?v=SqGRnlXplx0

For me, the golf balls would still represent the important things: family, friends, health, faith and passions. I added faith to Mr. Kay's list, as that would be, or at least should be, my biggest passion. Writing is inferred as another big passion.

Put the golf balls in first.

For new comfort zones in writing, the genre doesn't matter as much as the fact that I write. I do, however, need to write and submit more for publication, even when I am timid about doing this.

I can do this from the living room, our deck, or the boat launch at the lake. I just need to honour the golf balls in my life.

Gift(s) of Everlasting Life by Sharon Espeseth

Everlasting and Eternal Gifts

This Christmas I'd like spiritual gifts for myself, my loved ones, and anyone really. . . Using the Bible as our catalogue, we will find an abundance of things free for the asking--God's love, forgiveness, salvation and eternal life. We, created by God, can admit we need help.







Emmanuel: God with Us

God loved us so much He sent His Son to be our Emmanuel,  God living with us. People thought God's Son would be a political king or a man of means. Instead He came as a baby, born of a young virgin, engaged to Joseph, a descendant of David. The angel Gabriel came to Mary and explained the role God wanted her to take in His plan. Mary couldn't know what this meant in the future, but she trusted God and became the vessel to bring God's son to us. Joseph accepted his call to be Jesus' earthly father.


Jesus Begins His Ministry

We don't read much of Jesus' life until the Wedding at Cana, where Mary asked her son to turn water into wine. The hosts had run out of wine. Jesus performed His first miracle--turning water into wine, and He did it for his mother and as a kindness to the wedding party.

Fully human and fully divine, Jesus needed to spend time with His Heavenly Father. While Jesus,  was with us, He taught us how to relate to God and how to relate to our fellow human beings.

In Mark 12:30, we read the New Commandments Jesus gave. First, Jesus says, "Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your mind and with all your strength." Secondly, "Love your neighbour as yourself." Not only did Jesus give us these new commandments, but he also practiced them in daily life.

God's Son was tempted and tested, like we are, but even more so. The Pharisees and Sadducees watched his every move and asked questions to "trick" him into saying he was the Messiah, the Son of God. Admitting his divinity would be considered blasphemous and then they would have reason to kill him.

In the meantime, Jesus walked among ordinary people like us and talked to people of any race, creed, or moral standing. He visited and ate with tax collectors, prostitutes,  lawyers, and common people in all walks of life.

Loving Us As We Are

One example of His acceptance is the story of Jesus asking the Samaritan woman for a drink of water. Jesus stepped over the "rule" that Jews didn't talk to Samaritans. The woman expressed her surprise

"If you knew the gift of God."

at Him, a Jew, asking her, a Samaritan for a drink. (Story in John 4:7-42.)

Jesus replied, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water. Whoever drinks the water I give them will never thirst. Indeed the water I give will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life."

Jesus told this common  woman that He was the Messiah. She believed and went to tell the people of her town what had happened. By her testimony, they also believed. Jesus didn't talk to the leaders of the town, he spoke to a woman he knew had had five husbands and she wasn't married to the man she presently lived with.

The Gift of Eternal Life

When it was God's time, Jesus obedientl took our sins upon Himself and made His way down the streets of Jerusalem. With the help of Simon, a passer-by, Jesus carried the burden of the heavy cross, but Jesus alone carried the sins of the world.

In the Garden of Gethsemane the night before His crucifixion, Jesus agonized and prayed to His Father, "If it is possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not my will but Thy will be done." (Luke 22:42)

God loved us so much that He gave us His Son. Jesus loved God and loved us so much that He surrendered to God's will. Through Jesus' death and resurrection, we have the gift of eternal life.

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit

Before ascending to heaven, Jesus promised He would send the Holy Spirit as our Comforter. The
Holy Spirit, as part of the Godhead Three, also comes with a basket full of gifts to make our lives more abundant. By living close to God and listening to the Holy Spirit, we will receive His fruits as listed by Paul in Galatians 5:22--love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. ,

The Gift of Availability

In Revelations 3:20, Jesus reminds us, "Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in and eat with this person, and they with me."

God Answers Prayers

Jesus said, "Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened." (Matt. 7:7-8)

The Gift of the Eucharist

At the Last Supper, Jesus shared a meal with his disciples. . . "He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, 'This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.' In the same way, after the supper he took the cup saying, 'This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.'"

The Eucharist is spiritual food. By eating it we are giving thanks, remembering Christ, and asking for help in serving God.

The Gift of God's Word

God has entrusted prophets, teachers and writers to record the books and stories that make up the Bible which is God's Word. Paul in his second letter to Timothy says of God's word, "Every part of Scripture is God-breathed and useful one way or another--showing us truth, exposing our rebellion, correcting our mistakes, training us to live God's way. Through the Word we are put together and shaped up for the tasks God has for us." (2 Timothy 3:16 The Message)

One More Gift

I stand corrected by God's Word, for there is one more important gift that we may humbly receive. That is grace, God's grace. After receiving all these wonderful gifts, we don't need to think we are something special.

Paul says, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith--and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God--not of works, so that no one can boast." (Ephesians 2:8-9)

My Prayer for You at Christmas

Throughout the Christmas Season and through the New Year, may God grant you the Love, Peace

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!

and Joy that comes from Faith, Family and Friends. May God season you with large sprinkles of Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Gentleness and Self-control. Amen.