BLAHS vs JOY

 

Thou wilt shew me the path of lie:
in thy presence is fulness of joy;
at thy right hand there are
pleasures for evermore.
Psalms 16:11

It happens around this time of year to many folks, including Christians...the blahs. By the time people manage to survive until the first week of January, all of the anticipation, excitement, gifts have been given and received. There have been choir presentations, decorations, shopping, family visits, school parties, over-eating and over spending, that all take a toll emotionally and maybe even physically on almost anyone. We sang with great fervor and joy through the month of December:

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come,
Let earth receive her King.
Let every heart, prepare Him room
and Heaven and nature sing.”

I wonder, though, by the time we get past all the events and are left with let down emotions, if another song could be changed that would better describe our feelings. It's a child's song we used to sing also with joy:

I've got the blahs, blahs, blahs, blahs
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart.
I've got the blahs, blahs, blahs, blahs
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart to stay.

We've all been there. We don't like the feeling and we certainly didn't plan for it, but it can happen. Christmas starts in stores, on-line ads and catalogs as early as October and sometimes September. It is everywhere we go...can't get away from it. We find ourselves getting with the program. I remember as a little girl that the Christmas tree went up only a week before Christmas. Some people put their tree up on Christmas eve. Sounds odd, doesn't it and yet, I think there was more of a realistic view of the season back then. We weren't left in a huge emotional mess.

Keep in mind that these emotional let downs don't just happen with adults as they can happen with children as well. Children generally feel a letdown when they open their last gift and may even say or want to say, “Is this all?” All of us can remember as children the build up to a big day like Christmas or even birthdays. Parents along with the rest of their emotions feel a sense of guilt if they don't produce for their children those things other children are receiving. Forget Thanksgiving. In America there is a two month orgy our country has come to be called “Christmas” and even now, that word is hardly used in commercial entities. Just that fact can depress me as much as anything.

So what do we do? I'm speaking to all of us, common ordinary people who are emotionally healthy, at least ten months out of the year. We first have to recognize the cause of these feelings of depression, over-tired, listless, inactive, head achy, and perhaps not sleeping well. Some of the best advice I ever heard on this subject was to plan something eventful in the first part of January...it might be a trip, attending a special event, saving gift certificates until January or something you could think of that would be appropriate for you or yours that could be fun to look forward to. Most important is for us to maintain our spiritual priorities. It's easy over holiday times to let our Bible reading go. We might even be careless in church attendance and activities. Our spiritual strength isn't just going to happen. It should stem from an important relationship with the Lord that is vital to our well-being every day of the year.

The answer is a spiritual answer that applies to any time of the year. These blahs can attack us after coming home from a dreamed-of vacation or after a family wedding. I can remember as a girl being depressed for at least a couple of weeks after I had to return home from church camp. I had counted days until I could go to Lake Benton Baptist Camp. Suddenly it seemed, that day was there and each day there just seemed to fly.

As simplistic as it sounds, the Lord we sing of in “Joy to the world” is still the answer. That carol's first line is deep with meaning: “Joy to the world...THE LORD IS COME.” Jesus came then, but He comes everyday of the year into our lives. He wants the preeminence above all events, holidays, vacations, etc. If we are to get excited, He wants it to be over Him and not the things this world has managed to come up with. He understands happiness, but if our joy and happiness comes as a result of our relationship with Him, all other things will fall into place. Then when big events occur, we can get back to normalcy quickly because He is our normal.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if into the month of January, we could truly sing, even if quietly to ourselves:

“I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart,
Down in my heart.
I've got the joy, joy, joy, joy
Down in my heart.
Down in my heart TO STAY.”

There's only one reason we can sing that familiar song from childhood primary Sunday school. That reason is:

“Joy to the world, the Lord is come
Let earth receive her King.
Let EVERY heart,
Prepare Him room.
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven and nature sing,
And heaven...and heaven
And nature sing.”

That should not be just a song for Christmas, but for every single day because He is our joy. We must prepare Him room to work and move in our lives every day.

Thank You Jesus for being the only source of our joy. Forgive us, at times, for not making room for You in our lives when we get busy or preoccupied with so many things. Forgive our lack of consideration for You and all You've done for us. In Your precious name...Amen

The Best Present Ever

 

Thanks be unto God
for His unspeakable gift.
II Corinthians 9:15

All of us can probably think back to favorite Christmas gifts that meant a lot to us at the time. The highlight day at our house, prior to Christmas, was when our Sear's Christmas Catalog arrived in the mail. My sister Kay and I competed for time we could have individually with that precious book. Probably well over half of the catalog was full of toy items. If a toy had been created and ready for sale, it was in that catalog.

Along with the catalog on my lap, I also had in hand a pencil and piece of paper. This was almost an exercise of futility, but it was still worth listing those things a little girl only dreamed of finding under the family's Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Up until about the age of ten, our Christmas days were like many other families in our town. We got some nice toy items on Christmas morning along with gifts that came in the mail from various relatives.

One Christmas I got a play stove. Back then, they were made of a light-weight metal...none of that plastic stuff. My sister got the matching refrigerator so we could add a kitchen to our play house. The next year, I got a doll house (non-plastic, of course) and spent hours with it. It was so durable it even got handed down to the next two sisters. The Christmas I got my bicycle was really a special day except that I couldn't ride it for a week because of all the snow on the ground.

My favorite gift each year, however, up through about the age of ten, was a baby doll. I loved my dolls. I wanted to grow up to be a mom. I not only played house with them, but also played school and church with them as well. I once heard someone say, “Play, for a child, is a form of work although more enjoyable.” Often a child's play leads to their future, so toys parents provide their children at any time are important items. I would have to say that in the way of special Christmas gifts, my dolls were the most precious gifts in those days.

October 2, 1949 dawned with bright sunshine and on the chilly side. It was what appeared to be just a typical Fall day in our town. It was a Sunday and I loved Sundays because I loved going to church and Sunday school. (I've never been able to figure out why many people don't care if they go to church or not). I was ten years old and in the junior girls Sunday school class. My teacher was also my music teacher at my grade school. She liked that I could read notes and that I also sang a strong alto. I had learned to sing alto by sitting with my Mother in church, singing along with her alto voice.

On that Sunday, we had a special evangelist, C. W. Stucky. I'll never forget him and would know him to this day if I were to meet him anywhere except he's in Heaven but I'll still know him. He was very grandfatherly in appearance with the kindest eyes I had ever seen. We junior girls sat on the second pew, center section of the church auditorium...near the pulpit. If we got the giggles or were a little unruly, the “old ladies class” the Loyal Mothers, who sat on the pew behind us, would kindly tap us on the shoulder. That October Sunday was different. I recall listening carefully to the sermon with no wiggle problems. To this day I wouldn't be able to tell you a thing about the sermon. I do remember feeling as if my heart was beginning to warm inside of me, not like I was sick...just warm. The invitation was given to accept Jesus as Savior. A couple of my friends from our class and the junior boys class went forward, but wasn't terribly aware of them at the time. I stepped out into the sun-soaked aisle in my own time as if I were the only person in the auditorium. The sun was terribly bright coming through the window as I recall, but I knew in that moment as I stepped out that something magnificent was happening in my life. I look back now to that moment knowing that Jesus was doing something in my heart that no little girl could explain.

We were taken to a side room where the evangelist and pastor spoke to us. I remember sitting beside my Sunday school teacher who was quietly crying. I felt bad that she was so sad, but now with age understand her emotions more from that time. Even though I felt when I had stepped out in that aisle, I had accepted Jesus as my Savior, I was glad for the pastors to talk with us and share with us further Scripture. I was so happy then to be baptized the following Sunday night as an act of obedience to the Lord.

I know it was only the first Sunday in October and Christmas was yet to come in December, but I was told what a gift my salvation was. I knew it was mine because of what Jesus had done for me on the cross. I have to tell you that the gift of my salvation was not only the best gift up to then, but remains the best even now.

This gift wasn't a gift that could be purchased with money. It couldn't be found in the Sears Christmas Catalog. It wasn't one anyone other than Jesus could give to me. It didn't come gift wrapped. The only material thing I walked away with that Sunday morning was a little copy of the Gospel of John. On the back I had written my name and date that was like a “born-again birth certificate.” I still have that little Gospel of John. It's aged through the years as I have as well, but it's message is still fresh and as new now as it was that day in 1949.

My prayer today for any reader is that of all the gifts you can receive in your life, it is the gift of salvation that can only come through accepting Jesus into your life as Savior. We can all think of wonderful Christmas gifts we've received through the years, but God has given us the very best gift possible...His Son, Jesus. Years can dim some things in our thinking. Maybe some folks aren't as close to that Gift as sometime in the past. A renewed relationship with Him would not only benefit us, but would be of great joy to Jesus, the Giver of the best gift ever given to the world.

Dear Father...You gave us so much when You sent Your precious Son to die for us, giving us the wonderful gift of salvation. Forgive our lack of love and appreciation for all You do for us all the time. Draw us even closer to Yourself in these special days, that we will not only keep Jesus in the center of this season, but fully in our lives every day of the year. In Jesus' name...Amen

YOU ARE INVITED!!

And when they were come into the house,
they saw the young child with Mary his mother,
and fell down, and worshiped him: and when
they had opened their treasures, they presented
unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense,
and myrrh.
Matthew 2:11

We've all received invitations of various types. Some invitations invite us to birthday parties, some perhaps to graduation events and then there are the wedding shower invitations. However, baby shower invitations, especially to honor a first baby, have an extra element of joy attached to them.

Brian and I talked about adopting a baby after we were married. My mother had been adopted and I felt something special about that process. After a couple of years of marriage, I had friends all over the place praying that a baby could be found for Brian and me to adopt. Before we knew it, Jennie came into our lives, into our home and into our hearts. In those days, no one knew the sex of a baby prior to birth so it remained a mystery until THE day. I can't tell you the friends who wanted to honor us with baby showers. I also can't tell you how many showers Jennie and I attended. She ended up with a wardrobe that would have shamed royalty.

No matter who the couple is that is going to welcome a baby into their home, it's such a special time that friends and family want to have a part in celebrating that baby. When babies come into the world, no matter how ugly (sorry, but a good majority are), everyone raves about the beauty of the baby. The beauty of the baby no matter the weight, amount of hair, etc. is in the fact that we are looking at a precious miracle.

New babies are remembered, but only for awhile. We mothers always remember that special day of a baby's birth, but babies grow up and we rejoice with every birthday. We remember our babies with pictures and home movies, but we celebrate the current year of one's birthday.

The only birthday in baby form I know of that is celebrated every year is that of Jesus. On December 25, we have no pictures in our mind of Jesus as a boy in the temple, working miracles in people's lives and really not too much even of the cross and resurrection. We know where that birth is going to lead future-wise, but still on Christmas cards, manger scenes, adoring shepherds and some of the wisest of men from the East, we celebrate the birth of a baby... Jesus...same baby every year. I find nothing objectionable about that for without that birth, nothing else of any note could have happened including our own personal salvation experiences.

Mary and Joseph were in difficult positions. An unmarried young woman found to be pregnant in those day could have been banished somehow or even executed. Where an expectant couple in our day can't wait to share their good news with parents and friends, there could be no rejoicing with others regarding their blessed event. Joseph was on a spot as well. He couldn't brag with his buddies about a coming baby in his family that he didn't as yet have and that in reality, wasn't even his. This baby was to be the very Son of God, something that couldn't really be explained to anyone.

This couple couldn't enjoy all of the things most married, expectant couples enjoyed. They couldn't do anything to draw attention to themselves. But that special time of Jesus' birth came...in a smelly stable, the baby King of Kings made His human appearance. There were those shepherds who came after the prompting of angels who appeared in their fields that night. Shepherds, however, wouldn't have been welcome even near most households, let alone visiting a new baby in a stable. They weren't well thought of in those days. But it was appropriate for lowly shepherds to visit THE One who in adulthood would be known as the Good Shepherd. When those shepherds arrived to see the baby, they had no gifts to bring...only their awe and adoration.

Wise men came but not to the stable. They arrived later at the home of Mary and Joseph to see the young child. They had traveled a very long distance at the silent bidding of a star they saw in the East. They followed that star and it eventually led them to the humble home of Joseph and Mary. There, they bowed down to the child and presented Him with gifts. This is the first we see of gifts being given in honor of Jesus. They brought gold, frankincense, and myrrh, all very expensive. Because of three gifts, it is usually pictured there were only three wise men who made the trip. However, there could have been more than three. Despite the number who made this visit to see Jesus, I wonder if they knew what would come to be the significance of those gifts.

GOLD: All we have to do is look back in the Old Testament to the Ark of the Covenant, encrusted with gold, vessels used for worship and all the gold incorporated into the Temple and one can see the importance and significance of gold. It was representative of divinity and royalty. Could they have known?

FRANKINCENSE: A white, milky resin taken from a tree that was processed into a usable resin. It is extremely fragrant and was often used in offerings, especially on the prayer alter of incense. It represented then holiness and righteousness. I think now of Jesus being referred to as being a sweet aroma.

MYRRH: This too is resin, reddish in color. When taken from the bark of a tree it first drips down the tree almost in tear drop form. It is gleaned after two weeks when it has hardened. It is a bitter spice often referred to as “gall”. It can be used in mixing drinks such as what was offered to Jesus on the cross. This spice, however, in Jesus' day was used for embalming or for the preparation of a body that wasn't embalmed but just wrapped. The spices were tucked into the folds of the wrappings to hide the smell of death.

In all three gifts, we now see significance. They were all very expensive gifts, but even now, in each, we see Jesus...who He was and who He continues to be. We can so appreciate this time of year in celebrating Jesus' birth. I have to ask myself, though, what I plan to give Jesus this year for His birthday. There's no gift I can purchase and nothing I know to bring. All I have to give Him is ME. And by the way, that's all YOU have to give Him too.

Thank You Father for the gift of Your Son Jesus. Thank You Jesus for coming so that we can have the blessing of salvation and for Your indwelling Spirit that keeps us connected to Yourself. Our Christmas season is very merry because of You. We love You. In Jesus' name...Amen

"XMAS"...Who Cares?

Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and
bestowed on Him the name which is above
every name, so that at the name of Jesus
every knee will bow, of those who are in heaven
and on earth and under the earth
and that EVERY tongue will confess that
Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God
the Father.
Philippians 2:9-11

About a year after our marriage, Brian and I took a trip to his hometown of Albuquerque. We had only had a day or so at wedding time for me to visit with his family and I wanted to get to know them better. Among the family members was Grandma Lanoue, Brian's grandmother. I immediately found her to be a very interesting lady. Being a history buff, I talked to her about changes in our country she had seen in her lifetime. She spoke of horses and buggies, remembering the first airplane. It amazed her that man had gone from those humble flight beginnings to walking on the moon. She spoke of medical miracles that had occurred. She had seen presidents come and go and spoke of four wars she had lived to see. She had also seen changes in the social and moral conditions in the country and the decline in those areas. Changes in women were appalling to her and she would give examples that I won't go into. I have thought since those conversations and her passing away that today, she would really be shocked just as I am at declines I have witnessed in our country just in my own lifetime.

It took all I could do to even type the above title just now. On Facebook, I've been seeing the best of Christians downplaying the Christmas issue that has been flying through the air waves these days. Leaving the word “Christ” out of Christmas doesn't seem to be worth consideration. I've seen cute things like: “We need not think about a word or symbol...we need to think about feeding the poor, clothing the naked, etc.” Some of that will happen especially among believers. After some people have put their five dollars in the Salvation Army Kettle, then what? I'm not putting down folks who do a lot of philanthropic work. God bless them...we've got to have them and Christians should be at the forefront of such activity.

The thing that really bothers me is in these many years I've lived, I've seen the erosion of spiritual values in our country that are unbelievable. In many cases, that erosion has happened from the top...many pastors have lost their zeal and yes, guts to preach the Word of God even with raised voice. My public grade school was as close to attending a Christian school as anything I have ever known of since. We pledged to the flag and Bible and then recited in Lord's Prayer in most classrooms. If someone didn't like it, too bad, but I never heard of anyone protesting and doubt if the principal cared if they did. We had government leaders who, if not Christians, conducted themselves as if they were. Why did they do that? Because of the pressure REAL Christians brought to bear on our society. You might not like the pretense of such people...today, I'll take the pretense. Now, we have more corruption in Washington, DC than can be imagined. We have a Muslim president. For the first time in a presidency, the presidents wife doesn't have Christmas trees in the White House...they are holiday trees, breaking all tradition for more years than we can remember. Should all those things bother me...YES. There's little I can do about it, but I am to pray and so live my life that I will shine Jesus' light before others.

I'm not mad at anyone in particular, but in a situation. I am pretty disappointed in whatever Christianity we have left in our country. I realize our country is full of Godly people who won't be heard by anyone. I'm not willing to give up on us or our country for Christ, but change is not going to happen if we don't remain involved in the things of God. We fold if an atheist protests or if a person of the Islamic faith complains. What is wrong with us?

It's so odd to me that what I'm saying will be criticized, especially by CHRISTians or should I say Xians. Would that symbol (Xians) come as a great shock for us to see. That's the goal of atheists, satanists, Muslims and secularists in our country. We are slowly but surely being labeled and some trying times are coming.

As I looked at the beginning verses of this blog, I am reminded that the day will come when EVERY knee will bow at the name of Jesus. We usually think of Hitler, Lenin, murderers, etc. and think of the timing of such kneeling as being far into the future. Perhaps for some, it will be so. However, I remind us that we are a part of “EVERY knee” even if we are Christians. Not just at Christmas or Easter or any other special holiday, but it's just as appropriate for you and me to “bow the knee” now to Jesus' Lordship. I can't even imagine the influence that we could have for God in our day if such were to be done in mass.

It's not about a red cup coffee cup...it's not about the sale of “Xmas trees” or upcoming “Xmas sales.” This season isn't about “holiday shopping” or public schools' “winter breaks.” I hope we will get back to Christmas trees and Christmas sales if you know what I mean in word usage. We've moved way too far from precious traditions because of political correctness. This season has got to be about who we are in Christ and Who He is. His name is too precious to be discarded. This precious season isn't about an “X”...it's about Jesus.

Dear Father, forgive my lack of courage in standing for You when I should have and didn't. In our day, may we Christians have an awareness of Satan's ploys and our need to stand firm for Your principles. Help us all to be willing to stand for something or we will find ourselves falling for anything no matter the season of the year. In Jesus' precious name....Amen