The Christ in Christmas

Edited to add: Sorry about the self-righteousness here. Even though I don't go on these Compassion trips, I still have some "re-entry" problems after them. It's hard to reconcile first-world values with pressing world need, but self-righteousness is never the answer. 


Have you noticed something peculiar lately?

Christmas now comes after Halloween.

I find it audacious that retailers switched the order of our holidays, without consulting us. But then, I only go to Walmart, so perhaps it's just Sam Walton and Co.?

I used to like Christmas, but that changed about six years ago, when we went to one income. Did you know Christmas is something you have to afford? If that's never occurred to you before, you haven't been hard up. Or maybe you never celebrated an American Christmas to begin with.

Even taking away all the presents and decorations and greeting cards and special outings, holiday food itself stretches a grocery budget, unless you stick to the basics.

If you lose your income, what's left of this holiday? If it's not the presents, decorations, cards, or big meals, what is it? What is Christmas--given that Christ was probably born in the fall, and no one from the Bible actually celebrated Christmas, beyond that first one featuring baby Jesus in the manger?

There's nothing wrong with remembering the gift we have in Christ's birth. His birth means everything to the Christian. Without it, we have nothing but the Law.

So, looking at the word Christ in Christmas, are we to contemplate and give thanks for Christ, more than we normally would in our busy schedules?  Most breadwinners do get at least one day off for Christmas, giving us more time for contemplation and thanksgiving, if we slow down.

Let me offer something else here. What about contemplating and acting out the lessons Christ came to teach?


Mark 12:30-31

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength. The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

When vast amounts of money are spent in decorating houses already more lavish than what 94% of the world lives in, and more money is spent buying gifts for people who already have everything they need to overflowing, are we practicing anything at all that Christ taught?

Let's review the American Christmas. We don't slow down to contemplate and give thanks for the unfathomable gift that Christ is to us. In fact, we speed up this time of year. That speeding up indicates we aren't loving God like this:  with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.

And we don't love our neighbor as ourselves in this season, either. Giving gifts to people who don't have what they need would satisfy this commandment. For this is how we would want to be loved: To be cared for in our time of need (including loneliness, not just physical need). To not be forgotten.

We all need to contemplate what Christmas should be, not what it is. When shopping this year, rethink buying something for someone who already has everything they need. How does this honor Christ and what he taught?  How does it commemorate anything, other than first-world greed?

We're to be set apart for Christ. That means we don't do what everyone else does; we don't love the world. We love Christ and we do what Christ does.

Christmas occurs in the heart, not at the check-out counter.

1 John 2:15
Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.

Romans 12:2
Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is--his good, pleasing and perfect will.

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

Literary Adventures With Daddy

Reading to my boys every night proved such a blessing, for years. So many moments with children count as icing on the cake, but nighttime reading? It's my all-time favorite.

When my husband started working days a few months ago, arriving home at 7 PM, he took over the nighttime novel readings, allowing me more time with the girls at their tuck-in time.

How I miss that time with Peter and Paul, but since Daddy only gets a couple hours per day with the children, sharing great books together has been so rich for all three of my men. However, when Beth is finished nursing, I definitely want to switch back and forth with husband on the tuck-ins.

In these last months my men enjoyed Pippi Longstocking, Pippi in the South Seas, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and The Wheel On The School. Included as well were a few Eleanor Estes picks--Pinky Pye, The Middle Moffatt, and Ruphus M.--books the boys enjoyed so much, they reread them during the day, after Daddy finished them.


















All these books were recommended in Honey For A Child's Heart.



Needing a new book for them, I perused the Newbery shelf at the library yesterday, finding Rascal, by Sterling North, which is also recommended in Honey For A Child's Heart. Though I had a truckload of groceries to put away after all were in bed, plus dishes, I sat on the floor with this book, thinking I'd just give it a quick peek before tackling the kitchen.



It was so good, I stayed on the floor from 9:30 PM to 11:30 PM, not wanting to put it down (or realizing how long I'd been there). Miss Beth awoke at 11:30, which is better than most nights, but it broke my literary dream bubble.

Oh, how you'll love Rascal! Autobiographical, it details one year in an 11-year-old boy's Wisconsin life (set in 1918), featuring his heartwarming friendship with a raccoon, whom he named Rascal and raised from a nursling. The main character, Sterling, lost his mother at age 7. During his eleventh year he was quite lonely, what with his distant though kind, absent-minded father often on business trips, his brother fighting in France in WW1, and his two beloved sisters off as adults, living their lives.

I didn't read it word for word, but I gave a good skim to most chapters. How wholesome, heartwarming, and enchanting this story proved to be! And beautifully written, I tell you. While probably best for boys, I must say that as a girl, I still found it a can't-put-down read.

There are perhaps two paragraphs Christian parents might want to leave out (confirmed by a Christian site I checked). One details how Sterling's biologist mother reconciled her Christian beliefs with evolution (common among Christians at this time), and the other being a few sentences about Sterling asking a Methodist preacher why his mother had to die, and then deeming the answer unsatisfactory. He does have faith, as evidenced in other parts, but it isn't yet mature.

Still, most books written in the early 1900's depict a Christian lifestyle, and this one is no exception. The Bible is read in the story, for example. Sterling is very sweet and innocent and his adventures prove exciting and endearing. The relationship he develops with Rascal, his raccoon, is very special, to say the least. Kids will understand his love for Rascal and they'll never want this book to end.

I didn't.

Especially when I looked up and remembered my kitchen.

Unless you have a teenager on your hands, the book is best as a read-aloud. Here are the specifics below, from Scholastic's site. Their grade level equivalents are different from Accelerated Reading levels:

Interest Level: Grade 4 - Grade 6

Grade Level Equivalent: 7.8

Lexile® measure: 1080L

Guided Reading: NR

Genre/Theme:
Biography and Autobiography
Young Adult

Find other books by Sterling North at this site: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/43889.Sterling_North

Blessings on Tuesday

My Gratitude List

 I am thankful for.....

...my Peter, who this morning came up to me with Mr. Popper's Penguins in his hand, exclaiming, "I love this book!  Was it recommended in Honey For A Child's Heart?" Yes, it was!  In looking for the Amazon link, I see it appears to have made it to the big screen? Without cable we're oblivious to movies that come and go, and I haven't seen the inside of a movie theater in three years. I just hope kids will still read the book? Movies sometimes discourage curiosity about books, unfortunately.





...the way little Beth loves the binoculars and carries them around for fun, despite their weight. She loves looking at birds and pretending she's on safari. We're going to the library momentarily and she wants to bring them. I see no harm, though I'm not sure my husband would agree. Don't tell on me? Someone at this library loves stuffed animals. Literally, you'll find at least two hundred stuffed animal puppets (and a puppet theater)  My kids have a blast with it, and I'm sure Beth will get some good safari pretending in. She says binoculars so cutely, I can't resist her right now.

...my Paul, who right now is playing a pretend football game down the hallway next to me, featuring himself against himself. He is calling the plays, running them, defending them, breathing hard, and having himself a blast.

...my Mary, who loves to write messages. I find them everywhere. She often comes up to me, with hopeful, begging eyes, asking me what her messages say. Out of love and mercy, I always come up with at least one word, though she writes from right to left still. She's beginning to understand the sound/symbol relationship, and soon, she will sound out three-letter words. When she asks the boys about her messages, they tell her the truth. It doesn't say anything. Then she lets out a frustrated cry, not because of ugliness, per say, but because she's so determined--the most determined of my kids, and the most stubborn. Paul prefers to teach himself and it works for him....he's so focused. Mary will take after him--as little instruction as possible, only to keep her from going astray in her knowledge.

...my husband, who understands my frustration with Beth's many wake-ups and helps as best he can. Her wake-ups make it hard to sit down at all in the evening--to enjoy a cup of cocoa or conversation, or anything else, for that matter. He does the dishes for me when Beth is having a particularly bad night. When she sleeps, her knees get stiff from the inactivity. Then, when her body wants to change positions, it hurts to move, thus waking her.

...all the Compassion International staff who give selflessly and love abundantly. They are my heros. I wish I could give each of them a big hug. There's so little I can do, and so much they do. They see such pain, yet they instill Hope and bring about redemption, through the power of the Holy Spirit. They are not easily discouraged; He has equipped them for this labor of love.


...a letter from Divya, who writes that with the $15 she bought a jacket, a new dress, and some sweets. And what did she do with the sweets, which she probably rarely sees? She took them to church, to share with all her friends. I can't even write it without tears. What volumes that spoke to my own children's hearts, and to ours. She is so sweet.

I ache to send more so that her parents can start a business or generate income in some way. They are both laborers, working only part of the year. But I have to remember. Lack of money isn't the real problem. If God wanted Divya to receive $500, he certainly has it in the bank. Agreed? God owns the earth and everything in it. He waited for my heart and he will use its fruit. He will multiply it, beyond a jacket and a dress and some sweets. Hallelujah!

He is waiting for the heart of every person living in plenty. For us to be willing to share, as Divya shared her candy. God will take care of the rest.

And if we don't share, after knowing the need? Vengeance is mine, saith the Lord. We are studying Revelation and I know something more about God's vengeance. Just as His love couldn't be more beautiful, His vengeance couldn't be more ugly. He is to be feared!


The injustice isn't His. It's ours. We are Christians and we were saved to be the hands and feet of Jesus here on earth--not just to enjoy eternity.

You know, and I know. But how many still don't know? What can we do to spread the word? Let's commit this to prayer as the Body of Christ--for even in our churches, it isn't known. There is evidence of plenty, of waste, in almost every church I attend. Love your neighbor as yourself isn't fully understood, and how can we change that, as the Body of Christ?

It starts with our own heart, with our own prayers. How do you want to use me, Lord, from my little corner of the world? Make me your instrument of mercy and grace.

1 John 3:15-18


¹⁶ This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. And we ought to lay down our lives for our brothers and sisters. ¹⁷ If anyone has material possessions and sees a brother or sister in need but has no pity on them, how can the love of God be in that person? ¹⁸ Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth. source

The Prayer Warrior Life: Recognizing the Power

So, it's well established that I don't like technology. Right?


Imagine my delight this morning when I learned that the quiet, master-bedroom computer, at which the boys do their Teaching Textbooks math CD Rom, had gone bonkers. Bonkers would be non-tech speak for a situation in which all programs and websites are much larger than the screen, so that you have to continually scroll back and forth to use them.


Miss Mary, who uses Caillou's Preschool and a Dora program on Nick Jr., worked her magic yesterday. If anything goes wrong with her programs, she starts getting into anything and everything on the computer itself, troubleshooting her way into a mess.


We couldn't skip math, so Momma had to do some troubleshooting of her own, getting into the control panel to figure out what Mary did to the resolution. 


It wasn't so simple, and an hour later, I went into total whining mode, all the while wondering if my "babysitters" were keeping Beth out of trouble. I'd already been interrupted at least 10 times, which is standard. 


How I can think at all during the day, is a testimony to the workings of the Momma Mind, miraculously arranged by our Creator to match our job description.


Trust me, if you leave your husband alone with your four children while you spend eighty minutes grocery shopping, you'll return to find out that the Daddy Mind doesn't quite match the stay-at-home job description. The other option--shopping with four children--is sometimes preferred. He's a great Daddy and when they're outside for the whole eighty minutes, all is great when I return, with the children mighty blessed by their fun-filled Daddy. It's the house + kids combination that doesn't work for him. A multi-tasking Momma he ain't. 


Often when I type something in the living room during the day--either a post or an e-mail--my kids are right by me, kicking a ball down the hall and making all manner of exciting background noise--apparently thinking that when Momma takes a break, they get one too. Since it's too rainy for recess today, ball games down the hallway will make for some nice Monday Mania.  


Don't you wish you could come for tea?


Now you know why typos are so common.


The last I looked, they all had some Goldfish at the table, counting them by ones and fives for the preschoolers' benefit. Yes, that's right, when the main teacher is unavailable, the older ones step right up to the task, creating school out of life.


So back to my computer problem. In desperation, I prayed and asked all the kids to pray. 


Notice how I didn't pray up front, before I began tinkering? Big mistake. 


Why, oh why, do we believing humans fail to get God on our side right away?


After we prayed, I got back into the screen resolution thingy, and lo and behold, I fixed it immediately (based on the size of the icons anyway).


Following that, I got into e-mail to see if we could view an entire message without scrolling right and left, and then into a website to see if Paul could read his Mr. Popper's Penguins comprehension questions. (Scholastic's About This Book gives a synopsis. Both boys love this 1938 Newberry Honor book.)


Bingo. Fixed.


There was one new e-mail, from one of my online friends, saying, "Just prayed for your sweet girl and your family." 


This was such a powerful reminder today. When we pray for others, it really does impact them. Even if the prayer doesn't take away a particular problem, it can change the perception and negative impact of the problem, so that grace rains down on the family, right then and there, as the prayer is being uttered. 


When we pray during the day with the prayer jar, or alone at night, I don't think either the children, or the adults, really comprehend the power of the words, or of the act itself. Prayer with children around, either private prayer or that done corporately, can seem so disorganized and interrupted and insane. 


But God hears through screaming fits, through nighttime wake-ups that interrupt our flow....through anything. Our prayers are sacred, even when they feel like the opposite. The worst thing we can do is think, not today, it's too insane around here. 


Someone on your list really needs the grace-raining your prayers will bring. 


Thank you, sweet friend! 


To read more of my prayer journey, check out Into a Life of Prayer: A Journey Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7

To read even more, check out The Prayer Warrior Life part 1; part 2; part 3; part 4; part 5, part 6, Part 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13

A sweet friend, Amy, wrote guests posts for us, telling of her prayer journey: Vol. 1, and Vol. 2, and Vol. 3, Vol. 4, Vol. 5


photo credit

Learning the Beauty of No

The Compassion blog posts out of Ecuador this week have been so moving. All of them. 


I have my favorites though, and today I'd like to share one.


It was penned by Melanie of Big Mama. Read the entire post here (pictures of the Amazon included). 


Here is a moving excerpt. 


As we were leaving the last Center today we had to walk on a vast expanse of rocks to get back to our canoes. We were all given rubber rainboots to wear for the day and had to walk very carefully from rock to rock so that we wouldn’t lose our footing. Not to mention that rubber boots don’t offer a lot of comfort against the rocks. Some of them were slippery from being in the water and I’d feel myself start to stumble and have to walk even slower.


But as we pulled away in our canoe, I noticed the children RUNNING across that same treacherous rocky terrain effortlessly. They didn’t seem to notice that the rocks hurt their feet or that the path was sometimes unsteady or that they might trip and fall. They just ran. They ran with joy.


I turned to Sophie and remarked, “Look at them running on those rocks when we were barely able to walk.”


And that’s when it dawned on me.


How incredible it is that I’m barely able to walk on those rocks, but they are able to run on them. With joy and freedom. They run.


It hit me that they have a faith in The Rock and a trust in Him that allows them to run. They run with abandon. They run with joy. They follow Him because He is all they have and they get that He is all they need.

I have a particular reason for loving these words. I've seen this miracle in my own children, though on a smaller scale.

Toys were plentiful here at one time. Sickeningly plentiful. Mommy was generous, though things came from thrift stores and garage sales most of the time. Gluttony is foolish, no matter the avenue.

A combination of things changed the landscape around here. First, the Holy Spirit spoke: These children have the stench. You've spoiled them with your yes. He didn't mince words.

Next, my husband lost his full-time job. Part-time jobs came soon enough, but even with 55 hours a week, he's still underemployed. Even a $3 garage sale purchase puts a dent in our budget.

Recently, I had to say: "No Halloween costumes. We can't afford them. Make do with what you have on hand." They decided to forgo Halloween because it wasn't that important to them. Even a trip to the thrift store for farmer clothes wasn't in the cards. 

They rode a scooter at someone's house recently, for the first time. Immediately, they wanted one. Sorry, we can't afford it.

Though there's sometimes disappointment, they've come to trust that He knows what they need.

We've uttered "sorry, we can't afford it" for 2.5 years and counting.

And the result? I like my kids more now. They're not spoiled. They're sweeter. They know the value of a dollar. 

We've purged toys three times, and each time, my kids get richer, not poorer. They get rich on God, because he's a bigger part of their lives. With fewer distractions, He enlarges. 

They really need Him. 

He's the one who fixes cars and provides more milk and puts gas in a car that's running on fumes. 

He's the one who provides the soccer ball we can't afford, because a little boy dreamed about it and prayed.

He's the one who provides the new jacket right before the coldest, windiest fall day, after a trip to the thrift store turned up nothing.

Mommy and Daddy can't provide, but God can. 

He's proven himself, because our poverty gave Him the chance.

When I said sorry, no scooter, it wasn't hard.  

You see, they don't need a scooter. They have bikes. They have their legs to run with, balls to throw. Trees to hide behind. They have minds that, when pressed, think up new, exciting, thrilling games. They have each other.

The less I give them, the more they have--both spiritually and mentally.

Think of it this way. When there's just a dirt floor, little food, no furniture, and no plan for tomorrow, He's all there is.

Everything added to this dirt-floor picture that isn't a need, blurs Him. Until eventually, He's gone.

No, I don't want dirt floors here. And yes, I'm grateful for the soccer ball. 

But I want Him to shine brightest.  

No is wise. Yes is easy, but cheap. All roads don't lead to Him and we get to choose.

No to the world of gluttony and comparison and greed. 

Yes to Him.

It hit me that they have a faith in The Rock and a trust in Him that allows them to run. They run with abandon. They run with joy. They follow Him because He is all they have and they get that He is all they need.