Happy New Year’s Adam 2017

Well, it’s New Year’s Adam again. In case you forgot from last year, Adam came before Eve, so New Year’s Adam comes before New Year’s Eve. Then it’s 2018.

I’m still just getting used to 2017.

Seriously. By the time I adjusted to writing 2017 on everything, the year was already half over. Then it was Halloween. Then Thanksgiving. Then Christmas. Then bam! 2018!

I think 2017 was about fretting and worrying less and trusting more.

2017 was about learning how much worrying is really just planning for a future without God in it, and how the antidote to all that worry is trust and prayer.

Just as much as 2017 was, 2018 is in God’s hands.

 

Pray Big


(Ann Voskamp)

With only two more days left in 2017, one resolution I intend to restart in 2018 is to pray bigger and bolder.

I’m not so much praying the impossible for myself (though I will be bold in my own prayers) as much as I’m praying it for family and friends.

Maybe our new motto, modified from the original Star Trek slogan, is to pray boldly where no man (or woman) has ever prayed before.

So pray big. Pray boldly. Pray in such a way that the answer can only be explained by God– and nothing or no one else.

Pray, knowing that the Holy Spirit still helps us when words fail and only groans and sighs come. Even if it seems you get it wrong, the Holy Spirit always gets it right.

Pray as much and as often as possible.

Just pray.

 

Come to Me

“Come to Me, all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28, The Voice).

That’s the promise.

To all who are weary and heavy-laden, as the old King James puts it, to all who work to the point of exhaustion, as another translation puts it, there’s rest.

All you have to do is come to Jesus.

You don’t have to figure your life out or get your mess cleaned up.

You don’t have to have your five-year life plan perfectly mapped out or all your goals and resolutions lined up for the new year.

You don’t have to have perfect theology or doctrines.

You don’t have to be perfect.

All you have to do is come to Jesus, and you will find rest.

 

 

 

It’s Resolution Time Again

By my count, we have 4 more days of 2017. That means it’s time for those new year’s resolutions again.

I have some advice, not original with me, about how to go about making those resolutions go from wishful thinking to reality.

  1. Write them down somewhere. Even if it’s on a roll of toilet paper, writing them down moves them from hypothetical to real goals.
  2. Make them tangible and visual. Don’t just say that you want to lose weight. Say that you want to run in a 5K or fit into size 32 jeans.
  3. Make them realistic. Don’t aim to run an Ironman Triathlon if you’ve never done any serious running in your entire life.
  4. Celebrate the victories, even the small ones.
  5. Remember that the ultimate goal isn’t hitting goals but improving your quality of life.
  6. Make at least one goal very attainable, like taking a nap every day. Ok, that one’s mine, but I think it’s a good one.

So there you go. I actually wrote something that has bullet points and everything. Unlike my Pinterest boards, you can actually use it to do something constructive.

Now go and do it.

 

364 More Days

Yes, it’s only 364 more days until Christmas 2018. Yes, I’m already counting.

I’m always a little sad when Christmas Day ends. I know that technically if you count the 12 days of Christmas, we have until January 6, the Day of Ascension.  But still, it feels like some of the magic has ended for another year.

Maybe this year, I’ll go crazy and watch Christmas movies in months other than December. I could always pick a few to watch on the 25th of each month.

Or maybe I could go even crazier and actually buy some of my Christmas gifts early, so I can actually enjoy the Advent and Christmas season without worrying about who will get what.

Best of all, I can always be like that old Ebenezer Scrooge at the end of A Christmas Carol and honor Christmas in my heart all the days of the year, especially the Child in the manger who doesn’t just live in the hearts of men and women one day of the year.

But you can rest assured that I WILL be counting down the days until December 25, 2018. Darn tootin’.

 

 

That Magic Blanket

“Christmas – that magic blanket that wraps itself about us, that something so intangible that it is like a fragrance. It may weave a spell of nostalgia. Christmas may be a day of feasting, or of prayer, but always it will be a day of remembrance – a day in which we think of everything we have ever loved” (Augusta E. Rundel).

If you asked me to name all the gifts I received last year, I’d probably get about half of them right. If you went further back — say five years– I probably wouldn’t have the first clue.

It’s not about the gifts. It’s about remembering and creating new memories.

It seems that on Christmas all the ones we’ve ever lost seem nearer, and their loss felt more keenly, than on any other day of the year. I even found myself missing my old cat Lucy more today than I have in a while.

It’s also remembering the Child born in the manger who grew up to be the Savior of the world. His life and death and resurrection mean that those we’ve lost don’t have to live on only in our memories. Those who have died in Jesus will be the first to be resurrected, and we will see them again.

Christmas and Easter mean that nothing good in this life is ever lost. True hope never dies and true faith never fails.

In 48 minutes, another Christmas will be in the books, but the meaning and spirit of the day will live on into 2018 and through all the days of all the years.

 

 

This is Still the Time God Chooses

“For this is still the time God chooses.”

It still amazes me the way God broke into the world, not as a powerful ruler but as a helpless infant born to a peasant couple in backwoods Bethlehem.

It still amazes me how the first evangelists weren’t the highly trained religious scholars who had spent their entire lives searching the Scriptures but some smelly illiterate shepherds guarding their flocks on some remote hill out in the middle of nowhere.

It still amazes me that the place God chose to lay His head that first night wasn’t on some soft downy pillow but among the straw in a feeding trough.

It still amazes me that God chose to come on the darkest night at the bleakest moment in history and become Emmanuel, God with us.

It amazes me even more that God looked into the darkness of my own heart and said, “For this one, I’m willing to be born in order to die on a rugged cross.”

I’m most amazed that I’m not more astonished at this marvelous event. Most of the time, I take it for granted and presume on God’s mercies like I’m entitled to them, when in reality I’m the least deserving of but most overwhelmed by the grace of God.

Christmas reminds me of what a pastor once said about how heaven isn’t a reward for the righteous but a gift for the guilty. Emmanuel didn’t come for those who are confident in their own abilities and righteousness but for those who know how desperately they need a Savior. He came to seek and save those who know they are lost.

When the time was right, the Anointed One died for all of us who were far from God, powerless, and weak. Now it is rare to find someone willing to die for an upright person, although it’s possible that someone may give up his life for one who is truly good. But think about this: while we were wasting our lives in sin, God revealed His powerful love to us in a tangible display—the Anointed One died for us” (Romans 5:6-8, The Voice).

The Word Made Flesh

“When the Maker of time, the Word of the Father, was made Flesh, He gave us His birthday in time, and He, without Whose divine bidding no day runs its course, in His incarnation reserved one day for Himself. He Himself with the Father precedes all spans of time, but on this day, issuing from His mother, He stepped into the tide of years. Man’s Maker was made Man that He, the Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother’s breast, that the Bread might be hungry, that the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired from the journey, that Truth be accused by false witnesses, that the Judge of the living and dead be judged by a mortal judge, that the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Vine crowned with thorns, the Foundation be suspended on wood, that Strength might be made weak, that the Healer be wounded, that Life might die

He became Man in order to suffer these and similar undeserved things for us so that He might save us, who are undeserving of being saved. He, Who on account of us endured such great evils, Himself merited no evil, while we, who through Him are so bountifully blessed, have no merits of our own, except for those He chooses to give us, to show for such blessings. Therefore, because of this, He, Who before all ages and without any beginning determined by days, was the Son of God, saw fit in these latter days to become the Son of Man. And, He, Who was born of the Father but not made by the Father, was made in the womb of the mother whom He Himself had made, that He might be born here on earth of her who did not exist except through Him. She was the one who conceived Him in her heart before conceiving Him in her womb” (St. Augustine).

Happy Winter Solstice!

Apparently, today is the Winter Solstice, a fact that almost slipped by. It’s 11:16 pm and I only just realized today is the shortest day of the year. After today, the amount of daylight starts increasing again with a view to Spring 2018. So, that means that it won’t be getting dark at 4 pm for much longer.

Today is also Short Girl Appreciation Day for any girl who’s 5’5″ or under. If you qualify, I definitely think you should celebrate. After all, some reach perfection earlier than others, right?

I confess that I don’t feel ready for Christmas. Not in the least. I have nearly all my presents bought and wrapped, but I don’t feel like my heart is prepared for the coming of the Child born in the manger.

I blinked and it was already Advent season. I blinked again and it’s 3 days until Christmas. I blink again and it will all be over until 2018.

I wish that it would all slow down for a little while. I want to take the time to relish and savor this Christmas season before it’s all over.

Today is also the first official day of winter. In the usual ironic twist of Tennessee weather, we’re having a bit of a warm spell. Not warm in the sense of breaking out the speedos, but in the sense of wearing lighter jackets. It could almost be spring (or early fall).

So, happy Winter Solstice/First Day of Winter/Advent!

May you truly come to the true heart of Christmas this season and celebrate the Child in the manger who still does not live in the hearts of men and women one day of the year but all the days of all the years.

 

 

Missing Our Princess

I finally got around to seeing the latest installment in the Star Wars franchise, The Last Jedi. It’s not the absolute best or the absolute worst Star Wars movie I’ve ever seen. It does entertain and tell a good story, which is what these movies have always been about.

It was bittersweet seeing Carrie Fisher one last time as Princess Leia. She passed away on December 27 after suffering a major heart attack on a flight.

There was a touching tribute in the credits that read, “In loving memory of our princess, Carrie Fisher.”

It still feels like part of my childhood has passed away. I wonder how they’ll address her absence in Episode IX, which probably hits theaters in 2019. I know for certain that the movie won’t be the same without her. I for one hope they don’t try to insert a CGI-Carrie into the movie.

In keeping with tradition and respect, I won’t give away any spoilers here. I will say to go see Star Wars: The Last Jedi as soon as humanly possible. It’s definitely a movie that needs to be seen in a movie theater.

In the mean time, she will never be truly gone. Her movies will still be around to remind people of just what an amazing actress and human being she was.

RIP, Princess Leia. We will always miss you.