A Very Merry Christmas

I’ve normally been a bit more ‘prompt’ in posting a Collie Family Christmas Card of sorts — to send cheer and warmest wishes to you friends and readers I hold so dear. But I juggled a few new special privileges this Christmas season and the time for sitting down for a Christmasy-year-end-wrap-up didn’t permit.

So here it is… a little belated, but perhaps still perfectly timed?

2013 has been a year unlike any other for me. I have wept like never before. Hurt like never before. Laughed like never before. And just maybe — lived like never before.

It’s hard to sum it all up with one special nicely decorated and well-framed image of 2013, so I think I’d rather give you several favorites from this year, and stir together some thoughtfully chosen words for good measure.

_QTP3227

I’ve been surprised by joy recently. At a time that I expected a heap of sad to carry around with me, I’ve been happy… joyful. Even unexpectedly hopeful for what’s ahead.

_QTP3027

Day-to-day life is full of reminders, great and small, that there is so much to be thankful for.

_QTP9198

And it’s been said before, even right here by me: Only he who sees takes off his shoes.

_QTP7797

But I’ve practically been walking around barefoot lately. Learning to say thanks, to see the gift in every circumstance. It is an exercise in re-training an old soul.

_QTP1221

Gratitude is the best new trick this old soul can learn. And it’s no trick at all — it’s more of a decision to change the way you see the world around you.

_QTP7961

To turn all of life into a treasure hunt, just keep looking for gems to bury in your heart. Giving thanks is grabbing a shovel.

_QTP7967

Someone commented in a sympathy card after my Dad’s passing that he’d been promoted. Promoted to glory. This was his promotion. I thought long and hard about it. Turned it over like a two sided coin between my fingers.

And truly. I believe it. I shouldn’t feel sorry for him. If I believe what I say I believe about what it means to love Jesus, he has been truly promoted. And it is glorious. Perhaps I’ve felt a little sorry for me. Maybe even a lot sorry for me. For my kids. For our loss that was his gain.

But re-focus the lens, grab the shovel and get back to looking for reasons to give thanks — and my heart lightens, my step lightens, my perspective changes.

A year has passed. 2013 is fading away. And though it contained hard and sad and conversations with children about death and a funeral, it would be so wrong not to see this year as gift.

Classic Film__QTP3728

It is not all perfect — today a backed-up septic tank, tomorrow, we can’t be sure. But I’ve seen enough, and seen enough cause to be thankful that I’m certain, still, It’s all good.

_MG_3155

The hope that we celebrate this time of year — the Good News of God with us — is the greatest reason for joy all year long.

I hope your Christmas has been incredibly Merry and Bright — and that the God whose birth we celebrate on December 25th will be present with you, day by day, in the year to come. And a tip? Giving thanks might help pave the way.

Thank you for your friendship this year. It has meant more than you know.

From our hearts to yours, with love,

the Collies xoxo

The Christmas Story: The Beginning and the End

I love a good story. And one of my favorite parts of homeschooling the Bear has been getting introduced to new stories in the children’s books selected for the Five in a Row Literature series. We read a new book every day for a week and pull out different things to discuss: perhaps a science lesson, new vocabulary, character lessons, elements of the story that are important to discuss, how the illustrator created the imagery and what we can do to do create something similar.

A couple of weeks ago, we were sitting down for our Five in a Row time, and I’d deviated a little from the books on the list in order to read the Christmas story in his Beginner’s Bible each day that week. There were lots of interesting aspects of the story to discuss, and I was super-impressed with the Bear’s version of the angel, Gabriel, which he drew and painted one afternoon.

Gabriel

{The Bear’s Gabriel – Remember he’s only 5 folks!}

Clothespinangel

{I also came up with an idea for clothespin angels!}

One morning, we read the story and before discussion time I quickly went to put the Belle down for her nap. When I returned, he had flipped through the Bible, all the way to the story of the crucifixion. He asked if I would read that story to him as well.

Imagining how this could be a very useful and teachable moment, I immediately started reading — but I didn’t expect it to be a teachable moment for me.

We read about Judas carrying out his “bad plan” and about it being time for Jesus to die, as it had been planned for a long time. And after his (G-rated) death, then there was, “A Great Surprise” — the Resurrection.

It was so strange to see so many parallels — and to consider that this was the end that God had in mind, from the beginning. That precious baby boy, wrapped in swaddling clothes and laid in a manger, would eventually become a fully grown, fully God-man, wrapped in grave clothes and laid in a tomb. From a poor baby’s crib, a feeding trough for animals — to a rich man’s tomb, the gift of another Joseph.

His unexpected birth while Mary & Joseph were just visiting in Bethlehem was paralleled by an unexpected death, when he and his followers were “just visiting” Jerusalem.

But the thing that stood out the most to me — what I’d never noticed before that made me drop my jaw and say, “Wow!” aloud, to the Bear? The story began with an angel appearing to a woman named Mary, telling the Good News of the arrival of the Son of God. And the story ended with an angel, appearing to a woman named Mary, who’d arrived at the tomb to mourn — but the angel had Good News — Jesus was alive again!

From that first announcement of the impending imminence, to the final telling of His death-defeating transcendence, it is a story that a writer just relishes to read. The very re-telling of it, simplified into a children’s Bible, is still awe-inspiring.

This simple and unexpected parallel made me consider how Jesus’ story absolutely began with the end in mind.

And what does it mean for us now? Could it serve to remind us that Christmas and the Crucifixion are rightly seen as inseparable, first and final acts in the greatest story ever told? Could the Christmas trees lighting up our homes remind us that the One who hung on a dead tree brought life and light to all of us?

And the angels we sing of, we speak of, we decorate our trees with — could they remind us of those twin bookends to that greatest of stories? That miraculous, angelic Good News bringing, that had all of heaven excited? Couldn’t it serve to remind us that you and I, and all the earth, should continue to celebrate the Good News, live the Good News, and share the Good News all year long?

He is the gift wrapped up from God to all the world, with swaddling clothes at the beginning and grave clothes at the end. Planned from the beginning, foretold by the Law and the prophets, announced by the angels, born at night to symbolize the Light arriving into the darkness, rising again in Glorious Day to signify that the Light had fully come.

He is a gift too large to fit under any tree, but the right size to grow our hearts a few sizes the instant we understand the meaning.

What a glorious story to savor, start to finish!

Whether the lights are still twinkling on your tree, or the wreath no longer graces the door, hold it tightly in your heart.

Merry, merry Christmas.

xCC

The Christmas Story: Oh Night, Divine

Hi guys and gals! As we count down the days to Christmas, I’m looking forward to writing about The Christmas Story. Not “A Christmas Story” with Ralphie in the bunny pajamas, although I love that movie, but The Christmas Story, the coming of the long-awaited Messiah nearly two thousand years ago. 

But first, I need to ask your forgiveness for my delay in picking a winner for the {Minted} Giveaway! We were traveling back from Thanksgiving in Atlanta and it totally fell off my radar! So, powered by Rafflecopter and Random.org, here is the randomly-selected winner of $50 at Minted:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations, Debbie!!! I’ll be emailing you the details so you can head over to Minted and enjoy choosing something from their beautiful collection!

And a big thank you to all who entered! I hope you enjoyed checking out the unique stuff on Minted’s site and please keep dropping by, I think we’ll have another giveaway soon! Now on to The Christmas Story…

***

It’s funny that the stories of each of my small people’s births start in the night, or perhaps, more specifically, the early wee hours of the morning when it’s still dark. The Bear’s marathon labor all began with my water breaking very early one morning, and the Belle’s sprinting arrival jumpstarted with contractions around three or four AM.

Most especially our darling Tank was a late night arrival — and we were so grateful. The empty streets at 2 am were what allowed us to rush to the hospital, and what made it possible for me to give birth in the hospital instead of in the car on the way to the hospital, which seemed like it was going to be the case.

It was strange to consider: while the world around us was sleeping, this big event had taken place. Our friends and family would wake up to hear the news: the six-days-overdue little Tiger of ours, or the Bear who arrived exactly on his due date, or the Belle who definitely took her time and then made haste, each finally made their lovely appearance.

Luke’s account of the Birth of Jesus tells us that He made a similar appearance, that while they were in for the census, “the time came for the baby to be born, 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.”

Next, “there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night.” And to them, the angels appeared, declaring the Good News of the arrival of the Messiah, the Lord.

It is worth stopping to wonder — why was Jesus born at night? Why not during the day where more people might’ve been awake to hear the news or see the angels?

Perhaps it was partly for His own protection — knowing there was a King waiting to find this very child and put an end to the beginning of the change of history forever. The less people who knew about the Christ’s arrival — in this fragile, early stage — the better.

Perhaps it was protective for Mary and Joseph as well — the animals in the stall serving as the only witnesses to this miracle-made-flesh.

I wonder if it wasn’t also for you, and for me, too.

DSC_0114.jpg

Jesus was born at night and it’s easy to notice the symbolism. The stage was set on one dark and Holy Night for the Light of the World to arrive into a world of darkness. A world that deeply and desperately needed a Savior.

Many of us would say these are dark days — we fear the decisions of our governments, we see children starving halfway around the world or around the corner, we watch the news of how 10,000 people can lose their lives in a single day, due to a single Super-Storm crashing onto their shores.

But those days were dark, too. The people of Israel waited, desperate for a Messiah to deliver them from political oppression. On the throne sat a king willing to wipe out a giant mass of baby boys in order to secure his place of power.

The Light of the World didn’t just arrive into the literal darkness of night. He also appeared on the scene of a dark night of the collective souls of the people He would deliver.

And the truth is right there: He didn’t just set the stage for the greatest life ever lived. He set a pattern for how He first operated, and how He continues to operate.

Jesus arrives in the dark night of the soul. He arrives in the dark places where we see no hope, we see no way out.

He brings His powerful presence into the situation. And though we might not at first perceive that He has arrived, or that He is at work, yet things have absolutely changed forever — already.

He arrived, with Presence, as I sat on the floor of a hotel room on one of the darkest nights of my soul — knowing that, short of a miracle, the loss of my Dad was imminent. His Presence didn’t immediately change the reality of the situation, 2,000 years ago or seven months ago.

But His arrival was a sign of Hope that brought great Peace. Like a voice declaring:

Behold — deliverance is at hand. Fall on your knees, oh, hear the angel voices.

Something spectacular is taking place.

Perhaps that first arrival is also an important foreshadowing of the second: one glorious day, He will come again. On that occasion there will be no mistaking Who is making an appearance. And everything will be set right for all eternity.

But for now, let’s not miss the meaning of that great Light, arriving in the darkness.

Remember, dear ones, when you are in the midst of a dark night of the soul, when you’re in a dark place, the stage is set for His arrival. Turn your gaze ever so slightly — like a shepherd looking up at the sky at night — and I trust you’ll get a sense of the One who can bring Peace into every situation, the One who is always with us.

The One the named God With Us.

He was with us, in the dark, long ago, and — glory, glory, absolutely Hallelujah — He still is.

xCC