Midnight . . . December 31st
the split second when
2011 tips into 2012
some will party the new year in
others will sleep through it
However the new year
enters our life
it causes us to
cogitate on the past year
I like that word, cogitate . . .
ponder
reflect on
consider
chew over
I remember when . . . !
At my age, cogitating marks me
as an old codger?
Reflection is good
but look what God says . . .
"Forget the things that happened in the past.
Do not keep on thinking about them.
I am about to do something new.
It is beginning to happen even now.
Don't you see it coming?
I am going to make a way for you to go through the desert.
I will make streams of water in the dry and empty land.”
Isaiah 43:18-19 NIRV
God says He will make a way
for us to go THROUGH the desert
not half way . . . through it!
and make streams of water
in our dry and empty land
but we must forget the past
good / bad
natural / spiritual
so as not to miss the NEW God is doing!
12:01 a.m.
January 1, 2012 . . .
let go of the past
anticipate
expect
God’s living water
to bring life to every
dry and empty area of our lives!
Saturday, December 31, 2011
Monday, December 26, 2011
Christmases Past -- Part 3
As wonderful as memories of
Christmases past are . . .
they all pale
in comparison to God’s precious gift . . .
In the beginning the Word already existed.
He was with God, and He was God.
So the Word became human
and lived here on earth among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
And we have seen his glory,
the glory of the only Son of the Father.
John 1:1, 12-14
For God so loved
the world (you and me!)
that he gave
his only Son,
so that everyone
who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life
John 3:16 NLT (emphasis added)
If you have not received God’s gift
but would like to, here’s how . . .
For if you confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For it is by believing in your heart
that you are made right with God,
and it is by confessing
with your mouth that you are saved.
For anyone
who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
Romans 10:9-10, 13
Blessings!
Christmases past are . . .
they all pale
in comparison to God’s precious gift . . .
In the beginning the Word already existed.
He was with God, and He was God.
So the Word became human
and lived here on earth among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness.
And we have seen his glory,
the glory of the only Son of the Father.
John 1:1, 12-14
For God so loved
the world (you and me!)
that he gave
his only Son,
so that everyone
who believes in him
will not perish but have eternal life
John 3:16 NLT (emphasis added)
If you have not received God’s gift
but would like to, here’s how . . .
For if you confess with your mouth
that Jesus is Lord
and believe in your heart
that God raised him from the dead,
you will be saved.
For it is by believing in your heart
that you are made right with God,
and it is by confessing
with your mouth that you are saved.
For anyone
who calls on the name of the Lord
will be saved.
Romans 10:9-10, 13
Blessings!
Sunday, December 11, 2011
Christmases Past -- Part 2
The annual Christmas parade downtown Lincoln the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
Picking out a pattern and fabric for my new Christmas outfit, sewn by my mother.
Our first scotch pine Christmas tree instead of the usual “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree . . . we became “modern” with that tree!
Hanging tinsel, straight and even!
Making paper chains for the tree.
Christmas Eve with at my Dad’s parents! Christmas Day with my mom’s mother! Alternating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with grandparents until they died. Loved those times with the cousins!
Christmas in Humboldt, Iowa (northern Iowa) . . . Ken’s grandparents' home. ALWAYS lots of crunchy snow! Relatives stopping by to visit around coffee and cookies . . . promptly at 10 am and 3 pm . . . the oak table we gathered around now resides in Ken’s and my dining room!
To be continued . . .
Picking out a pattern and fabric for my new Christmas outfit, sewn by my mother.
Our first scotch pine Christmas tree instead of the usual “Charlie Brown” Christmas tree . . . we became “modern” with that tree!
Hanging tinsel, straight and even!
Making paper chains for the tree.
Christmas Eve with at my Dad’s parents! Christmas Day with my mom’s mother! Alternating Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with grandparents until they died. Loved those times with the cousins!
Christmas in Humboldt, Iowa (northern Iowa) . . . Ken’s grandparents' home. ALWAYS lots of crunchy snow! Relatives stopping by to visit around coffee and cookies . . . promptly at 10 am and 3 pm . . . the oak table we gathered around now resides in Ken’s and my dining room!
To be continued . . .
Friday, December 9, 2011
Christmases Past -- Part 1
Sunday School Christmas programs . . . each child had a line to memorize and recite, as well as Christmas carols to memorize!
Coming out of the German Congregational Church in the “North Bottoms” (Germans from Russia area), after watching my cousins in their Christmas program, to snowflakes the size of silver dollars! It was sooooo beautiful that surely there had been silver dollar sized snowflakes the night Jesus was born! Each child received a brown bag filled with lots of peanuts, lots of candy, a box of raisins, an orange, and an apple. And let me tell you, this was not a little, brown lunch bag like we use today! (I was infant baptized in this church and attended Sunday School there until I was 5 years old.)
Christmas Eve candlelight services at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. A small candle and paper collar was given to each of us as we entered the service. The service ended with the singing of Silent Night . . . the sanctuary lit only by the small candles. To this day, I get emotional singing Silent Night. (I attended this church for 25 years, age 5 to age 30.)
Christmas caroling . . . the youth group and choir going by car to the “old” people and shut ins of this Lutheran congregation. Our singing was rewarded with cookies or candy at each home . . . or were they bribing us to stop singing? The last home we caroled was always at Grannie Christiansen’s. She was one of the founding members of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. Loved that woman. Grannie lived on a farm at the top of a hill on 57th or 58th & Prescott . . . 56th Street was a gravel, country road back then. Her home still stands today. Grannie always had lots of cookies and punch and eggnog for us!
Going to the University of Nebraska coliseum for the Elks annual, children’s Christmas party. The coliseum was packed with kids and parents! And we got a big bag of peanuts and candy as we left! I remember getting up early to go to this . . . sitting on the couch to wake up, with only the Christmas tree lights on. One year, our tree had only blue lights . . . the large bulbs back then! Sitting there in the blue light of the tree with Christmas music playing is very vivid to me still.
There were no malls “back in the old days,” so we did our Christmas shopping downtown! And there was always lots of snow. Gold’s Department Store and Miller & Paine had animated Christmas displays in each of their storefront windows . . . sometimes a live Santa sat in a rocking chair in one of the windows, smiling and waving. Other stores decorated their windows, too, but Gold’s & Millers were the best!
To be continued . . .
Coming out of the German Congregational Church in the “North Bottoms” (Germans from Russia area), after watching my cousins in their Christmas program, to snowflakes the size of silver dollars! It was sooooo beautiful that surely there had been silver dollar sized snowflakes the night Jesus was born! Each child received a brown bag filled with lots of peanuts, lots of candy, a box of raisins, an orange, and an apple. And let me tell you, this was not a little, brown lunch bag like we use today! (I was infant baptized in this church and attended Sunday School there until I was 5 years old.)
Christmas Eve candlelight services at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. A small candle and paper collar was given to each of us as we entered the service. The service ended with the singing of Silent Night . . . the sanctuary lit only by the small candles. To this day, I get emotional singing Silent Night. (I attended this church for 25 years, age 5 to age 30.)
Christmas caroling . . . the youth group and choir going by car to the “old” people and shut ins of this Lutheran congregation. Our singing was rewarded with cookies or candy at each home . . . or were they bribing us to stop singing? The last home we caroled was always at Grannie Christiansen’s. She was one of the founding members of Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church. Loved that woman. Grannie lived on a farm at the top of a hill on 57th or 58th & Prescott . . . 56th Street was a gravel, country road back then. Her home still stands today. Grannie always had lots of cookies and punch and eggnog for us!
Going to the University of Nebraska coliseum for the Elks annual, children’s Christmas party. The coliseum was packed with kids and parents! And we got a big bag of peanuts and candy as we left! I remember getting up early to go to this . . . sitting on the couch to wake up, with only the Christmas tree lights on. One year, our tree had only blue lights . . . the large bulbs back then! Sitting there in the blue light of the tree with Christmas music playing is very vivid to me still.
There were no malls “back in the old days,” so we did our Christmas shopping downtown! And there was always lots of snow. Gold’s Department Store and Miller & Paine had animated Christmas displays in each of their storefront windows . . . sometimes a live Santa sat in a rocking chair in one of the windows, smiling and waving. Other stores decorated their windows, too, but Gold’s & Millers were the best!
To be continued . . .
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Smears, Smudges, and Streaks!
Cleaning windows is #1 on my “Do NOT Do” list! I enjoy clean windows, but I do not enjoy the process. If I could, I would just move when the windows got dirty . . . but that will only happen when pigs fly! So, in the meantime I hire my favorite window washer, Ken.
Just as windows in our houses need cleaning more than once, the windows of our soul . . . our thoughts, our will, and our emotions . . . need continuous cleaning.
Want smear-proof and streak-free souls?
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform us into a new person by changing the way we think.” Romans 12:2
Live in the Light . . . our soul smudges are revealed and cleansed!
“ . . . God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from every sin.” 1 John 1:5b-7 NLT
The Word of God . . . Prayer . . . and the Holy Spirit . . . the best soul cleaners around!
Just as windows in our houses need cleaning more than once, the windows of our soul . . . our thoughts, our will, and our emotions . . . need continuous cleaning.
Want smear-proof and streak-free souls?
“Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform us into a new person by changing the way we think.” Romans 12:2
Live in the Light . . . our soul smudges are revealed and cleansed!
“ . . . God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness. We are not living in the truth. But if we are living in the light of God’s presence, just as Christ is, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, His Son, cleanses us from every sin.” 1 John 1:5b-7 NLT
The Word of God . . . Prayer . . . and the Holy Spirit . . . the best soul cleaners around!
Friday, December 2, 2011
Mirror . . . Mirror . . .
Mirror mirror on the wall . . .
stop reflecting all my flaws!!!
Whether I like it or not . . .
the mirror does not lie.
So I attempt to improve my appearance . . .
Comb my hair
Cover my facial imperfections with makeup
Wear clothes that “hide” whatever.
But there is a better mirror to look into . . .
the Word of God.
The Word reflects who God says I am.
I may not see it yet in the natural realm,
but it is still true.
Keep looking steadily into God’s perfect law of liberty . . .
and to be doers of the Word . . .
“So make every effort to apply the benefits
of these promises to your life.
Then your faith will produce a life of moral excellence.
A life of moral excellence leads to knowing God better.
Knowing God leads to self-control.
Self-control leads to patient endurance,
and patient endurance leads to godliness.
Godliness leads to love for other Christians,
and finally you will grow to have genuine love for everyone.”
2 Peter 1:5-7 (NLT)
The looking and the doing is up to me.
Choosing to just read the Word
and not do what it says
is like looking into a mirror
and doing nothing to improve my appearance!
I am changed into His image
As I read and act on His Word.
The eyes are the windows
to my soul,
to my heart.
Want to know what is in my heart?
Mirror mirror on the wall
My eyes and face reflect it all
Into which mirror I gaze!
“Just as water mirrors your face,
so your face mirrors your heart.”
Proverbs 27:19 (Message Bible)
Outside a game park west of Mombasa, Kenya, February 2011
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