Run, Run as Fast as You Can

Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour: I Peter 5:8

 There are probably still a few of these left around your house. You probably read or told the story to the children while they nibbled on the leg or bit off the head. But have you thought about how much we are like gingerbread men? 

The little old man and woman were childless so they decided to make a gingerbread boy. Different stories will have different ways of creating the eyes and buttons and jacket but at the very outset, the gingerbread boy was determined to run away. He even made fun of the little old man and the little old woman and all those who tried to get him to stop along the way. Where was he running to anyway? 

Then the fox entered the scene. He didn't act like he wanted to eat the gingerbread boy. He seemed helpful. He was going to get the boy across the river that otherwise would have melted the cookie boy. The deeper the fox went into the water, the farther up on the fox, the gingerbread boy had to ride until — the gingerbread boy had to ride on the fox's nose. When all finally seemed safe, the fox flipped his snout causing the cookie to go right in his mouth. End of story. But is it?

Almost from the time we are born we try to run away from our Creator and all those who would try to stop our running. Where are we going anyway? We laugh and make fun of those who try to warn us not to run to the world. Sadly many allow that old sly fox to trick us into thinking the best life is the free life, the life to live as we please. Then when the things of this world have taken their toll, we are left defeated, addicted, or worst of all dead. 

As we enter into a new year let's evaluate where we are headed. Are we running in the wrong direction? Will we turn around like the Prodigal son and return to our heavenly Father? He's waiting to receive us with open arms if we will only turn and run to Him. Look again at the picture of the cookies. The gingerbread men are holding their arms wide open. They are not in running motion. Maybe they too are trying to tell us to open our arms and hearts to God and return to Him this year. 

Blessings for the New Year,

Gail

A Different Kind of Christmas

For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.  I Corinthians 1:18

 

A few years ago a family whose dad was laid off and a mother with three toddlers found themselves without a Christmas tree and without money to purchase one. The family did have some land with a few scrub pines. So they set out that Saturday morning wrapped in scarves, hats, and gloves to find the perfect tree.

Some trees looked perfect but they were too short. Some were beautiful at a distance but up close they were far too tall. Finally, the dad stood beside a tree slightly crooked and sparsely branched. "It's perfect," the children squealed. The dad took his saw and cut the tree as close to the ground as he could while the mom and children held back the limbs. Dragging the tree across the red dirt hill, dad with the trunk, mom, and the children each with a limb, they loaded the tree into an old rusty pickup. 

For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him. Isaiah 53:2

After struggling to get the crooked tree into a dollar store stand, the dad set the tree in front of the picture window in the living room. All it needed now were the decorations of which they really had none. But first to string on the lights. Around the middle and down the limbs until the tree sparkled with white.  

Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life. John 8:12

There was popcorn in the cabinet and the mom had purchased a bag of cranberries at the grocery store. So they set about popping corn and trying to figure out how to get a few more pieces on the string than in their mouths, adding in the cranberries here and there. The string was too long and tangled. They tried to tie it all together like storebought garland before they decked the tree but it tangled worse. Finally, with sore fingers from needle pricks, they managed to shorten the strings and tie them around the tree. But now what?

Then came Jesus forth, wearing the crown of thorns, and the purple robe. And Pilate saith unto them, Behold the man! John 19:5

There were flour and sugar in the cabinet, cinnamon, and ginger on the spice rack. The family decided to make gingerbread men. Toothpick holes for strings were too small and cooked together. Crotchet hook holes looked huge but cooked up to the perfect size. With red and green curling ribbon they hung the gingerbread people on the tree.  

And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men unto me. John 12:32

The mom had purchased some red styrofoam apples at an after Christmas sale. There were only a dozen but the balls of red made the tree pop with color against the white lights. Still it needed more. There were white pines in the woods behind the house and though it was not their wood they thought it not robbery to pick up a sack of cones. The curling ribbon was perfect to tie on the base of the cones and tie to the tree. Still, something was missing.

And in thy (Abraham's) seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice. Genesis 22:18

Dad bought a box of red and white candy canes from the dollar store. The children hung them around the tree with the promise that after Christmas the candy would be their treats. 

And almost all things are by the law purged with blood; and without shedding of blood is no remission. Hebrews 9:22

The family stood back to gaze at their finished work. With smiles from all the family, the Dad concluded that it was the prettiest tree he had ever seen. And indeed it was. Though the family tried every year to make their tree look like the straggledy pine it was never as pretty as the first tree born out of necessity. But still to this day, the grandma hangs popcorn and cranberries on the live tree and the grandpa buys candy canes for the branches and says, "It's a nice tree but it isn't as pretty as that first tree." 

This year Christmas may seem a little different for various reasons. Jesus is still the Light of the World. How will we make meaningful memories for our families that last a lifetime? 

Christmas blessings, 

Gail

Is There Meaning in Modern Decorations?

 

And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.Luke 2:18 

I didn't decorate my mantel this year with my traditional picture handed down since the early 1900's of the Wisemen following the star. Though maybe I should have with the news calling attention to the aligning of the planets and their guesses that it might be the Bethlehem star. Instead I chose a more modern mantel that I saw somewhere online. I felt guilty that maybe I was removing the true meaning of Christmas until . . . .

Decorations on the Tree

 

And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: Isaiah 11:1

Putting up the tree is often a family time filled with traditions - Baby's First Ornament, hand-made ornaments, and great grandma's Victorian ornaments. 

Nostalgia fills the air as we settle down in front of the fire with a cup of hot chocolate and gaze at the sparkling tree. But WAIT! Did we miss the point? What have we instilled in our traditions that show our families the true meaning of Christmas?