Monday night, Gaga had a pizza party at her house with the kiddos and the Wesley Biblical Seminary family came here for the annual Christmas party. I remember feeling SO much pressure from myself those first years to do a Mississippi hostessing situation...the right decor, the right foods, the right atmosphere. Thankfully, everyone is gracious and the Lord most of all, giving me the freedom to just love people and let the rest go. We had catered red beans and rice, homemade desserts, a hymn sing, a few fun games, and just good time together. I am thankful for the family God has woven me into through Matt, and for the gift it is for him to work alongside these men and women everyday, and the many men and women they represent.
When I'm focusing on my 7 disciples, it brings me joy to know that God is at work through these, that God at work through YOU...that I'm a part of that, too, God's family. Lifting our voices through Christmas hymns, man. What a powerful and tangible image of coming together for His glory...how good and pleasant it is when brethren dwell together in unity.
Tuesday night was our final small group for the year, so we had lasagna and peppermint bark and finished Revelation chapter 14 (we may never finish Revelation, but it sure has been RICH and deep and good) and I'm so thankful for that precious family, the church, as well. Every gap I have, the Lord trickles over. Every person I miss, He stands a person next to.
Today the homeschool Ayars and I met some friends at the kid's museum for the day, and while I'm trying to keep catching my breath this season heavy with both hope and grief, time with beautiful people helps me.
Something about Joy to the World, the beginning, caught me totally off guard Monday, singing from our hymnals, and I keep coming back to it.
Joy to the world, the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! Let every heart prepare Him room.
What a beautiful, holy task this Christmas. Not preparing the room. Not making sure the season is magical for our children. Not getting it all done, not putting it all on. Not doing or buying all the things.
Am I preparing HIM room? In my grief, in my days, in my busy, in my marriage, in my family, in my family, in my mindset...am I giving God the space to breathe in me? Am I preparing for Him the room to move, to work, to heal, to stretch? Am I packing it all out and asking Him to bless it...or am I preparing room for Him to come, to be, to dwell, to run over, to meet me? To stay?
The crowded places of my heart and life stood out as I long to prepare Him room to rule my world with truth and grace...oh, the wonders of His love.
What's He standing out to you this season?
I'm still making my way through Dane Ortlund's Gentle and Lowly (I WILL finish it before 2024!!) and there was a part about living life FROM Christ vs. living life FOR Christ. He, of course, said it much better but it made me realize that too often I'm trying to live FOR God's smile rather than FROM God's smile. Doing things FOR Him rather than as an overflow FROM Him.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this. A much needed reminder.💙
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