And the morning brings me to the solitude of My Kitchen Table...a place I come...and this morning my table is not where it usually sits...a reminder of the day yesterday...a time shared with family...a time shared with Love...and I am thankful for all of the blessings I have...not just the blessing of gifts received but more importantly of family and friends who I love and who love me...and so while I thought I would finish this before Christmas...I realize that Christmas does not end when the gifts are opened...perhaps it only begins as again it is begins a new season...a celebration for Christians...though I stop and think if I really give the honor and time and gift of my love...to the One who first loved me. Perhaps it is just a reminder...and I look at My God Calling from yesterday...and I take this from the website God Calling.
Babe of Bethlehem
Kneel before the Babe of Bethlehem. Accept the truth that the Kingdom of Heaven is for the lowly, the simple.
Bring to Me, the Christ-child, your gifts, truly the gifts of earth's wisest.
The Gold -- your money.
Frankincense -- the adoration of a consecrated life.
Myrrh -- your sharing in My sorrows and those of the world.
"And they presented unto Him gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh."
"Though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect unto the
lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off." Psalm 138:6
lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off." Psalm 138:6
And so I go back and look at the past week...of when I started this particular writing...
This Christmas is such a collage of emotions...this morning at my kitchen table...I was given this picture of life being a puzzle...some pieces come easy...some do not seem like they should fit at all...but perhaps someday we will be able to stand back and see how all of the pieces seemed to fit...even though now such odd shaped pieces that do not seem to fit any where...
The other night after it snowed...I pulled in the yard and my little display of outdoor lights seemed to just welcome me and so I wanted to capture that picture and include it in some way...it was a cold night but was still...while I am writing this I think of that first Christmas night...as Mary Did You Know plays in the background...I wonder...I think of Mary's puzzle...
So back to the lights...I ran out and snapped a couple pics that just got part of the picture...but then I turned my camera so that it was taking in the long view and I snapped...it was--for lack of a better word--SO COOL! The flash seemed to "clink" (this is where you bear with me and I think of when I describe things in such ways that the shepherd says and how was that again...) but anyway it seems to capture something that my eyes could not see before...because to some it might look like it was snowing...but it was not...I am sure someone can give me a "logical" reason...but I choose to think I captured the "Spirit of Christmas". That unknown "Magic" that touches us all...those moments that you cannot help but stop and Thank God for the blessings around you...and that there is so much more than what we "see"...
And I think of going shopping and the scripture that was presented before going...yes it was just as I came along in the "ians" and "COINCIDENTAL" that this would be the one I would read before going shopping...2 Corinthians 9:6-15.
"The Cheerful Giver
6 But this I say: He who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and he who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 So let each one give as he purposes in his heart, not grudgingly or of necessity; for God loves a cheerful giver. 8 And God is able to make all grace abound toward you, that you, always having all sufficiency in all things, may have an abundance for every good work. 9 As it is written:
“ He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.”[b]
10 Now may[c] He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
“ He has dispersed abroad,
He has given to the poor;
His righteousness endures forever.”[b]
10 Now may[c] He who supplies seed to the sower, and bread for food, supply and multiply the seed you have sown and increase the fruits of your righteousness, 11 while you are enriched in everything for all liberality, which causes thanksgiving through us to God. 12 For the administration of this service not only supplies the needs of the saints, but also is abounding through many thanksgivings to God, 13 while, through the proof of this ministry, they glorify God for the obedience of your confession to the gospel of Christ, and for your liberal sharing with them and all men, 14 and by their prayer for you, who long for you because of the exceeding grace of God in you. 15 Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!"
And I go back to my journal that day...and I write..."Thanks be to God can I get an Amen! Yes Phyllis I think of you." I think of Phyllis my mother's cousin on her mother's side...how I loved Phyllis...she had such a quiet strength about her...but on our family site...she would put an "Amen" in there...something she was "working" on...but sometimes...I think of Phyllis at my kitchen table...and it is not in a way in which I can describe...perhaps I feel her love and this particular morning her son comes to my thoughts as well as one of her sisters who I know is dealing with missing her...as I know all of her family does...Phyllis is one of those that you "miss"...that her very presence was felt and so how can we not help but feel her love even though not here...But what seems to go with my theme on this particular day is I think of her son so clearly...and I open up my facebook and it is his birthday...Happy Birthday Bill...as I know he misses his mom...and I think of the "Spirit of Christmas"...a love that passes all understanding...
That day as many others this "season" I have just had special "gifts" that were not ones that you might explain...but gifts none the less...and perhaps it is those gifts you cannot explain that are truly the sweetest!
Christmas Eve, we got to spend time with Jay's family...a gift...as I know this has to be such a sad time for them...as it is for me...but I was thankful to get to spend time with them...and we exchanged gifts and Isabel gave her mom her "gift". One that brings tears to my eyes even as I sit here...I may have told part of this before...but I tell it again...While Heather went to the doctor...Isabel and I went shopping. Her Mom had given her money to buy gifts...I think of Heather talking about how someone had shared on the site for those who had lost I beleive it was for police officers...I am not certain...but the thought for whoever...in that those who have lost a spouse...that sometimes...no one steps in and helps the kids get a gift for the one left behind and Heather had commented that she had many that would...and I am thankful for that but I pray that others would have someone step in and do the same...
I go back to the "shopping". Isabel seems to shop much like her daddy and I think of the fun that they would have...oh probably not a lot of shopping done...but as we stopped and played on the cars for quite a while...looked at puppies...and one that really did was Izzy telling me to go back to the game store...that she wanted to go in there...and I think of her and her dad could have spent a good couple of hours...playing games.
But though I stray off the subject a little...I am still there...because though not physically there shopping with us...oh yeah...Izzy's daddy was shopping with us...because as we went through the Hallmark store...we first started looking at ornaments and then we headed to the Precious Moments! Heather has always loved those and I have sometimes gotten her some...but Jay has many times gotten her one...so I find this sweet little girl with a lamb that says, "Jesus loves me" and I tell Izzy do you like that one. I thought it would be a cute sweet one coming from her to her mama...and then she seen it...It was a mommy and daddy holding a precious little baby. And she said, "That one Ahma!" To which a lump formed in my throat and I said well what about this one...and with that same determination that her mom and dad both have (she stands no chance) when they have made a decision said...even though I tried to have her look at more...she had yes....the "Spirit of Christmas" with her...the love of her daddy seemed to be with us and though I knew it would be hard for her mom...it would be a cherished gift...and a special reminder of a happy family! As I told the woman at the store we wanted that one...she said it is a baptisimal one are you sure...I said OH YES! That is the one...I think of Izzy being baptized...an out of the ordinary...but precious gift all the same...and her daddy was there then and is with her always...yes that "Spirit of Christmas" thing...
I opened my gifts...and one precious one that...seems to stick with this theme was one that touched my heart...you see I have several rolls of undeveloped film (that's why I love digital). Well Tim had been given instruction to get some of this film developed...this is one that Heather has told me...you need to get those developed mom...and so this gift was a special gift...but a gift indeed as these had been put in a picture album...
And so I put in some of the pictures...that were "gifts" almost as though I got a special visit from some special memories...
Some of these were from our 25th wedding anniversary...so that would have been 5 years ago...our kids had put on a special gathering for us...but some are from I think Lance's 16th birthday...the one I think that the first picture is from that just makes me smile...because there at my kitchen table where I write so many days...in her "seat" while Curtis Ball a special friend and Heather I am guessing were going to give Lance his 16 spankings...I smile just thinking of the memory...
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| Curtis and Doris at my bar...probably Lance's 16th... |
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| My Mom sitting and listening ...and my baby... |
And as I continued on in the album...like I said from our 25th...but I smile and remember when my future to be son-in-law had came for the event...and I smile at the way he would (as my brother had described once on a picture talking of how my mom would light up when on his arm) but I think how he would make Heather light up...how he made her laugh...and I think of this and as I am finishing this and getting ready to add those pics...a video comes on that the first time I heard made me think of Heather and Jay and so Heather and I are watching it and I think of Jay telling Tim one of the first times he met us about not having as much time and money...and Tim telling him well dump her...and so I put the video in because while it brought tears thinking...Heather doesn't get to finish watching it because a little voice upstairs is hollaring, "Mommy"...but I think of the frame I found for Heather...It's not the breaths you take but the moments that take your breath away...
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| Heather, Jay, and the famous "Screaming Neon" |
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| Heather always had a thing for teddy bears... |
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| I smile at this as none of remember what they were chasing but I smile at Jay in one of his classic Jay ensembles... And I go through to more of the 25th and I see my Aunt Betty and cousin Vonnie sitting on the porch swing and I think how I enjoy these two...but sitting next to them is "Butch" as I'm sure my Aunt B would call him...and how I think of Heaven...will we all just be sitting on the front porch...I don't know but I am thankful for Jesus and how I have that promise...of a place where I will be with those that have gone on...but now I am given gifts of the "Spirit"... |
I put in a picture that was included...that just reminds me of how fast time flies...and I love this picture of my nephew Ethan and how he is now a freshman in college...and I smile at my mom's old van...and the "parties in a van" she would bring to our house and how we had taken chili to Heather's and I had commented about thinking of Mom and her parties in a van...and as I am writing on Ethan's picture...I receive a text from him...sure he is on the other side of the mountain...but he knows when I am thinking of him...
And I end this watching Izzy playing with her last present (she kind of opened in shifts...partiall because she may have got a few presents...and partly because she is 2 and maybe she gets distracted...not a trait she gets from her Ahma because I still got mine) and her mama is writing I-S-A-B-E-L M-A-R-I-E S-H-E-R-I-D-A-N and Heather tells Isabel what's mama's last name...and she says Sheridan...and she says what is Ahma's last name...and Izzy says Sheridan to which her mom replies no that's what Grammy's is...to which Izzy replies, "AHMA,AHMA,AHMA!" And my heart fills with the "Spirit of Christmas"...
And so I stop right now because...I have one little Firecracker who wants to play...McDonalds (probably ranking up there as her favorite gift...a little cash register, head set, cheese burger, fries, and more...although I think she liked the Radio Flyer and Basketball goal from Ahma and Oppy)...and so she is telling me hurry up...so I break for now...because I got a "HAPPY MEAL" to order...
So I come back here and again the house is quiet...the kids have headed home...the tree is missing presents but one little picture frame I put underneath with a picture of my Firecracker and I am thankful for the family I have and more importantly I am thankful for my faith...and for that Spirit of Christmas...
God bless you in this season...
lyp
lyp
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