I'm already seeing it. Post-Christmas discounts, Valentine's candy, and superstore racks of "A New Year, A New You!" stocked with vitamins, performance socks, and granola.
I'm not ready. I don't even want to talk about New Year's yet. I know it's coming, I can't stop time, but Christmas, all that we waited for, shopped for, prepared for--it just happened. Can't we linger here for a moment?
When our daughter was tiny she used to love this video we would get from the library about Elmo from Sesame Street wanting Christmas to be every day and last forever. The moral was, if that was so then it would be ordinary or even tiresome, and certainly expensive. So no, Elmo, Christmas cannot last more than one day. Like me, he was disappointed but understood. But after the gifts have come, can I not just sit in the wonder of all things Christmas and enjoy it, before I pack it all away and shed the party pounds?
In the practical, there is always something spiritual. In fact the reverse is even more amazing: in the spiritual, there is always something highly practical. Christmas is about hope. The hope fulfilled in the Messiah coming is sung in Christmas carols, celebrated in the creches, and hopefully fills our hearts as we embrace this short season. But as I have shared before, it's also the hope that because Christ came and completed the work God had for Him in living the life we could not have lived, dying the death we should have died, and rising again to bring us the life we could never obtain apart from Him, we can trust that like He promised He is coming again. And yet Christmas is just one glorious day, then it's over. Our minds turn to other things, life marches on, and Christmas gets boxed up. I believe that's the case, and has to be, because our hope in Christ coming again is not yet fulfilled. We don't get to abide or stay in Christmas or Christmas time. Christmas and all the beauty, wonder, excitement and fellowship is a glimpse of heaven. Everyday magnified, intense joy and ongoing, thrilling celebration--that would be like heaven. But, Christ has not yet come again. So, while we can have a taste of His coming, we can celebrate as a part of an expression of the Good News, we can celebrate as His people because He is in us and with us, we are still waiting, hoping, and journeying with Him towards that place and time where it is all realized. He hasn't come to take us to the place He is preparing. We haven't gone to live with Him there. I believe heaven is in a perpetual state of the feelings of Christmas Eve; last minute preparing, high joy and anticipation of the best celebration yet. When He comes and we go to be with Him, then what we experience together there will make Christmas pale in comparison. It's in that real place that we will get to abide. Until then, He calls us to abide in Him in the day to day living, beyond Christmas and into New Year's.
How do we linger here and then take a bit of the wonder of Christmas with us into the New Year?
Just a few moments to linger with you, Lord. You know I love Christmas.
This year, as I read the Christmas story in Luke and drank in all the red, green, sparkling white, and twinkling beauty in our home, I was struck by Luke 2:19-20. "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told."
We can linger here by pausing for a moment. Sit in the few days between Christmas and New Year's and explore the real treasures. "These things"...what grace gifts did God give over the holidays? What did He reveal about Himself, His Son, your heart, His incredible presence and provision? What struck you this season? What experiences were precious, meaningful, and drew you to love and worship? Treasure up those things. Then ponder them in your heart or sit in those thoughts, words, feelings, and memories and give them the value they truly have. Consider them from different angles. Be open to a conversation with God, the Giver of every good and perfect gift, about His wonders and treasures. You get to sit in the wonder. You don't have to tell God about them, define them, or box them up neatly. Ponder them.
Mary wasn't the only one that experienced the greatness of that first Christmas. The shepherds had a huge Christmas! After hearing and seeing the Truth, they went back to their normal life, like we all do, but they had to live differently. They came to their God, because of this Messiah, with worship that carried over beyond the wonder of the manger. Could it be that beyond Christmas is an opportunity to worship, to glorify and praise God out loud with our lives and mouths, because we hear Him and see Him during the season? All the Christmas music, ornaments, nativity scenes, and on and on that remind us of Christ, that appeal to our ears and eyes, are those the tuning of the orchestra in our souls to bring forth such spiritual music that our mouths and lives can't help but express? More plainly, does Christmas push a reset button for our worship for the rest of the year? I hope, with true expectation, that Christmas causes my life to be different. I hope that I leave this season taking with me eyes and ears so full of Jesus that I have to live differently, interact with my God differently, and share it with whoever is in ear shot.
Treasures and worship. That's what we get to take into the New Year with us if we will stop long enough to ponder what our ears and eyes have experienced this Christmas. Treasures and worship. That's where we get to abide with Him until Christmas truly is every day with Him in that place He is still preparing.
Then, gloriously yet not surprisingly, it will be treasures and worship for all eternity.
Just another seed of my faith,
Ginny
Showing posts with label Worship. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Worship. Show all posts
Monday, December 30, 2013
Saturday, September 10, 2011
To Worship, Just Breathe
Have you ever just wanted to say something great to God? You are there with Him, you've emptied your list and your heart, and all of the real you is laid before Him. All you want is to say something that is adequate to such an amazing God. I was there recently.
I work out of 2 journals: one that is writing and paragraphs of pouring out my mind and heart to God. Then there is another journal that's sort of "word art." I wish I could create beautiful art for Him. But He and I both know my words and His are a form of art, so that's where we join hands across the space of things unseen and we go together. When I don't know where to begin, but I sense a need to be with Him, I go to word art. I had a blank piece of paper in front of me, and the two words that seemed most appropriate with which to start were "You Are." Some of the things that poured out of "You Are" were answers to my needs and circumstances and heart longings. Knowing He is Author, Planner, Approver, Rest-giver, Coverer of my mouth, Creator of time, Peace, the One Who calls, Revealer, and more. In all of these words that were pouring out of my pen on this page, I felt scattered. My heart and my head were all over the place at the infinity of things that He Is. I wanted what would best praise Him and worship Him in that moment. I was hungry to really worship Him. I wanted to have the right words, the right heart, and I wanted Him to hear it. Really hear it, and have it radiate glory and all things true about that moment between us. I desired heaven to scream in joy and agreement when that praise rolled in. Not because of me, but because it was best about Him and we all knew it!
So in the midst of scribbling words, I became desperate to worship Him. Nothing I was writing was false or contrived, but it felt inadequate compared to the GOD in front of me. So, I told Him how desperate I felt to worship Him. His response surprised me. He said, "Then live."
Live.
I breathed in deeply, and Romans 12:1 flooded to my mind. The deepest way to worship, as God has defined it is to sacrifice. In light of Jesus' sacrifice in my place, what God calls mercy in that verse, I am to offer my life to God. If I want to worship, I need to live. But that doesn't imply that I go and do significant things right this moment. My initial reaction was to get up from my desk with a really powerful, significant checklist and do something great. Pen in hand I said, "God, tell me what to do today. Anything. What ever it is, I will do it!" Ears open, I was waiting for something great. God dug deeper in His response. "Living is not equated with doing, but being. Being here, even now, is living."
He brought to heart the story of Lazarus in John 11. You realize, Lazarus did not do anything spectacular but live at Christ's command. He's made famous in the Bible for living. Scratch that. Christ said He is made famous by giving life to a dead man named Lazarus. Lazarus living brought glory to God. (John 11:4, 40). When Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go," He didn't tag on anything to that. It wasn't "let him go so he can preach." "Let him go so he can lead tons of people." "Let him go so he can make money to support good things." It was simply let him go so he can live. Living brings God glory.
Every moment, every breath He gives me, is a sign. It's a sign that God redeems, God has a purpose for a human, God has a plan for this woman, and God loves. Because I live, or exist, I point to a God that is glorious. He gives the life that is in me as a sign of His love and glory. One breath at a time. He is that LIFE (Jn 6:35, Deut 30:19-20). What else but His life could bring any glory at all? Everything else would fall short.
As I breathed in the depth of this truth and experience, God released this little list-making, box-checking, pen-in-hand woman by sharing that I could do nothing of earthly significance today but simply be, and being wrapped up in His life, that would be to His glory.
I sat being, as I do right now, asking Him to wrap me up in His life. With another breath breathed, Do with me what You want. In Your being and living in me, let it be real worship to You.
Just another seed of my faith,
Ginny
I work out of 2 journals: one that is writing and paragraphs of pouring out my mind and heart to God. Then there is another journal that's sort of "word art." I wish I could create beautiful art for Him. But He and I both know my words and His are a form of art, so that's where we join hands across the space of things unseen and we go together. When I don't know where to begin, but I sense a need to be with Him, I go to word art. I had a blank piece of paper in front of me, and the two words that seemed most appropriate with which to start were "You Are." Some of the things that poured out of "You Are" were answers to my needs and circumstances and heart longings. Knowing He is Author, Planner, Approver, Rest-giver, Coverer of my mouth, Creator of time, Peace, the One Who calls, Revealer, and more. In all of these words that were pouring out of my pen on this page, I felt scattered. My heart and my head were all over the place at the infinity of things that He Is. I wanted what would best praise Him and worship Him in that moment. I was hungry to really worship Him. I wanted to have the right words, the right heart, and I wanted Him to hear it. Really hear it, and have it radiate glory and all things true about that moment between us. I desired heaven to scream in joy and agreement when that praise rolled in. Not because of me, but because it was best about Him and we all knew it!
So in the midst of scribbling words, I became desperate to worship Him. Nothing I was writing was false or contrived, but it felt inadequate compared to the GOD in front of me. So, I told Him how desperate I felt to worship Him. His response surprised me. He said, "Then live."
Live.
I breathed in deeply, and Romans 12:1 flooded to my mind. The deepest way to worship, as God has defined it is to sacrifice. In light of Jesus' sacrifice in my place, what God calls mercy in that verse, I am to offer my life to God. If I want to worship, I need to live. But that doesn't imply that I go and do significant things right this moment. My initial reaction was to get up from my desk with a really powerful, significant checklist and do something great. Pen in hand I said, "God, tell me what to do today. Anything. What ever it is, I will do it!" Ears open, I was waiting for something great. God dug deeper in His response. "Living is not equated with doing, but being. Being here, even now, is living."
He brought to heart the story of Lazarus in John 11. You realize, Lazarus did not do anything spectacular but live at Christ's command. He's made famous in the Bible for living. Scratch that. Christ said He is made famous by giving life to a dead man named Lazarus. Lazarus living brought glory to God. (John 11:4, 40). When Jesus said to them, "Take off the grave clothes and let him go," He didn't tag on anything to that. It wasn't "let him go so he can preach." "Let him go so he can lead tons of people." "Let him go so he can make money to support good things." It was simply let him go so he can live. Living brings God glory.
Every moment, every breath He gives me, is a sign. It's a sign that God redeems, God has a purpose for a human, God has a plan for this woman, and God loves. Because I live, or exist, I point to a God that is glorious. He gives the life that is in me as a sign of His love and glory. One breath at a time. He is that LIFE (Jn 6:35, Deut 30:19-20). What else but His life could bring any glory at all? Everything else would fall short.
As I breathed in the depth of this truth and experience, God released this little list-making, box-checking, pen-in-hand woman by sharing that I could do nothing of earthly significance today but simply be, and being wrapped up in His life, that would be to His glory.
I sat being, as I do right now, asking Him to wrap me up in His life. With another breath breathed, Do with me what You want. In Your being and living in me, let it be real worship to You.
Just another seed of my faith,
Ginny
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