Thursday, January 24, 2013
Thoughtful Thursdays: Thorns
The parable of the sower… you’ve probably heard it a time or two, or read it in a gospel or three (Matt. 13:1-23; Mark 4:1-19; Luke 8:4-15), but where do you put yourself in this story? Are you the sower of seed? Are you the seed in the good soil, producing much fruit for God? I imagine most of us identify with one of those productive and positive roles. Very few of us would like to admit that we might be seeds who have fallen in the rocks or amongst the weeds.
As I came across this familiar passage in my reading, I was struck by one verse:
And others are the ones sown among thorns. They are those who hear the word, but the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. ~Mark 4:18
Even as I strive to live for Christ, I fear I find myself all too often in the thorns… distracted by the “cares of the world” and the tasks of my everyday life… desiring more… perhaps not more wealth or things, but certainly more comfort… drawn to jealousy of another’s success or calling. All these things and more creep in almost unseen, and as they grow, my growth slows. My faith may be present but left unchecked, these thorns of distraction and earthly desire keep me from living the life I am called to – a life of joyful service to God.
I think if we are honest, we find ourselves in the weeds a bit more often than we would like. Though we may skim over this parable thinking we have nothing else to learn, perhaps we should visit it again and ask God where we are in this story. What might the cares of our world be, and how are they distracting us? What is it we truly desire, and what petty desires might we have that are getting in our way? How are we deceived by wealth? And if we find ourselves in the weeds, maybe we need to ask the master gardener to pull up the thorns in our lives so that we can grow fully and fruitfully for Him.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Thoughtful Thursdays: We Wish You A Strange Christmas
How was your Christmas?
Get that question very often over the last three weeks? Over the course of these conversations we swap stories of families, travels, illness, chaos, exhaustion, & sometimes sadness (I have yet to hear a story of peace, quiet, and exuberance). While most folks answer, “Good! Busy… But Good.” My reply is simply, “Strange.”
This year, my mother got sick a week before Christmas and stayed sick… spending her Christmas morning in the ER finding out that she had pneumonia. Thankfully, my version of the “flulike virus” only lasted two days, leading up to a Christmas Eve rush like never before. We had four, no, five separate Christmas celebrations in 48 hours in order to accommodate schedules, children, the elderly, and infirm. It was strange… but strange isn’t always bad. My strange Christmas led me to ponder what a “normal” Christmas could or should be…
Every year Wes and I try to do less… less on the schedule… less hustle-and-bustle… less extravagance… less waste… less gifts… just less of everything except Jesus and family. Every year around January 2nd we sit down to a finally less messy house filled with much more than we deserve and ponder how we can try so hard to make things less complicated and stressful (ahh, the irony...) and somehow always end up so busy, crazy, overwhelmed, and tired.
This year during our post-holiday review, we came to the conclusion that there is no “normal” Christmas. Initially, our conclusion only applied to the stereotypical “normal” our society fools us into seeking… peaceful children in adorable, clean pajamas playing with their toys while mom and dad sit back and watch, sipping their coffee and smiling at the joy of it all… But now, I affirm this conclusion in a different way. There is no “normal” Christmas. There shouldn’t be. There is nothing normal about our Savior… not a “normal” birth… not a “normal” life… God the Son willingly took on lowly humanity… it was STRANGE. There is nothing normal about the gift he lavished upon us. AND there is nothing normal about our celebration of His birth, giving each other gifts and largely giving him nothing.
Yes, this year, our Christmas was strange for many reasons. Not only were the events which we couldn’t control strange, but we also did a few strange things on purpose… Like no mention of Santa (and certainly no elf on any shelf)... We have an advent buzzard to remind us of all the sin in the world and things that distract us from Jesus (but more on him another time)... And, most importanly, the first person in our home to get a gift on Christmas morning was Jesus. We talked a lot this Advent about whose birth we celebrate and how we should and can give Jesus gifts on HIS birthday… it’s not very hard to do, He told us what he wanted (John13:34; Matt.22:37-29) and how to give it (Matt.25:34-40). And much to my surprise, neither girl so much as walked over to her own gifts before eagerly and joyfully examining everything Jesus got first. Strange… but wonderful.
As you settle back into the “normal” of your everyday life and routine, I urge you to ponder the strangeness of it all. How “normal” was your celebration? How would you change it? Could it be a little more strange this year? Don’t put it off until Advent rolls around again… think about it now. Christmas doesn’t have to be so “normal”… The coming of the Savior changed everything. It was certainly strange… but amazingly wonderful.
May your New Year bring about many wonderfully strange moments, may you share this strange grace with others, and may your next Christmas be far from “normal”… Strange even.
"Truly, I say to you, as you did it unto one of the least of these, you did it to me." ~ Matt.25:40
Get that question very often over the last three weeks? Over the course of these conversations we swap stories of families, travels, illness, chaos, exhaustion, & sometimes sadness (I have yet to hear a story of peace, quiet, and exuberance). While most folks answer, “Good! Busy… But Good.” My reply is simply, “Strange.”
This year, my mother got sick a week before Christmas and stayed sick… spending her Christmas morning in the ER finding out that she had pneumonia. Thankfully, my version of the “flulike virus” only lasted two days, leading up to a Christmas Eve rush like never before. We had four, no, five separate Christmas celebrations in 48 hours in order to accommodate schedules, children, the elderly, and infirm. It was strange… but strange isn’t always bad. My strange Christmas led me to ponder what a “normal” Christmas could or should be…
Every year Wes and I try to do less… less on the schedule… less hustle-and-bustle… less extravagance… less waste… less gifts… just less of everything except Jesus and family. Every year around January 2nd we sit down to a finally less messy house filled with much more than we deserve and ponder how we can try so hard to make things less complicated and stressful (ahh, the irony...) and somehow always end up so busy, crazy, overwhelmed, and tired.
This year during our post-holiday review, we came to the conclusion that there is no “normal” Christmas. Initially, our conclusion only applied to the stereotypical “normal” our society fools us into seeking… peaceful children in adorable, clean pajamas playing with their toys while mom and dad sit back and watch, sipping their coffee and smiling at the joy of it all… But now, I affirm this conclusion in a different way. There is no “normal” Christmas. There shouldn’t be. There is nothing normal about our Savior… not a “normal” birth… not a “normal” life… God the Son willingly took on lowly humanity… it was STRANGE. There is nothing normal about the gift he lavished upon us. AND there is nothing normal about our celebration of His birth, giving each other gifts and largely giving him nothing.
Yes, this year, our Christmas was strange for many reasons. Not only were the events which we couldn’t control strange, but we also did a few strange things on purpose… Like no mention of Santa (and certainly no elf on any shelf)... We have an advent buzzard to remind us of all the sin in the world and things that distract us from Jesus (but more on him another time)... And, most importanly, the first person in our home to get a gift on Christmas morning was Jesus. We talked a lot this Advent about whose birth we celebrate and how we should and can give Jesus gifts on HIS birthday… it’s not very hard to do, He told us what he wanted (John13:34; Matt.22:37-29) and how to give it (Matt.25:34-40). And much to my surprise, neither girl so much as walked over to her own gifts before eagerly and joyfully examining everything Jesus got first. Strange… but wonderful.
As you settle back into the “normal” of your everyday life and routine, I urge you to ponder the strangeness of it all. How “normal” was your celebration? How would you change it? Could it be a little more strange this year? Don’t put it off until Advent rolls around again… think about it now. Christmas doesn’t have to be so “normal”… The coming of the Savior changed everything. It was certainly strange… but amazingly wonderful.
May your New Year bring about many wonderfully strange moments, may you share this strange grace with others, and may your next Christmas be far from “normal”… Strange even.
"Truly, I say to you, as you did it unto one of the least of these, you did it to me." ~ Matt.25:40
Tuesday, January 1, 2013
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