God will FIGHT for you...my beloved...

It has been a week ago now that I lay on the bed beside my son after a particularly bad day. I had made him go to bed early after he attacked his brother. I waited until he had calmed down and I lay beside him gently scratching his back like he likes so much. He rolled over in his sleep to let me reach it better and then covered his whole self with his oversized fleece blanket that he loves. In the silence of the room my mind was running wild. I was pleading to God and I was begging Him for the answer. I thought of the Scripture that speaks that we war not against flesh and blood. Our battle is with things not seen. I had only just ran that through my head when I heard the Spirit say "I am the Lord your God... I am the Lord God... I will fight for you.... I am fighting for you. Let me fight this for you..." I then felt like He said "Let me fight this for J". It was then I realized that it is not all my fight to win. It is J's. And it isn't J or myself who will be fighting it. The Lord is standing, surrounding him, to fight the battle for him. I am a project in the making and I fail daily with letting the fight go. I feel like I need to be center-ring over and over again to fight for my child (What loving mom doesn't feel that way?).

 So here I am, having a hard time just a week later. Almost 4 weeks ago I sent in paperwork to CMH behavioral unit. They said it takes 2 weeks to make a decision... I am being taught patience once again in my life and I am severely running low. I am trying to remember that an answer doesn't change our life... it just opens up some options for J. I am anxious and tired. I wish I had his happy self always. It is like night and day with him in a blink of an eye and it is really breaking this momma's heart. Please pray for S and I to have wisdom and discernment with him. Please pray for me to stay strong. I feel like I am breaking apart sometimes.

 Please pray God moves in a mighty way in J's life.

 I have seen some Christian people post light-heartedly on behavioral issues and diseases in children. I understand over-diagnosis is an issue, but some parents are battling REAL issues with their children that no amount of belt will "fix" or "cure". We as parents do the best we can with what God has given us and some of us are just needing to get through the day so that we can start all over again the next day and pray that we will have the ability to raise our kids in the admonition of the Lord without messing it up. We do all this while knowing we probably will mess up, so then we pray that God will forgive us once again and use our children despite our mistakes, praying that He would do the work in their lives that we as parents daily fail to be able to do. And why do we fail? Because we are unwilling? Unbothered? Uninvolved? Disconnected? Inconsistent? Undisciplined? Ungodly? Unbiblical? Unstructured? Too soft? Too hard? Too mean? Too nice? NO! Because we are imperfect and dependent human beings who live in a world of flesh and we sin daily just like EVERYONE else!

 I have thought about whether I am dealing with demonic oppression or possession to some extent. I have considered it. And in some ways I have felt that there is oppression going on in our lives always to some extent so possibly J is another tool being used in our lives in moments, whether it is through a diagnosable disorder I do not know. I do know that Satan has used his behavior issues time and time again to cause sin to creep into my life. I know that I pray over my children daily to beg God to do a mighty work in each of their lives. I pray they will grow to have a saving knowledge of Christ. I pray that whatever is tormenting J will cease. I pray that if it is ASD or another disorder that we are able to help him achieve coping skills and that he will have more and more calm days. But so far we are grasping at straws trying to find something that helps or "works".

To watch him go from this "normal" happy child to a darkness in his eyes with a rage in his heart and a strength that no 5-year old should possess in a matter of split-seconds is heart-wrenching. He tackles his much larger brother to the ground and pounds on him. Or he throws everything he can get his hands on until there is nothing left and he lays there and groans until it is over. We breathe again. We breathe in and out and a sigh escapes. And I plead again to God as I watch him peacefully sleep. What is this!?

These past few weeks have just been more fits of rage and violence then I have seen in awhile from him. The violence level increased just when I had felt we were getting somewhere with what we were doing. We need wisdom and a consistent plan that works.

We leave for a week away from the boys on Monday. I am not going to kid myself that we will have a plan in place by then. I am praying that S's parents are filled with grace, strength and energy as they deal with the three munchkins. And I am praying that J is filled with peace for the week (if not the rest of his life!) And I pray S and I will return home refreshed and with a plan we can implement that will play a consistent role in our lives and hopefully help us all out.

 And as I have written this, I realized that I took up my sword again to jump in the battle... And God is whispering to me, "Let me fight this for you. Let me fight it for J"..."Let me get the glory."... "Allow me the victory."..."Be at peace child"... "Be at peace. The frustration and anger and disappointment in your heart is not what I have for you."

Love

Peace was a word for last year. I hadn't decided for sure what my word for this year would be.
It has been a mixture of thoughts. The word "strength" comes to mind, as does "courage". However a word that I tend to skip over has come up over and over again in my mind and so I am going to have to just land on it for the year. I use it so often and it isn't something I feel I have struggled with in the past and seems to come naturally until I am in the middle of something and ought to have it as my lens to see the situation through to begin with... but that word is "love". It is a foundation of my faith. It is a basic stepping stone. It comes easier for some and harder for others. I have always felt that I do not struggle with it. But looking back I have seen countless times that i have decided to judge or criticize someone without lovingly checking my thoughts and actions against them. Other times I have spoken harshly to my children or husband without first grabbing tight to love and capturing the thoughts to be sure it is necessary to say or without first wrapping the edification or correction in a strong dose of love.
In college we took a counseling class where we were taught the art of "Speaking the Truth in Love" and it has been some years since I thought about that. We can be correct and be saying truth, but when it isn't done in a loving way with love as the backing thrust behind it there is no godliness in it. God IS LOVE!

Expecting the Unexpected: Dealing with Unmet Expectations

C has been so emotional. He heard someone say his teacher's last name in a show he was watching and he got happy at first and then instant sadness filled his eyes. He doesn't know what to do with his time very well and dealing with both little brothers all day long as been tough for him at times.

J began saying his stomach is hurting again (so much so that he went and lay down today out of his own free-will) and he had an accident after being accident free for a LONG time. Kind of explains his behavior this weekend a little more. Praying we can keep track of his ups and downs and see a pattern to better understand if his emotional breaks are signs of physical problem or if the two are unrelated.

O has been a fire-ball. One moment he is fine the next his is being a defiant little toddler tyrant who expects his demands to be heard and takes no regard to anyone else. We punish him for his behavior which brings about a gigantic tantrum of SCREAMING at the top of his lungs yelling "NO! NO! NO!" so that you wonder if your neighbors will wonder what you are doing to your poor child. Meanwhile, he is wanting to potty train and yet ONLY when it is convenient for him. Which I know is a step in the right direction, but when you get 3 accidents and 4 successes (including wearing underwear accidentally through nap time and keeping dry followed by him refusing to sit on the potty and instead removing his underwear to pee in the pantry) you tend to wonder who is winning.


Lesson to Myself about Priorities and Expectations

I came home from work late today and found the boys waiting for me to read to them and put them to bed. I almost regretted not staying at work half-an-hour longer so that Shane would have had them in bed for me. BUT I do love reading to them and I love that they enjoy it too. I walked into the kitchen because of course the chorus that met me at the door RIGHT AFTER the "Mommy HOME!" was a rendition of "Mommy, I am hungry", "Mom, can you get me some juice?", and the toddler anxiously grabbing at me to be held and cuddled. I tried to breathe through my instant stress that seemed to grow up my body for no particular reason, as I stepped over a glob of silly putty sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.

My mind went back to the putty as I finally had delivered the last child something to appease them for the second. I grabbed it up and realized that it was only a portion of the putty that went in the can. I also realized, a moment later, that the can was not in its place. I looked at the other logical locations and didn't see it. Not only that, the other two cans of putty were also not in their place. I only found one lid. So SOMEWHERE in the small house there were three colors of putty. I began the search. I found one glob on the couch and dots of another color strewn down the hallway. Another piece under the couch. (Note that this is a "new-to-us" WHITE couch). I begin taking every cushion off looking it all over from top to bottom to be sure no putty is glued to the couch anywhere else. Slowly pieces of the putty get found from one room to the other. I even found some laying in the bathroom floor! All I can think about is finding every piece of this putty and getting more and more frustrated at their dad.

Then I had to catch myself because coming into the house I had found some of the outside toys strewn about the yard and while I do ask that they are made to pick up before going in I at least knew that they had been taken outside to enjoy the sunshine while I was working. And I know how big of a job that is. How it involves giving up what Shane wanted to do in the nice cool house. I also found macaroni noodles under the cabinets in the kitchen somehow lost in the mess of plating dinner to three eager and hungry boys. So he cooked for them, and fed them, and cleaned up the mess so that I could walk into no dishes to do.

I had to stop and remember how the morning had gone for me while he was working. The whining and tantrums and "mom!", "Mom!", "Mom."s over and over again. The bathroom runs and accidents. The "I am so bored", "I have nothing to play with!", and "I only like to play computer!" comments that fill every moment of the day that is not screen-time. "J hit me!", "EE urt ME!", and "He is bothering me!"s that flood over us. I am sure his evening was similar to my morning. We are a team. We do this. We survive it. We choose to love it.

 When I focus on what I feel should have been done instead of looking at what was done I can easily get frustrated. When I look at my list compared to his I am sure we both fall very short. This morning I cleaned the filter on the AC, and managed to rescue the vacuum from sucking up the toilet water (Thanks O). I did dishes and started prep on a meal for this week. I also cleaned the pile of clutter from the hall. While managing the boys, cooking and more dishes.

Did I do it all perfect? Did I do the right things at the right times? Did I finish my list? No. Not at all.
I was so fortunate to be walking into the bathroom when I found O with the vacuum tube in the toilet reaching for the on switch. (I had left the vacuum plugged in the hallway outlet so it could have ended pretty badly). I caught O getting cheese slices out of the fridge and put them back only to get to the living room and realize he had already opened two other slices previously and had them squished into "dough" he was trying to play with on the white couch. Earlier, I had to rescue legos from his cereal bowl before he spooned them into his mouth.

So looking back at the morning I could have been the one with silly putty strewn from one end of the house to the other.

 As mommy and wife I also cannot place my expectations above anyone else's. They have every right to have expectations if I do. And there are no less valid than mine. Some of the boys expectations may not be possible to have met because, let's face it, FRESH donuts for breakfast every morning and never ending chocolate syrup are pretty delicious goals but not very practical (or healthy) for me as a parent to provide. But I cannot just dismiss their requests as if they were fanciful daydreams because to them they are real. Getting frustrated or angry at them for wanting to play Minecraft all day and do nothing else. When I just declare "time-up" and get even more frustrated when they whine or complain about it is not a good choice. I get upset when the plans I had for my day get squashed and denied for no apparently good reason. Instead a discussion should be had about why donuts every morning would be a bad idea and how food just doesn't happen to appear in the house without someone going to the store to buy it. How playing computer all day, every day (though fun), would not benefit anyone involved and would make them miss out on so many other WONDERFUL things in life.

For my husband, I need to remember the same idea goes for him. When he gets home from work and lets out a frustrated sigh about the dishes being piled inside the sink instead of out of the sink even though I spent the last hour prepping meals for the week and only sat down at the computer for a moment of rest from the disastrous kitchen. When he huffs as he enters and steps on a block and wonders why the toys didn't all get picked up but doesn't see that I have engaged all three boys on the living room rug in a crazy made-up game and we are laughing and enjoying the non-electrical fun WE created. I need to quietly remind myself that I am the same way when I realize my expectations did not get met. I need to take a mental note of what it was he sighed about and move that higher on my list of priorities to help please him. If it is something I cannot make a higher priority I should talk to him about why it doesn't get done and work on a plan to help us both be happier. (ie when O will not nap for me despite my trying to put him to sleep for an hour after lunch, while it takes Shane 5 minutes to put him to sleep just a few hours later). We need to validate each other's expectations and priorities. We are in it all together.

A Note about Marriage

Recently I came upon a post about another marriage falling to pieces. Young children, new stressors, and differences in opinion on what was important in each of the spouses' lives were driving them apart. It broke my heart. Then other people, believers and non, were commenting about how she needed to get out or that she needed to do what made her happy. How it was about her life and what was best for her and her kids... I have heard it before. But I feel like as a believer marriage should be so, SO much more steadfast then it is. It is so much more important. It should mean so much more.

Marriage is not about being "Happy" every day... you have to choose to have joy... it is not natural to just automatically be happy every day with how your life is... it is not natural to have the same feelings you had when you were newlyweds... Marriage is about choosing to LOVE... and Choosing to find joy in the way your life is... and CHOOSING To better yourself in order to be better for the other person. It is putting what THEY need before what you think you need. Sometimes that ends up being a one way street if the other person is not all in for some reason or another... And that is one reason why marriages fail SO much. Both people have to be willing so sacrifice and love despite the others faults and shortcomings. And it stinks sometimes. In my marriage there are times I choose to stick it out and work on what I can work on and pray for him to change and to get out of his funk as soon as possible. I am sure he could say the same at times about me needing a heart change. We each have had stretches of discontentment/selfishness thankfully we don't speak about divorce and made that commitment to each other before we even said "I do".

We will be sticking out the rough times "for better or worse" is what we vowed... and thankfully we both are on the same page about that.

Faithfulness is a Godly attribute, Love is God, Joy is only from God... selflessness... or putting your spouse first... So many people talk about putting their kids first, no wonder your spouse feels less important in your life! No wonder unbelievers have such a hard time to grasp the concept of lasting marriages they fail to understand the God who created marriage and who is the living example of the fulfillment of the attributes needed for a successful marriage!

So many believers fall into the trap as well. They feel "unhappy", "underappreciated", "disrespected"... Maybe they said different vows than I did. I remember saying "For better or worse, sickness and health, richer or poorer...until death..." Were those just words? Did they only apply if my husband became a successful professional with a steady income full of security and stability? Did it only apply if I, as the wife, grew to be the June Cleaver of the neighborhood who could manage to rear my little ones without burning dinner or leaving dishes in the sink and unfolded laundry sitting in mountains while looking put together when my husband walks in the door night after night with no complaining of needing an escape (or break)? What about when my dreams change and I decide I don't want to be a stay at home mom but would like to pursue a career? What if my dreams don't line up when his? Surely it doesn't apply then... Or does it? Did it mean only when both of us are pulling our weight? Or when both of us felt like it?

Please don't misunderstand, there are things that you may need to seek help about in your marriage. There are things you may need to get away from that are IMPORTANT to not write off as "this is my lot in life... my burden to bear..." Please get help if you need it. I also realize there are times when you cannot stop the other person from giving up. You can do all you can but you cannot change what they do. But when it comes to your "feelings" changing... REALLY?! Seek God! Seek Him only for the things you need. Your spouse will FAIL YOU if you are putting all your trust and hope in them! They are HUMAN. God will make even the best of them fail you if He needs to in order to turn your trust and faith back to Him. He is the ONLY unfailing rock... The ONLY steadfast in this life.

Fearfully and Wonderfully

Sometimes there is a place where as a mom you have to say "I Don't KNOW?!"
I was placed in that situation and it humbled me with a realization that I truly was left without an answer. My sweet middle child is a handful. He has ALWAYS been a handful. He has always been physical, sometimes to the point of harm to himself or others. We have realized that he cannot control it once is reaches a point and there is nothing to be done about it then except for getting him calm as quickly and safely as possible. When I am with him at home I put him on his bed or the couch away from others but as he becomes more independent he also is away from me more often and usually in a room full of other children. I was approached a couple times in a short time span with the question: How do you handle your child when he has a meltdown/tantrum? What warning signs are there that he is beginning to meltdown?

Both times I had to look at them defeated and say "I don't know." I don't have the answers. I really wish I did. I really, REALLY wish I did! What works one day doesn't seem to work the next time. Just trying to judge if he is throwing a tantrum because he didn't get what he wants or if he actually is melting down and is physically unable to bring himself back are both fighting in my mind when it happens. I don't want to punish him for something he is unable to control BUT I don't want to be lenient on a child who is just pushing buttons for what he wants and encourage his behavior by not squelching it. We had been doing everything in our power to punish the "tantrums". When nothing works over and over again no matter how consistent and severe the punishment our eyes were really opening to the possibility that something may really be wrong. It is only recently that we became aware that he is physically unable to bring himself back and control the outbursts. He has actually shown me a couple times that he has no memory of the event that had just happened. It was eye opening. He has told me during an episode where I gave him sufficient time and security to answer me "I can't calm down!" or "I don't know how to stop!" and it truly breaks his heart. I have only just begun trying to work at ways to help him calm back down. I usually can avoid a big meltdown by keeping our routine and setting timers for activities so testing the calming methods has been slow and I still don't have my answers. I feel like I should know. That I should have a perfect (or at least almost perfect) knowledge of my (almost) 5 year old child. But I am having to play it by ear and do trial and error problem solving because apparently God didn't remember to send me the manual for this child! I sit and scratch my head and am daily reminded that kids have their own personalities and they aren't all going to fit in what people might think is a perfect mold. Some of them cannot fit in even if they wanted to!
So, no, I don't know my child. But I know the one who made him EXACTLY how he is. I know the one who made him especially special and I know HE knows how my sweet baby works. I have to faithfully lean on the knowledge of His faithfulness to complete the work HE began in my baby boy.

This was written in a time of frustration and confusion for this mama. And a time of frustration and confusion for my sweet boy. He came to me, pure frustration in his face and he stomped his foot and clenched his fists and said, "Mama, you just never understand me! You just don't understand anything I say all the time!" I scooped him up in my lap and hugged him so tightly and said that I understood everything he said but sometimes my answer still had to be the thing he didn't want me to say. Sometimes you can't have what you think you NEED. He got down and lay back in his bed. A couple minutes later he hopped up quick and ran on his tiptoes over to lay his head on my lap, "Mama, i am sorry for being bad boy all the time. I am sorry for all the bad all the days!"
My eyes began to tear up and I just as quickly pulled him up to his feet and grabbed him in a hug and I told him "You are not a bad boy. You sometimes do things that are bad but you also do things that are sweet and good. And I love you no matter what you do." We don't know where this is going to take us and J. We are at the beginning of yet another journey with him. One step at a time. That is all we can do. It is all we can ever do.

Tantrums?, meltdowns?,
Confusion?, fear?
Bad boy, poor boy
Sweet boy, Mean?
Precious, Sick?
Perfect, Broken?
Lost, Nonverbal,
"I can't calm down", Relax!
Fidget, Frightened,
Focus, Safe.
Cuddled, Separated,
Zoned, Calm.
Change, Unexpected,
Mistake, Screaming!
Kicking, Biting,
Flailing, Collapse.
Weigh down, Bear Hug,
No Touch?, Safe touch?,
Cuddled, quiet,
Sorry, Love me.
Always, always love,
Special, Sweet,
All the time, Love!
Even when, Love.

The Grip of Fear and the Gift of Peace

I just attended a Bible study on God being our comforter. We heard about fear and how it is such a natural response to trials and difficulty. How often I have let fear control my reaction to unforseeable events! How often I give it ground when my life begins to spiral downhill! Just because I cannot see the end result and feel lost, confused, or hopeless in any given situation I grab onto Fear who is always very near by.

What I have been learning through the past years is that God offers peace that is standing right beside us just as much as the flesh stands next to fear. We have the choice placed before us with each crisis and situation. We can grab hold of fear and allow it to swallow us up, or we can grab tight to God’s peace and be comforted in the midst. Grabbing onto fear is easy. It naturally grabs our hand in all of those circumstances. It takes hold of us and it is just natural that we would grasp it as the jolt of the unexpected hits us. It's hand is comfortable to us. But God’s peace is right beside us too. It holds out its hand as it is not one to force itself onto anybody. It simply offers us a place to grab tight to. The problem is that if our hands of our hearts are filled with the fear we are clinging to we have no place to grab tight to peace and he simply stands there waiting. Fear engulfs us if we are not careful. We get lost in it: making plans, “fixing” problems, and fretting, and worrying, and stressing. Our stomaches flip and hearts race. Soon enough we find that we are so blinded and trapped. We become unable to break free from the grip of fear on our own.

What happens if we choose to let go of the grip of fear in the beginning (The sooner the better)? The letting go is the hardest step. We need something to grasp and Man! fear is right there! But if we let go and choose to grab onto God’s peace instead we are wrapped in the comfort that only God can give us. It is a peace that floods over us. It does not make everything go away. It does not give us immunity from the trial or hardship. Instead, it gives us the strength of God to make it through whatever may lie ahead. It floods our soul with hope, love, and power. The comfort takes us to deliverance from the trial, through the trial, or because of the trial. Regardless of how we are delivered we can know that if we are relying on God’s peace and comfort we will be delivered to His perfect will for us if that mean victory through healing, through suffering, or even through death.

I stand at a crossroads each and every time God places or allows a trial to enter my life: I can forget the hand of God and try to work through it on my own before finally being forced to bend to the will of God or break, or I can make a tough first move and release my grip on fear and reach to grab the hand of peace offered to me relaxing in the comfort of my God and Savior. Why do I so often choose to attempt to find relief on my own allowing fear and the flesh to over-power me until I am broken even more when I finally give in to God and his will and plan? It is so foolish  of me, and yet, I find myself down that road over and over again! How quickly I forget His promises!

I have a child with a disease. It is not a horrible illness as far as life expectancy and quality are concerned, but it is something he will battle his entire life. A four-year-old should not have to fight chronic pain, fatigue, arthritis and varying GI issues. He is going to begin school in the fall and each day it becomes more real to me and I allow fear to grab hold sometimes. I fear what might happen if he flares up while his dad and I are working and he is stuck at school where we cannot get there fast enough to rescue him. I fear what his classmates will say or think. I fear what he might feel the frist time he has an accident and has to go to the nurse’s office to get cleaned up and changed. I fear what he will do that first time he gets a teacher that doesn’t understand that when he has to go to the bathroom there is no waiting until another child returns or until the lesson is finished. I fear what will happen the first time he lashes out in a tantrum and no one understands what to do with him as he emotionally looses control and his senses seem to shut down. I fear it! I fear it A LOT! I want to give him the chance to go to school; to enjoy being like big brother. I want to give him the chance to be normal. But another part of me screams “KEEP HIM HOME! KEEP HIM SAFE!” Then I have to remember God’s peace. I have to hold onto that. I have to daily choose to let go of fear’s comfortable hand and grab tight to Peace! It is the only way comfort can truely flood my soul. It is the only way that God can have total control. What is a constant reminder to me is that my sweet son was named perfectly for this journey we never dreamed we would go on. His precious name means “God’s peace”. So every time I whisper his name as I hold him tight trying to comfort him in a moment of total meltdown, every time I yell at him to stop hitting his brothers, and every time I call his name to bring his focus back to me I am reminded that God’s peace is all that I need to get through it. God’s peace is all that he needs as he learns to manuver through this thing that is his life. God’s perfectly wonderful peace that surpasses all understanding will be with us wherever we go.

Anticipation.

This time of year is crazy and wonderful all at the same time. We go around with so many thoughts and ideas and plans. Sometimes we get lists checked off just to realize we have added ten more things at the end. Every time I have gone shopping I get what is on my list and wind up with extra stuff as well. Then upon arriving home S asks if I remembered to get something and I realize I missed something else.
The boys are no different. They wrote their lists (or told me what they wanted). I was genuinely surprised and thankful for how brief they were. They picked what they wanted down to three simple things. I was pretty impressed until I realized that they really don't understand how to be greedy to that degree yet because they are just now getting the idea of making Christmas lists. As the days counted down they would begin slowly thinking of other items for their lists.
J is adamantly wanting a bad king for their little people nativity set. I tried explaining that they don't make a bad king for the nativity but he doesn't seem to understand why King Herod would not be included in the children's play set.
It is interesting how most things that God places on my heart come through things my sweet boys say. God just uses them in that amazing capacity and I am awestruck by His work through them. It isn't usually something profound that they say or do but it will hit me as profound later on as God touches me heart with it.
Like everybody who celebrates Christmas we look forward to the day. The boys count down the days and anxiously watch the calendar. I fielded questions from C over and over again about the other December holidays and his insistent "Can I just have my presents now?", "Why do you have to wrap the gifts anyways?", "Why do we just open one present on Christmas eve?". It his his way to tell me he is excited and anxious just like every other child who knows what Christmas day brings. This honestly is the first year he has shown this anticipation to such a degree and I was pretty shocked at what a difference there was this year. I do not think it is bad by any means. He is just purely excited for the day to get here. The questions that prompted this post, however, were "Why can't Christmas just come today? Why do we have to wait so long for Christmas?" I immediately thought of the Israelites waiting for Christmas to come in the Bible. The long awaited Christ-child. I asked C how many days we had left to wait. Then I asked him if he knew how long the Israelites had to wait for Christmas to come. Over 400 years from the time of the prophecies to the Messiah's birth! It went over his head for the most part but he understood that a matter of days compared to 400 years is nothing.
As I began to process the thoughts in my mind tonight I began to think about how we prepare for Christmas. We decorate our homes with lights and colors. The baking and smells that fill our homes are so wonderful. Scent of spices and fir tree flood the air. A roaring fire for those lucky enough to have cold enough weather to enjoy it (and a fireplace). We buy gifts and hide them until we can wrap them in beautiful paper and tie ribbon bows around them. We have office parties, church fellowships and get-togethers with friends. We celebrate with carols and music that fills our hearts. Advent calendars count us down to one of the best days of all.
The Jews did not know which day Jesus would be born. They did not have a countdown calendar. But they waited and waited, and longed for the gift of Christmas. And they almost missed it.
Sometimes in all our anticipation we miss it too.
We wrap gifts for others under our tree. We put pretty paper on them and tie even better bows. We trim our trees with colors and lights. Jesus came in the middle of the night. He was wrapped in rags and laid in the hay. Angels filled the sky to be sure that his coming was not missed. Can you imagine what a sight that must have been?!
Anticipation should fill us still and push us to act towards preparedness. We have time to prepare our homes for Christmas but in all that doing do we forget to prepare our hearts as well? We are rushing around to get done before it is too late and, sure enough, soon it will be too late.
What about our anticipation for Christ's return. We are waiting and waiting. Have we lost our anticipation? Have we stopped preparation? Will we miss the signs as the town of Bethlehem did that night until the Shepherds knocked on the doors and shouted in the streets of the Messiah they had seen.
Will we fail to make room?
Christmas is coming... in the fullness of time. Are you living in anticipation?