Category: Writing

GOD’S GIFT TO US

Isn’t it amazing how quickly things become hackneyed?  Whether it’s fashion — skirts long or short, toes round or pointed — celebrities who come and go in popularity, hobbies we take up that begin to bore us, or relationships we out grow. Things we couldn’t live without — the boat, the rifle, the car, the house, the job — soon lose their newness and appeal and we are ready for something different, more exciting and challenging. Eventually, most of our interests become so trite, so… so… last week.

When the children of Israel were starving, and I mean starving in the wilderness, God gave them manna, fresh every morning, a miracle just for them. They were so grateful for this new versatile food. But before long they grew tired of the same old thing day after day for breakfast, lunch and dinner. They cried that they longed for a change in diet. Manna, God’s special miracle for his children, had become so last week.

In his indescribable love, God gave us the gift of his Son. God loved the world so much — he loved me and you so much — that he gave his son.

This is almost too great to comprehend. How could I ever feel blasé about it? How could I ever tire of the story of his birth, told in narrative and song, celebrated with friends and family in places decorated with lights and symbols of the nativity?

The story of how Christ came to live among us never grows cliché. The gift God gave us is experienced fresh and new every year when this season arrives, every week as we worship together, every day, every moment we choose to bask in the great love God has for us.

How much time every day do we spend waiting?  At the grocery store, in traffic, at stoplights, in the school pick-up line, on hold with Customer Service. Often we wait months for big events to happen — holidays, a wedding, vacation time.

Sometimes we spend that waiting time in tense impatience, so that even when the delay is over our mood is still dark and irritable. Other times we wait with eager anticipation, counting the days. Looking forward to an event with a light heart makes the occurrence even more joyous.

The Advent season is a time of waiting for the celebration of Christ’s coming to the world. This period can be spent in preparation for Jesus to come again into our lives. As we put everything in readiness for a wonderful celebration of Jesus’ birth, we can run about in a hysterical frenzy or we can focus on Christ and let him make this waiting time meaningful.

Rather than being distracted by all the activities and projects this time of year brings, let’s put the emphasis on the Christ Child.

As your whole being waits for the Lord, put your hope in his word, meet Jesus at the manger. It will be worth the wait.

I wait for the Lord, my whole being waits, and in his word I put my hope. Psalm 130:5 NIV

I have a ‘nest’ in my house where I read, write, knit and watch TV. When I read or hear something funny or noteworthy, I jot it down in a small notebook — for use later.

Just this week, I read on Yahoo News: “Jennifer Aniston speaks candidly about pressures to marry and have babies on the Today Show.”

Well, I should think Jen would be reluctant to marry on the Today Show, never mind having a baby!

I know what the writer meant. But that’s not what was said.

People often make humorous malapropisms out of old familiar sayings (thus providing me with fodder for posts like this).

“That scared me out of my living daylights.”

“If I knew now what I knew then.”

“I’d stay away from that with a 10-foot pole.”

And of course, Casey Stengel gave us many good lines/laughs. “They tell me it can’t be done but sometimes it doesn’t always work.”

When I pointed out a movie goof to my #2 son, Phillip, he said, “Now you’re pulling hairs.” (Perhaps he meant splitting?)

Okay, that’s it for now. As Jane Lynch says at the end of Hollywood Game Night:

“If you had half as much fun as I did, then I had twice as much fun as you.”

P.S. New look on the blog today. Thanks to my editor, blog host, #1 son, Steve May.  AldersonPress.com