My New Year 2023 Begins Today: The First Sunday of Advent

 

My New Year 2023 begins today, the First Sunday of Advent.  I will light the first candle on the Advent wreath this evening. With the lighting this candle I will begin to prepare myself for the Christmas Promise—that Christ might be born in the Bethlehem of my heart in some new way.

Advent is the beginning of my new year, because….

Advent is a very special time... a time of promise

     it is a time of preparation for the new about to happen

     it is a time of new beginnings

Advent is a time of expectancy...a time of happenings  

    annunciations are heard if ears are opened   

    dreams are dreamed and guidance given

Advent is a time of giving birth to God

     we carry God around with us and do not know it 

      it is a time for a new birth within.  

Advent is a time of waiting, waiting

     for mountains to be brought down; hills to be brought low

     for valleys to be lifted up; crooked places to be made straight

 Advent is a time of moving...a time of transition

     it is not a movement backward, but forward  

     it is moving me, you, and the world to a place it has never been

Advent is about newness...a time for the "New Things"

     it is a season of receptivity and openness

     it is a time of new vulnerability for me, for you, for God 

Advent announces a Way...a time of new dreams

   it is a time to sing our own song, dance our own dance

   it is a time of searching and for finding

Advent is all of the above...it is kairos time

   it is a good time to start anew, to begin again.

   Advent is the time to follow your star. 

         

      

A Christmas Wish List for My Children

 Dear Paul, Rachel and Luke,

Last year, for the first time ever, I provided you with a Christmas Wish List.  I was so surprised when you provided every one of the “wishes” on that list.  The reading light, the pair of gloves, the furniture sliders, the step stool, the miniature file set, etc. (all easily ordered through Amazon) have all served me well throughout the past year.  Thank you so much for those gifts!

You told me how happy you were to have such a list last year and so, I’ve been working on a list for this Christmas.  Here it is:

1.  Two “Titan Acro Massage chairs for the Living Room.  This means I’ll need to get rid of the two sofas (each with two recliners) now taking up space that will be needed for the new chairs. I think “Taupe” would be the right color for these two chairs.

2.   One “Titan Acro Massage chair” for the new Garden Room.  The present “recliner” (and maybe the other two chairs in that room) will have to be removed to make room for the new.     “Gray" would probably look nice in this room.

 

3.  I think another “Titan Acro Massage chair” would be nice for my study as well.  Again, the present Lazy Boy Recliner will have to be removed in order to make room for the new chair.   “Brown” (like the present recliner) would be just the right color.

I’ve tried to make this list as simple as possible—four of the very same item.  The four items can be purchased locally at any Home Depot Store—and delivered.  (However, I’ll be depending on you all to remove the sofas and other chairs).  The other good news that the four chairs are on sale.  The original price was $5,199—now only $2,499 each.  That’s quite a savings.  You’ll only have to pay $9,996!

Unfortunately I've been unable to download a photo of this incredible chair.  You can find out all about it in the Home Depot holiday guide.

Give Thanks for Life!

 “Be always joyful; pray continually; give thanks whatever happens…” (I Thessalonians 5:18, NEB)

There is much spurious thinking among alleged Christians.  Many, influenced by the false prophets of our time, think that God exists to provide them personal advantages.  They expect God to heal “them” of their maladies, even though God doesn’t heal others with the same maladies.  Many of them claim to love God for what they think they can get out of such a relationship.  Meister Johannes Eckhart (1260-1327) wrote:  

“Some people want to see God with their eyes as they see a cow and to love him as they love their cow—they love their cow for the milk and cheese and profit it makes them.  This is how it is with people who love God for the sake of outward wrath or inward comfort.  They do not rightly love God when they love him for their advantage.”

No one is immune to life’s ups and downs.  Life is not a rose garden and life is not just continual chaos.  Life is a mixture.  Give thanks for the mixture.  Douglas Malloch’s (1877-1938) little poem, “Thank God for Life,” helps me remember this truth.

Thank God for life!

There! A meadowlark sings!  

Do you hear it?

For the sigh of the heart,

The contagion of laughter,

For the longing apart,

For the joy that comes after,

For the things that we feel

when we clasp, when we kneel—

Thank God for the sharing,

The caring, the giving,

For the things of Life’s living.  

Another unknown poet expressed it this way:

Thank God for life!

E’ven though it bring much bitterness and strife,

And all our fairest hopes be wrecked and lost,

E’ven though there be more ill than good in life,

We cling to life and reckon not the cost.

Thank God for life!

Grateful for "little Red Boots" and all else!

Made It! Now For The Next Step!

My brother, John, and I have returned safely home from our little jaunt across the pond.  I’m grateful that he was willing to take his “first step” and my “first step” with me.  Having lost our spouses nearly two years ago (a week apart) we are both living in a new and different kind of reality than we’ve ever known before.  We were both apprehensive about the trip to the UK, but we made it!  And we “made it” well!

Now, I must take my next step on my own.  That next step will be a solo trip to Flagstaff, Arizona, to visit my youngest son, Luke, and his family in a few weeks.  I’m very excited, but still a bit apprehensive, but I can do this—I know I can—and I must!

Who knows how many “next steps” there may be.  I have no idea, but I do know it is important to take as many as I can, while it is day.  

Is Love At The Heart of Things?

"And when he was departed thence, he lighted on Jehonadab the son of Rehab coming to meet him.  And he saluted him and said, 'Is thine heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?'  And Jehonadab answered, 'It is."  'If it be, give me thine hand.'"  (2 Kings 10:15)

“But although a difference of opinions…may prevent an entire external union, yet need it prevent our union in affection?  Though we cannot think alike, may we not love alike?  May we not be of one heart, though we are not of one opinion?  Without all doubt, we may.  Herein all the children of God (that includes everybody) may unite, notwithstanding these smaller differences.  These remaining as they are, they may forward one another in love and in good works.”

“Every wise man (person), therefore, will allow others the same liberty of thinking which he desires they should allow him; and will no more insist on their embracing his opinions, than he would have them to insist on his embracing theirs.  He bears with those who differ from him, and only asks him with whom he desires to unite in love that single question, “Is thy heart right, as my heart is with thy heart?”

“I do not mean ‘be of my opinion.’  You need not:  I do not expect it or desire it.  Neither do I mean, ‘I will be of your opinion.”….Keep you your opinion; I mine; and that as steadily as ever.  You need not endeavor to come over to me, or bring me over to you….Let all opinions alone on one side and the other:  only ‘give me thine hand.’

“…love me: and not only as thou lovest all mankind; not only as thou lovest thine enemies,…. I am not satisfied with this,—no; ‘if thine heart be right, as mine with thy heart,’ then love me with a very tender affection, as a friend that is closer than a brother…Love me as a  companion…”

Something Happened....

 

When I was 12 or 13 years old, “Something happened…and now (after all these years) I know, He…She (God, Jesus, Spirit, A Love at the Heart of things—Something?) touched me and made me….What?  The song says “and made me whole”. But, no, I’m still, even now, at nearly 80 years old, seeking wholeness.  No, He/She touched me and offered a way…a path…His/Her way.  I was to follow. But the nature of the adolescent years is to go “my way” and so I did.

Four years later, Something happened…and now (after all these years) I know, He/She touched me and reminded me of the path.  That second touch was convincing.  I followed as best I knew how, but often wandered off on my own (doing my own thing).

Another four years went by.  Then, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…again!  Unlike the blind man in the Gospel story, who required a “second touch” in order to see…this was my third!  (Or was it?)  I still couldn’t see clearly, but felt an overwhelming urge to enter the Christian ministry, and so I did.  Even so, the “following” was, and always has been a challenge.  

Seven years later, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…again. Another five years went by, and Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me.  Then, ten years later, Something happened…and now I know, He/She touched me…urging me to follow more closely.

How many times has “Something happened…?”  I often think of only those “big moments”—those moments when Something happened that literally changed my life, my path, my journey.  

Something happened,…and now I know (after all these years) what Albert Schweitzer meant when he wrote:

“He comes to us as One unknown, without a name, as of old, by the lake-side; He came to those men who knew Him not.  He speaks to us the same word:  ‘Follow thou me!’ and sets us to the tasks which He has to fulfill in our time.  He commands.  And to those who obey Him, whether they be wise or simple, He will reveal Himself in the toils, the conflicts, the sufferings which they shall pass through in His fellowship, and, as an ineffable mystery, they shall learn Who He is.”

My New Dog....

During the past year and a half many friends have suggested I get a dog, a cat, an aquarium of goldfish,  or something,  to keep me company.  I appreciate the concern and the suggestions, for I know they are offered with love and care.  But, a dog, a cat, an aquarium of goldfish, or whatever, would be an added burden, rather than a comfort.  

A dog requires food, a daily walk, and visits to a Vet.  Forget the cat—I’ve never cared for cats!.  An aquarium requires cleaning and fish need to be fed.  If I wanted to go somewhere I’d have to find someone to care for the dog (or take it with me).  Someone would have to feed the fish, too, for it is difficult to take an aquarium on a trip. Such responsibility and work is more than I want to take on these days.

Yet, I want my friends to know I appreciate their suggestions.  So, I am pleased to share the news that I now have a dog—thanks to my daughter, Rachel.  I asked her to find me a dog that would not shed, or require food, a daily walk, a bath, or visits to the Vet, etc.  Amazon had just such a dog and “Tipsy” arrived at my home last week.  

"Tipsy" 

Please be assured that I am not tipsy!