Love takes three.

Kevin and I celebrated our 11th wedding anniversary this weekend.  Love you, Boo!!  Our marriage thus far has included six dogs, a handful of fish, one rabbit, four kids, law school, two moves, five years as a youth director, six vehicles and a whole other host of challenges, blessings and path markers.  I bet you're wondering what our secret is.  I have no idea.  I married a man who has an amazing patience for my constant need for a creative outlet and he married, well, me.  Early on we invited God into our relationship, which was a really smart move.  Because you always need someone level-headed in a relationship, and patience and creativity aside, neither of us really fit that bill.     

When I was in college, a pastor showed me this diagram. 

The idea is that when you focus on God, the closer you draw to him.  As you and your partner focus on God, not only to do you draw closer to Him but you draw closer to each other. 

Our diagram probably looks more like this, the black bullets representing the always inevitable competition for our focus....

We are probably no better at this whole marriage thing than when we started, but we are a whole lot better at leaning on God.  Our marriage has as much need for grace as anything else in our lives.  Its successes and struggles remind us that there are a lot of ways to go about accomplishing something, but a focus on God is always the best way.  

I should also note that my parents celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary the day after us.  Forty years!!!  Kevin, can you imagine 40 years together?  Do you know how many dachshunds we could own in that time?!  Here's to many more...

(Many more years, not dachshunds.  Well, okay, maybe also dachshunds.  We'll just see how it goes.)   
XOXO....Kelly

   

You.

"The true celebration of Christmas is not the birth of Christ.  The true celebration is the birth of Christ for you." 

--Rev. Matthew Ruesch

By now you're probably getting tired.  By now you've probably made 115 trips to Target, baked 47 casseroles and signed 715 Christmas cards.  By now you've moved your Elf so many times you can't keep track of where you've already hidden him.  Christmas music on the radio has become less of a novelty and more of a challenge in avoiding the Christmas Shoes song. 

Christmas is starting to wear on you.

And then someone somewhere (maybe this blog) encourages you to slap on a smile, keep on going and remember the real reason for the season....Jesus of course!  But what if that isn't the whole truth? 

I could feel myself settling into a similar mid-December slump when I read an article this weekend by Rev. Matthew Ruesch, a missionary for the Lutheran church.  "We are the reason," he writes.  YOU.  ME.  It's us.  We're the reason there's Christmas.  From somewhere deep within myself I heard an echo of the word.

"YOU.  For you, daughter." 

How had I missed something so obvious, so important?  These words that changed my holiday.  And like the Grinch whose heart grew three sizes that day, I felt Christ settle somewhere inside of me I'd didn't even know I was missing Him. 

Christmas is not just the celebration of a great man sent by a loving God.  It's the celebration of God's gift TO US.  We don't need Christmas to remind us that Jesus came.  We need Christmas to remember that God sent Him FOR US. 

God loves us, friends.  More than we can ever possibly understand.  More than time or earthly wisdom has ever been able to prove.  If you do anything to celebrate this Christmas season, don't do it because God needs it or wants it.  Don't even do it because you're trying to spread Christmas cheer.  Do it because you need to remember how much God loves YOU.  He'll take care of it from there.

You are the reason, friend, and you always will be. 

XOXO...Kelly
 

It's either an Elf on the Shelf or a new puppy.....

Well, Michael asked for an Elf on the Shelf.  For three years now I've wondered how long it would go un-noticed that we do not have one at our house.  Apparently in second grade you start comparing notes because it has been made perfectly clear to me that we are the only family without one.  (Side note:  Here are some other things you start to notice in second grade....who is good at math, who brings the best lunches, which kids have learned swear words, and that girls talk weird.)

Soooooooo.....now what to do. 

It's not that I'm opposed to an Elf on the Shelf.  As Michael pointed out (and I quote directly here), "They are loveable.  They are fun.  And they are magical because they come to life at night."  How could you go wrong with that combination?  It's not like I think you can't enjoy some of the more secular traditions of Christmas without losing sight of the real reason for the season.  I don't actually have a good reason for not having one except that between lots of babies over the past not so many years and every other holiday character around here (see previous post re: Morris, Gloria, Noel, Hans, the flamingos, etc....) I just haven't had the energy to keep up with an Elf. 

I offered to hide a Lego guy every night for Michael and let him find it in the morning.  He declined.  Said they weren't magical enough.

The fact is that an Elf on the Shelf really isn't going to make or break our holiday season either way.  That's the truth about most of the stuff around here. (Don't tell Hans, though.  His ego is HUGE and incredibly fragile.)  The kind of peace I strive for at Christmas is not bound by any tradition, gift or event, but by God's Son sent to earth.  Can there be peace at Christmas without an Elf, without coordinated wrapping paper, without all the family I want near me?

You betcha.

There's peace at Christmas--and every other day for that matter--because Christ waits for me on the other side and His spirit fills me until I can get there.

For the meantime, I've decided to wait and see if Michael brings up the Elf thing again.  He's a boy and he's young, so I figure there's a pretty good chance he'll forget about it.  If not maybe we'll just get him a puppy.  Right, Kevin???!!!  :)

XOXO.....Kelly


 

The gang's all here!!

Well, the house is ready for Christmas!  We've got the nativity set up, the tree is out, the "Meowy Christmas" towels have been washed and lots of my favorite holiday accessories are about.

There's Hans the Holiday Turkey and his little dachshund buddy.  Hans comes out for Thanksgiving, but he's got so much moxy there's no way we could put him away before Christmas.

Then there are the newcomers this year, Gloria and Noel.  This sassy pair of dancing sisters may stay up until Easter, they're so cute!

The flamingos, of course.

Kudos to Kevin on this one for the nearly 2 hours he spent on a ladder pulling this one off!  Our marriage has come a long way, hasn't it?  :)

And Morris. 

Morris got a little bit of a make over this year.  As some of you might remember from years past, Morris isn't as young as he used to be.  I begged Kevin for him the first Christmas we were in this house.  He's not very sturdy and his lights and motor don't work anymore.  But there's not much you can't fix with a little tinsel and, this year, pink spray paint.  Also, I stuffed a strand of Christmas lights into his belly, so he shines from the inside out!  

And isn't that the point?  That the JOY of Christmas shines from inside each of us, rooted in faith, hope and love?  Rooted in Christ!

"...for the JOY of the Lord is your strength." Nehemiah 8:10

May your joy this holiday season shine from the inside out, where it is not dependent upon gifts or goodies, parties or decorations, where people and circumstances can not diminish it.  May we start each day knowing that Christ's joy is always there for us, before we put one foot on the floor.  May it always be our choice.

XOXO....Kelly

 

The Thanksgiving Tree

I did something totally unprecedented this week.  I put up my Christmas tree before Thanksgiving.  I have long been an advocate of waiting until after Thanksgiving to put up Christmas decorations.  We need Thanksgiving...the world is entirely too lacking in gratefulness.  But we bought a new tree this year and the box was just sitting there so I put it up.  I am grateful for it.  Does that count?

I actually think there's something very poetic about Thanksgiving wrapping up just as the Christmas season begins.  What better way to prepare for coming of Christ than with a heart full of thanks? 

My soul magnifies the Lord
And my spirit rejoices in God my savior
For he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.
From now on all generations will call me blessed
For the Mighty One has done great things for me--
Holy is his name.

I've said it before, I'll say it again.  If Mary can praise God as an unwed pregnant teenager surely I can muster up a couple of words myself.  The Mighty One has done great things indeed and in the name of Love sent His Son for my salvation.  This is a time for Thanksgiving for sure.

I shall enjoy my turkey and cranberry sauce this year in the glow of twinkling Christmas lights this year, remembering the reason for the season, and maybe I'll hang up some garland, too.  It was on sale at Michael's.  And I had a coupon!!  Thanks be to God!  Amen. 

XOXO....Kelly

   
 

The end of a chair-a.

We got rid of a chair this week.  And not just any chair.  My favorite chair.  I've actually gotten rid of it one time before this, but then I took it back.  It, along with a couch our dogs ate a hole in, was my first adult furniture purchase.  It was comfy and stylish and full of sentimental value.  It was also full of dog stink, so it had to go.  You wouldn't believe, though, how many times I walked by it until I finally worked up the courage to haul it to the curb.  Ask anyone in my family, I am not a pack rat.  So why is it so hard to let some stuff go?

When Joshua steps in to lead Israel, the walls of Jericho fall with great success.  But at Ai the Israelites are defeated.  Joshua falls to the ground in despair and cries out to God. 

"And the Lord said to Joshua, 'Stand up!  What are you doing down on your face?  Israel has sinned; they have violated my covenant, which I commanded them to keep.  They have taken some of the devoted things; they have stolen, they have lied, they have put them with their possessions.  That is why the Israelites cannot stand against their enemies; they turn their backs and run because they have been liable to destruction. I will not be with you anymore unless you destroy whatever among you is devoted to destruction."  Joshua 7:10-12

When Jericho fell the Lord commanded the Israelites to destroy all within the city and to keep away from the devoted things of its people.  A man named Achan, however, took in the plunder a beautiful robe, two hundred shekels of silver and a bar of gold and hid them.  These things he coveted were standing in the way of God's power in His nation.

Do you know how much better my house smells without that chair?  As soon as it was gone I knew I had done the right thing.  But we get caught up in the having, forgetting that the power is in the letting go. 

Now, the world will not be made perfect if we all get rid of our smelly chairs, let go of the pants that don't fit us any more or the gallon-sized bag of troll dolls you found in the back of your closet (true story....ask Christi Thomas!!).  I believe in God's power and I believe it's bigger than all of these things in spite of ourselves.  Still, there's something to being "liable to destruction" instead of accountable to Christ.  What within or around you is standing in the way of you seeing God's power?  Maybe it's time to haul it to the curb.

   
XOXO...Kelly




  

I voted today.

Our pastor talked a little on Sunday about the balance between compassion and conviction, which got me thinking.  It's a hard balance indeed.  Today being an election day, personal politics are on the forefront of everyone's mind. 

How do I feel about certain political, social and economic issues?  And, when put to the test, am I willing to put my finances, my family, my actions behind those ideals? 

You see, no matter which side of the political coin you fall on, your vote is the first step in a greater call of action.  We have to believe enough to vote and then, once we do, we've got to act.  It's the freedom from that allows us the freedom to. 

And so it goes with our faith.  It's the freedom from sin that allows us the freedom to (as our pastor put it) finish what Christ started.  We are redeemed to bring others to redemption.

Jeremiah Busby was a criminal sentenced to 80 years in a state penitentiary.  By the age of 14 he had been convicted of two homicides.  When he entered prison he was told he would die there.  And, according to Jeremiah, he did.  "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!" 2 Cor. 5:17  Jeremiah came to know Christ in prison, has since been released, and now works with a former warden in the Breaking Chains Making Amends Foundation, to bring other prisoners to the same light of Christ.

Redeemed to redeem.

Finish what Christ started.   

Freedom in Christ is not a free ride and the political freedom we enjoy in this country isn't one either.  Your vote matters.  Your actions matter even more.

All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  Therefore, GO and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.  And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.  Matthew 28:18-20

XOXO...Kelly


To learn more about the Breaking Chains Making Amends Foundation please visit their website at www.bcmafoundation.com or to hear Jeremiah's testimony please follow this link to Sunday's sermon at The Foundry UMC http://www.foundrychurch.org/worship/?mode=sermons and listen to 11/02/14.