Potica

That’s the potica baked and ready for the freezer, to have on Christmas morning. A Yugoslavian sweet bread, the hardest thing about making it is getting it to rise in my cold house. So this afternoon I ran the heat more than usual and am delighted that it has risen!

It’s hard to ‘rise’ if the atmosphere isn’t just right. I can’t rush into my prayer corner with the clock ticking, as I did today, and expect to have a deep and meaningful with God. It just can’t happen.

I’m trying to get as much prepared now so that when family comes, we can enjoy each other without being too busy. First loved one comes tomorrow night. I’ll be ready.

I have been doing an advent study this year, too, one I’ve done before which looks at some pretty serious subjects like death and judgment and Jesus’ second coming. I hope to feel ‘prepped’ for welcoming Jesus this Christmas in a deep and meaningful way.

Getting the balance right can be tricky.

December Mists

The mist steams above the fields as a cool winter sun beams down on Scotland. The ice underfoot has melted at last, and a stillness hangs in the air. There is a serenity about this morning which is lovely.

A serenity and a mystery. Mist always cloaks reality in a haze of mystery. Misty Advent moves us on towards Christmas morning, a morning of serenity and a mystery. A lovely morning, as the King of Kings slips into his world humbly and vulnerably and begins to walk us home.

I can’t say I totally understand, but deep in my heart, deep in my innermost being, there is a grateful YES pulsating through me as I fall to my knees and worship.

Joy in the Daily

Continuing on the theme of ‘mistakes’, we have just been blessed by one. The printer who produces the church magazine forgot that we can only afford black-and-white interiors, and gave us colour instead. What a great Christmas present! Contact Mag has never looked so vibrant.

I was helping sort Christmas cards for local distribution this morning. It’s a serious undertaking to organise this annual service, but given the camaraderie and banter in the ‘sorting office’ this morning, I think there is as much Christmas cheer in the work as there is in the envelopes.

At a time of turmoil in the world, it is rewarding to see joy and harmony in the everyday tasks we each do. Yes, we long for peace on earth and goodwill towards men, and we contribute to that moment by moment, in the little things we do each day. 

 

The light is already in the world, through Jesus living in our hearts.

Happy Advent.

Peace, peace

Peace, peace

This is the time of year when songs abound on the theme of peace. Ironic, that it is also the time of year when peace is far from many of us as we scurry around making preparations for the Christmas extravaganza.

People cry peace, peace, when there is no peace.

How do we recapture the peace, and what is meant by it? The Biblical word for peace is shalom and it means much more than absence of war. It means a deep pervasive wholeness and lack of agitation or anxiety. A wholeness deep in one’s heart which then radiates outwardly and spreads to the situations in which we find ourselves.

There is no real peace until we have peace in our hearts. There is no real peace in our hearts until Jesus is Lord of our hearts. Crazy that as we Christians celebrate the birth of the Prince of Peace, we so easily neglect that Prince in a frenzy of shopping, cooking, baking, buying. 

Be still in the presence of the Lord, the psalmist wrote (37), and wait patiently for him to act.

Be still. Wait patiently. Trust God, and he will help you. Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust in the Lord and do good. Trust in the Lord and do good. Profound words. 

I am about to embark on my day, a day in which I hope to trust in the Lord and do good, to be still in the midst of crowds, to wait patiently in queues, to commit every purchase to God. 

Happy Advent.

Just Wait

Advent is the season of preparation, but also the season of waiting. Waiting for God to show his hand, so to speak, by revealing his master plan for our salvation, a plan devised before the creation of the world and carried out by a helpless infant born to a virgin in a dirty barn two thousand years ago.

He showed his hand in Jesus, God made man, fully human, fully divine, impossible for us to fully understand but possible, through the Holy Spirit, for us to fully love. 

My readings today have reflected the idea of waiting. Psalm 33:22: Let your unfailing love surround us, Lord, for our hope is in you alone. There is an expectancy there, as well as a quiet waiting. Patient. Trusting that God will not let us down.

The Lord watches over those who fear him, those who rely on his unfailing love. 

It’s not always easy to rely on his unfailing love. Sometimes we are caught in the grip of anxiety, of grief, of depression, of disappointment, of pain, and he seems to tarry. But Isaiah 30:18 also celebrates the faithfulness of God to deliver: For the Lord is a faithful God. Blessed are those who wait for his help.

Blessed are those who wait for his help.

It’s not easy to wait. May he strengthen us all to wait for his help and prevent us from trying to devise our own, woefully inadequate, solution ourselves.

Life

Advent, the season of preparation. Preparation of one’s heart to welcome the Christ child in, if you are a Christian. To ponder afresh the meaning of God incarnate, of Jesus laying aside the majesty and glory he had in heaven and becoming a vulnerable human being. To wonder and marvel at this truth, so that on Christmas eve and day, when we really celebrate, there is that meaningful dimension of amazement and love and joy.

The run-up to Christmas, the season of preparation. For those whose thoughts of Christmas are confined to the eating, drinking, exchanging of gifts, a time of hassle and rush, of expectations and expense.

And for those facing imminent death, also a season of preparation. Preparing to meet their Maker. While all the world rushes round in a flurry of tinsel and glitter, some have stopped, confined to beds perhaps, waiting. 

Walking Dusty this morning, I stopped behind the woods and gazed at the rosy hued dawn. I tuned my ears to the noise – mostly birds, though a dim whoosh of traffic could be heard, too, and a plane flew overhead. I had just poured out my heart to God – been brutally honest about how I feel about a young woman in the prime of life languishing at death’s door, a young woman who has much to offer, not least her incredible faith in the face of adversity and pain. I feel upset. I feel angry. I feel confused as to how this can be.

So I listened. And this young woman’s own words came to my mind. ‘It’s not about me. It’s about Jesus.’

Courage. Faith. She’s done more – in her blog and her relationships – to show the love of Christ than most of us will though we live a full four score and ten.

http://iwontbewanting.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/the-bucket.html