Advent Birthing

Because Advent is about waiting and Advent is about birthing. As the New Year approaches, may what has been birthed in you this Advent blossom.

Advent Birthing

In the manger, dark and deep
there lies a babe, who cannot sleep.

The animals sing a song of warmth.
Breath hangs in the air.
Life hums.

The babe, does he know?
Does his sweet face show?

He, the hope of all.

His mama sings a lullaby.
She knows. 

Yes, she knows.

This babe, her babe, is gift to man.

All men.

Every man.

She snuggles him close.
She'll cherish his days, his cries
his laughter, and his sighs.

Waiting is over. 

Expectations and hopes met.

Fulfilled every moment.

Full.

 
No longer pregnant with expectation, but birth.
Life. Breath. Hope.
Reality.

He grasps her finger.
He reaches out.
He will grip them.

They grasp. 

But will they grasp Him?

His fingers extend to the world.
Healing in his touch.

 Miracles occurring in the darkness.

And out of the dark shines light.

The day is beginning. 

Dawn rising bright.
 

Hope of all life.

Grasp Him.

A poem written last year for our piano teacher's Christmas birthed newborn son.

Dad's Toy Shop

A darling story about the joy of a Christmas filled with togetherness.

Each year about this time, I try to make myself scarce! Dad's toy workshop is about to begin in our garage. Simple gifts flow from that space, but not without an abundance of complications, groans, and laughs. The kids each gift each other with something dad and they have made for the other. The anticipation for these gifts builds for months and it's great fun.

However, I am NOT a crafty person. Therefore, I'm thrilled when I find a craft that is fun, easy to do, and turns out as promised! We've enjoyed these lovely ballerinas.

Snowflake ballerinas

We are also working on a wee bit of painting.

Here's a fun idea.

Cooking roasted chestnuts tonight after enjoying some yummy ones last night at the 100 Candle Solstice Dinner. 

I hope to make these soon, Maple Bacon Cinnamon Rolls. 

Happy crafting and cooking!

One Hundred Shining Candles

Eating by candlelight tonight

Winter Solstice 

by sister

Winter solstice, dark and gray.

Shortest day.

A hundred candles light the way.

This is winter solstice day. 

Reading

One Hundred Shining Candles

The Winter Solstice

The Shortest Day

 Praying

Dear Lord, 

In vain, men have tried to dance away the darkness. Only the veil torn in two, dispels the dark. Please send our Saviour soon. 

Love, 

Your Children

Advent Bookends: A Tree for Peter by Kate Seredy

Today small Peter gave Tommy light for light.

Waking up this morning, I found myself in Isaiah 22. Harsh soul scraping words. The wood man was up and pondering the Sermon on the Mount. During the day, I found myself trying to merge these two passages and understand what they mean. Can we be called to both weep and wail and also hold onto hope that those who mourn shall be comforted? 

This evening we stayed home from a community commitment. Something had to give, and unfortunately tonight it was that commitment. Sometimes, big and little bodies need stillness and rest.

Sitting by the fire, I picked up A Tree for Peter and began to read out loud. We finished the book in one sitting. I desperately needed to be reminded that in the midst of tears and trouble all around us we can and should build.  

A Tree for Peter reminds us of the miracle of Christ in the worst of circumstances and reminds us that every community has great capacity to create and build. God is at work in the world and He wants us to be as well. In the midst of mourning, we are to be builders of that which will last. We are to bring His hope, joy, and healing to our hurting world.

And deep down inside him another dream was forming; he was groping for that, to give it to his mother as a surprise. The dream had started while he watched the men who worked on the houses, while he stood listening to the strange men from the city called builders and engineers. They were the ones, he knew, who, with pencils and papers, with hammers and saws and paint, had made the sad, ugly houses into the white castles of his dream. He wanted to be like them; a man who could, with tools build a dream.... 

That was it. Small Peter laughed out loud, because now he had the surprise for his mother, all ready in words. He looked up at her and said, "When I grow up I am going to be a builder." 

She did not answer. She only looked at him and then at Pat. The smile on her face was beautiful to see. It was Pat who broke the smiling silence. "Faith, and what else could he be? He, with his little spade, building castles out of mud and dreaming them full of fine people...."

And small Peter reminds me of Isaiah 58:12
 
Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins
    and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls,
    Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

Be a builder.

If Not You, Then Who?

Be the light you wish to see in the world. 

 Do not wish for light.

Do not wait for light.

Light the Light.
Christ. 

 Be the change you wish to see in the world.

~ Ghandi

Caution Children At Play

The eye is the lamp of the body. If your eyes are healthy, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eyes are unhealthy, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light within you is darkness, how great is that darkness!  

Mathew 6:22,23

Tree lights are finally twinkling and fresh snow falling. The world is white and the world is pale. And the Christian radio station says it's great that Newton, CT is moving on. Starting anew, their kids are back in school. And I can hardly drop mine off without tears. And I'm angry that American faith is white, light, and fluffy. Often, it melts too. When will we wail loudly and fall on our knees with these families in Connecticut? When will we connect the dots? Small children connect them more than we do.

On our drive, a Caution Children at Play sign reminds people to drive slow. To look out for the little ones. As a nation and people we no longer do that.

In the days ahead, gun control will be discussed around many tables. I dare you to take the discussion deeper. I'm neither anti-gun nor pro-gun (if you keep your guns locked up in a gun safe), but I am totally disgusted by the gaming industry and trash and violence Hollywood churns out. Why do they churn it out? We watch it. God help us.

We haven't forgotten Caution Children At Play, we have intentionally forged ahead with violence and guns galore in our video games and on our TV's. No other nation, no other people accepts this violence, tolerates it and indeed welcomes it like us Americans. Such accepting people we are. God help us.

We have filled our eyes and minds with darkness. We have walked away from morality and goodness. We have walked away from God. Wake up. Newton, CT is the result of what we as a nation have filled our hearts and minds with. 

Caution Children At Play

Advent Adventures at the Inn

 

 Christmas 2011

There's no such thing as a normal Christmas. We've no Christmas tree yet. Daddy has said there will be “no trappings of Christmas without the Christ in Christmas.” I love that man. I would love a tree, but I would love a truce most. Yet again, brother and sister are renewing their need for grace with one another and their world. I'd like to blame the sugar, but I know my own heart to well for that.

As a result, brother and sister have taken to lodging together in our “school room.” They've a few days of clothes and their bedding and that's pretty much it. Their rooms are absolutely off limits until next Saturday.

Like Mary and Joseph, they are wandering in search of a place to rest. Christ's birth is imminent, desiring to make room for Him in the inn.