What Christmas is really about

I heard this lyric on the radio this morning...

He made a way in a manger
To make a way to the cross

[by Lee Black and Steve Merkel]

Isn't that good? I have been thinking a lot about the REAL meaning of Christmas over the last couple of weeks. And I've been struck by how much Christmas music out there is not about Jesus.

Christmas—root word: CHRIST.

My boys love music and have been listening to the Cedarmont Kids singing the old Christmas hymns—and the words of "Good Christian Men Rejoice" stood out to me...

Good Christian men, rejoice—with heart and soul and voice! Now ye need not fear the grave; Jesus Christ was born to save!

THAT'S why we celebrate Christmas! Yes, God came to earth in human form—Immanuel, God with us—and that is wonderful in and of itself. But the whole reason Jesus came was to save us from the penalty of sin (eternal separation from God)! His death on the cross—the shedding of His blood as the sacrificial lamb—atoned for our sin once for all time! Now we, who believe, stand before God clean and without blame.

What greater gift is there than that?!!!

Necessity is the mother of invention

We live in a little ol' rambler, constructed in the 1950s. We are very thankful to have three bedrooms on the main level of our home! However, we don't have the luxury of a "mud room" like some of the newer houses have. Oft we have daydreamed of how nice it would be to not have such cramped quarters at our backdoor, which opens up right into the kitchen. But, alas, it would cost buku bucks to add on a mud room.

The winter months pose the biggest challenge—particularly as the boys come in from playing outside in the snow. I mean, who wants to walk through puddles of melted snow? (One of my pet peeves is wet socks.)

So we got creative. Idea #1 – when you are done playing in the snow, you must enter the house via the front door, which has a larger entry space. We had a light-bulb moment a few days ago and added some big rubber-backed rugs for even more convenience and less mess!


And idea #2 – My ingenious husband used his excellent skills to add two racks to the outer side of our coat closet door, at the perfect height for wet and/or drippy snow pants!


Since my husband also installed a large bookshelf in the living room above the couch (see below) during vacation time in September, we joked that no one would want to buy our house if we ever wanted to move, because it's so customized to our needs!


I'm thankful for my husband's craftiness! :)

What is a "good day"?

I have a habit of labeling each day as either a good day or a bad day. A good day is a day where I am patient with my children, we enjoy each other's company, and I feel like I didn't make too many mistakes. A bad day is a day when I felt impatient & irritable and yelled at them.

But something's "off" with that school of thought. The day is good only if *I* act good, and the day is bad when *I* act poorly. It's all contingent on my behavior! This seems to reinforce my trouble with receiving God's grace. How could I receive His grace if I had a bad day (because I am bad)? This actually contradicts God's grace, because His grace cannot be earned with good behavior—it is a gift! [See Ephesians 2:8-9]

Lately, God has been showing me A LOT about His goodness, His grace, and His great love! I have been clinging to these verses from Colossians 1, verses 22-23...

Yet now He has reconciled you to Himself through the death of Christ in His physical body. As a result, He has brought you into His own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before Him without a single fault. But you must continue to believe this truth and stand firmly in it.

That is an awesome truth! God is not repelled by my sin—in fact, He doesn't see me that way! Because Jesus Christ took my sin on Himself and paid the penalty for my mistakes & disobedience by dying on the cross, I stand before God holy and blameless, without a single fault! This is extremely difficult to understand from a human perspective—but it is GOD'S TRUTH! It is HIS WAY! And I am really taking it in... letting Him assure me of His love for me... and I feel freer than I have in a very, very long time!

On grace...

"You cannot sin as much as God can forgive... We only sin as a man, but God can forgive as a God."
~ Charles Spurgeon

Never say you have done too much bad stuff for God to forgive. It is arrogant to think you are that unclean that God cannot forgive you—that makes God very small and weak. No, God is powerful enough to forgive anyone of anything—many times over!

Ephesians 3:12 says that because of Christ we can come fearlessly in to God's presence, assured of His glad welcome! It's not because of anything we have done to deserve it—it's because of Jesus taking our sin upon Himself and dying on the cross to pay our penalty! Thank you, Jesus!

Coconut Milk Pancakes

Oh baby! I'm starting to think this gluten-free stuff is more of a blessing than a curse! Today we made coconut milk pancakes with coconut flour, coconut oil, coconut milk, eggs, salt, sugar (sucanat), and baking powder. They were delicious! Got the recipe from that Cooking With Coconut Flour book. Thank you, Jesus! :)

Gluten-free

My role as head chef at our house has forever changed. Last week my husband found out he needs to be gluten-free. And dairy-free. Can you believe that?

So it's thrown a bit of a monkey wrench into my meal planning. For example, having tacos—it means no cheese or flour tortillas for hubby, and gluten-free chili powder in my taco seasoning.

We have already begun to substitute coconut oil for butter in certain recipes—and I will say it is luxuriously delicious!

Another little ray of sunshine...a friend loaned me a book called "Cooking With Coconut Flour" by Bruce Fife. It appears that coconut flour is not only a viable substitute for wheat flour, but it is very nutritious as well! The book also contains recipes for quick breads, muffins, cookies, cakes, and even some savory dishes like meatballs. Yahoo! I am very encouraged! I ordered some coconut flour (through Vitacost) so I wait with bated breath for it to arrive on my doorstep later this week...

What's wrong with driving a mini-van?

The other day my boys were listening to a Go Fish CD called Party Like a Preschooler. It's actually a really fun CD—for the whole family (read: it doesn't drive Mom and Dad crazy the first half-dozen times you listen to it). The last song—referred to as a "bonus Dad track"—is called "it's hard to be cool [in a mini-van]" and the lyrics go like this:

Sittin' at a red light, down around Sunset
A girl pulled up beside me in a candy-apple red Corvette
She pulled down her shades, gave me a wink
I gave her a little smile back
Then she laughed as she hit the gas
And I remembered where I was at
'Cause it's hard to be cool when you're behind the wheel
Of an eight passenger automobile...

So, I got to thinking about that. First of all, what if the guy hadn't been in a mini-van? How far is he going to take this flirty little episode? (I would not be amused if my husband were smiling and trying to be cool in front of pretty young women in red corvettes!)

Secondly, why does the world look down so much on mini-vans and the proverbial "soccer mom?" (I used to be one of those people—I swore I would never drive a van.) But listen, the reality is, I am a mom! I have children and I do drive a van! Why would I try to pretend that this is not the case? Is it less prestigious or satisfying to drive a van full of kids than to go zipping down the road in a Corvette? Is that not cool?

So my conclusion is this: I'm not living my life so others might consider me cool. I am living to be the best wife and mother I can be, through the help of Jesus, my Lord!

I know, I know... it's just a song... but it just got me thinking...