Would you believe that it is only the bloody fourth of December, and I'm already getting that sinking feeling?
The one where I'm getting stressed about the events to get to, and the things to get done, and the presents to buy, and realizing that my heart is prone to wander from the real magic of this season. I told you that I would share the good and the bad during this month, so here it is.
We are doing a "smaller" Christmas this year. Circumstances that we are very thankful for have made it so. I'm actually looking forward to simplifying. But the enemy has wasted no time in telling me lies that I have believed. Our family will only know our love for them by a dollar amount. We won't have as much fun if there isn't as much to open. Our kids will somehow be missing out if they have homemade or thrifted gifts. What kind of parents are we saying that our little ones don't get to pay 12 bucks a pop to wear their pajamas and sip cocoa with a guy in a red suit.
We are using this plan to read about God's redemptive plan in bringing His son to Earth to save us all. Today we read about how God used Noah, and made a promise, and foretold His greater plan. Its been a great vehicle for telling Piper about the "big picture". But I may need to skip ahead in the story today. For times when I struggle to see the "big picture", God in His infinite goodness gives me His word and the Holy Spirit.
Micah 52 “But as for you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
Too little to be among the clans of Judah,
From you One will go forth for Me to be ruler in Israel.
His goings forth are from long ago,
From the days of eternity.”
3 Therefore He will give them up until the time
When she who is in labor has borne a child.
Then the remainder of His brethren
Will return to the sons of Israel.
4 And He will arise and shepherd His flock
In the strength of the Lord,
In the majesty of the name of the Lord His God.
And they will remain,
Because at that time He will be great
To the ends of the earth.
5 This One will be our peace.
When the Assyrian invades our land,
When he tramples on our citadels,
Then we will raise against him
Seven shepherds and eight leaders of men.
He will be our peace. How beautiful the thought, which echoes louder each time I start to believe that Christmas is about gifts.
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