Then Moses summoned Bezalel and Oholiab and every skilled person to whom the Lord had given ability and who was willing to come and do the work. They received from Moses all the offerings the Israelites had brought to carry out the work of constructing the sanctuary. And the people continued to bring freewill offerings morning after morning.
Exodus 36:2-3
Have you ever thought that what you had to contribute to the world wasn’t enough? I was thinking about the above verse from Exodus and I loved how everyone pitched in to build the temple. The craftsmen used their skills, those who didn’t have skills specific to the task at hand, brought offerings of whatever they could to the temple. They didn’t say they had nothing to offer. No, they all knew they had been given specific strengths and that no gift was too small and they used their gifts accordingly. What if more people in the Bible had shied away from doing something because they didn’t feel what they had to contribute was enough?
I started thinking about this verse in light of this Christmas season. There Mary and Joseph were in Bethlehem, taking time off from work that they would rather not take, at an very inopportune time—especially for Mary. They were struggling to find a place to stay in the hustle and bustle of a town that was overrun with visitors. Finally they came across an inn and even though it was full the innkeeper allowed them to stay in the stable. He cracked the door open and offered a modicum of generosity to them.
Imagine if he had said no. Imagine if he felt that the stable wasn’t good enough and so had declined entirely.
We don’t know a lot about the details of what this particular inn was like. In most cities of the time, all the visitors slept in one room, sometimes on multiple palettes, sometimes in one large low bed, but there was not much privacy to be had. Maybe Mary was so heavily pregnant that it was part of the problem— no one had a place where a woman could give birth with any degree of privacy if her time came while at the inn. But this innkeeper allows them to stay in the stable. I don’t know this for sure but I’ll bet you the innkeeper wasn’t sleeping out in the stable with them. I bet he and his family still had moderately comfortable accommodations inside the inn itself. He could have offered his spot inside to this young couple but he didn’t. He had a stable so he offered that. What would we have done in that same situation?
I think many of us get caught up in trying to do the perfect right thing that we miss a host of smaller opportunities that come our way. The innkeeper could, and perhaps should have, offered his place inside the house to Mary and Joseph and stayed in the stable himself, but I’m guessing that would have felt like a little too much effort. So instead of making sure he got it perfectly right, he offered what he knew he could easily do.
What opportunities do we miss because we are trying to make sure we have it completely right that we don’t do anything?
While we should not be lazy about what we have to offer, Jesus did make it abundantly clear to treat others the way we want to be treated, we have to start somewhere, and in time, we will get better at serving others. C. S. Lewis said, “Do not waste time bothering whether you ‘love’ your neighbor; act as if you did. As soon as we do this we find one of the great secrets. When you are behaving as if you loved someone, you will presently come to love him.” I believe that same principle applies here. If selling all you have and giving it to the poor sounds really scary, what about giving a monetary gift once a month or starting to volunteer in a food pantry? My guess is the Holy Spirit will fill you with a generosity that you never imagined but you have to be willing to crack the door open for the Holy Spirit to work.
This Christmas and holiday season when opportunities are literally around every corner, I urge you to pause and consider your unique gifts and abilities and see where you can crack open the door for the Holy Spirit to work through you.
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The winter weather always inspires me to get a little more crafty. I think this is due in part to the fact that there are all kinds of cute decor out there that can be made and in part because when I was growing up our community would host a community craft show for several days where you could open your home to the public in the hope they would purchase the crafts that you made. We would participate with our neighbors in this holiday craft show; the weeks leading up to it would have my mother and I furiously crafting in an effort to have enough inventory for the show. The crafty bug has hit me again and I have two Christmas ornament crafts for you!
Do you have left over Christmas cards that are too pretty to throw out but you have no idea what to do with them? I have a craft for that!
Christmas Card Ornaments
· Choose a variety of Christmas cards with small pictures on them.
· Select a pre-cut wood slice and lay it on top of the Christmas card.
· Using the wood chip as a pattern, outline the wood chip on the card then cut it out.
· Use decoupage to coat the wood chip and lay the cut-out card on top. Turn the chip upside down or use wax paper as a buffer and lay a book on top to help encourage the card to adhere smoothly to the wood chip.
· Let dry.
· Coat the front and the back of wood chip with decoupage. Let it dry, then coat a second time.
· If desired, spray with spray glue and dust with glitter.
· Spray with sealer.
· Hot glue an ornament hook to the back of the wood chip.
· You’re done!
Snow-Covered Twine Balls
I love twine balls and I think they look just gorgeous on a Christmas tree. For these ornaments:
· Start with a bare twine ball. (You can also do this with pinecones.)
· Spray with spray glue.
· Immediately role in glitter.
· Let dry.
· Repeat steps 2 and 3 until you have your ball covered thoroughly (or as much as you want).
· After the ball has dried, take a hot glue gun and adorn randomly with little pearls and crystals. Let the hot glue cool.
· Attach a hook: you could use fishing line, a regular metal ornament hook, or a fancier one like I did.
· In a well-ventilated area spray the ball with a clear coat of sealer to help minimize glitter loss.
· You’re done!
I hope these ideas will help inspire you if you are looking for some Christmas crafts to do on your own or with your family. Happy crafting!
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
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You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you.
Matthew 5:43-44
We just celebrated Thanksgiving, here in the U.S. I love Thanksgiving. Who doesn’t love getting together with family and loved ones and eating a bunch of food? But, there is so much more to the holiday than that! It is so good for us to have a day when we pause to spend time with friends and family and reflect upon our many blessings. And, it is important that we remember the history behind Thanksgiving.
In our modern culture, Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims, and the whole situation of their arrival to America gets a really bad rap. In focusing on all of the negative surrounding this event, we do a huge disservice, both to the brave people of the 1600s and to ourselves. The lessons we miss. . . .
The Mayflower sailed to America from England in 1620. The Pilgrims arrived at Plymouth Rock and set about trying to survive a harsh New England winter, the likes of which they had probably never encountered before. Not everyone who came over on the Mayflower was a Pilgrim coming here to escape religious persecution, but many of them were. Would you be brave enough to leave all you had ever known to come to a land about which little was known in order to worship as you saw fit?
Arriving in early winter, the Pilgrims were unable to disembark from the ship and had to stay onboard throughout the cold winter and many of them perished. Unprepared for the long hard winter ahead of them, nearly half of all the Pilgrims died from illness and hunger that first winter. When spring finally came, a Native American by the name of Tisquantum, or Squanto, as he is better known, befriended the Pilgrims and taught them basic farming technics which made it possible for the Pilgrims to survive.
Squanto had been captured, most likely as a young man, by the captain of a slaving ship where he was taken to Spain and sold into slavery. Somehow he was able to escape to England, where he learned English. Eventually Squanto joined the Newfoundland Company through which he was able to return home to America only to find that his whole village had been wiped out by disease during the time he had been gone. All of his family—gone. His way of life—gone. Forever. Sometime between his arrival back to America and the Pilgrim’s first spring, he was able to join the Wampanoag tribe where he served as an interpreter for the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag chief, Massasoit.
Can you imagine that? The same “kind” of people who ripped you from your home, stole years of your life, and who are most likely responsible for the disease that killed your family, and what do you do? You show them grace. You love them. You help them. You make it possible for them to survive and thrive in this new world.
This story reminds me of the story of Joseph in Genesis who was sold by his brothers into slavery. When he meets his brothers again after more than 20 years of being apart he tells them, “What you meant for evil, God meant for good.”
Though it is important for us to always remember the travesties that have happened in our past, let us not forget what is even more important: the grace and forgiveness made possible for mankind to extend to each other through the grace that we have experienced from the Creator of the Universe when He sent His Son to die for us.
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There are two times of the year when I am especially focused on the founding of our country. These times are Indepence Day and Thanksgiving. I think about how there was fellowship between the Pilgrims and Native Americans way back in 1621. How the Native Americans stepped up to help the Pilgrims, and how they learned from each other. I think about how our country has changed and been shaped over the nearly 400 years since. I think how much fellowship between people has fallen by the wayside more than we should have ever allowed.
I was talking with an elderly neighbor the other day and she told me of her life growing up in the late 1930s and early 1940s. She grew up in an immigrant mining town, of which, her mother was the postmaster. By nature in this immigrant town, many of the adults didn’t speak fluent english. As their children grew and sought to better their futures they needed help filling out college applications. This woman’s mother would help them to fill out the paperwork correctly. On Saturdays she would make hot donuts to share with their community and the little post office would become crowded with people. This woman built community. She didn’t let a need go unanswered, she stepped up and pulled her weight and did what she could.
A little while ago I stopped by a family owned farm market and greenhouse. The owner was there, an older gentleman who announced that he had been there since 1948! He took the time to explain to me where everything in the little shop was sourced, the values they hold as a business, and he answered my questions. His friendliness made me a loyal shopper!
Every year the day after Christmas my husband and I have a little date day. We pick a small town with a quaint downtown or main street we want to explore and we make a day of it! We get coffee, and hit the streets poking our heads into neat little shops and enjoying the last of the holiday season in local small businesses.
This year has been a very tough year for so many small businesses. It has been a rough year for our country here in America as racial, political, and gender differences have been exacerbated and tensions are high. Have we forgotten that amidst all of our differences we have similarities too? Have we forgotten that we are all Americans, people, neighbors, and family members? Have we forgotten that we need to remember our similarities to bind us, not our differences that separate us. We need to bring back the sense of community to our country, where we looked out for each other as neighbors.
I encourage you this holiday season; before you click the one click ordering on Amazon; to get out if you can, and from home if you can’t, and look around to see what small businesses in your community you can support this holiday season. Is there a food bank you can donate your time or money to? Is there a local business you can buy your tree or a wreath from? Is there a local bakery that is struggling that you could order Christmas goodies from? What ways can we step up as a community and amidst all of our differences pull together as the Pilgrims and Native Americans did all those years ago?
Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.
1 Thessalonians 5:18 NIV
It was Tuesday the 23rd of December, which is to say it was literally the busiest day of the year in the salon where I was working. I was staying late to give grandma her Christmas perm, and grandpa his Christmas haircut.
My usually timely grandparents had gotten caught in some traffic so grandpa dropped grandma off at the door in order that I could get started on her hair while he parked the car. I smiled and waved from the shampoo sink when I saw grandpa come in. I smiled as I saw him head right for the coffee bar and pour himself a cup. I thought it was odd that he hadn’t removed his coat—it was warm in the salon with all the people and all the hair dryers going. What was even more odd was his hand was shaking badly as he carried the coffee over to where he was going to sit. After settling grandma into my chair, I went to check on him. Grandpa insisted he was fine so I proceeded with grandma’s perm.
While grandma’s permanent solution was on, I started to cut grandpa’s hair. I asked him how their lunch outing was that grandma said they had enjoyed earlier that day. He couldn’t remember. Not only that, but he couldn’t remember much about his day. This was not at all like him and alarm bells started going off in my head. Worried, I told him I thought maybe we should go to an urgent care because he wasn’t acting quite right. He refused (normal) so I suggested perhaps he should let me drive them home. He said okay and more alarm bells went off. I knew if he was giving in to me driving him home something was really wrong.
I finished grandma’s perm and grandpa said he had to use the restroom. He was in there a while so I sent grandma to check on him. Grandpa had felt himself starting to collapse and had slid onto the floor in the bathroom. He couldn’t get up. I didn’t know if he was having a stroke or what. Fortunately, one of the other clients was a nurse and came over to assess him. He was getting less responsive so we called an ambulance.
Grandma and I followed the ambulance to the emergency room. I remember walking up to the emergency room door holding grandma’s hand and feeling grateful. It took me off guard, the amount of gratitude I felt in the moment despite how worried I was for my grandfather. I felt gratitude that grandpa had been blessed with so many healthy years on this earth. I was grateful that this had happened at a time and place when I was with grandma, and where there was a nurse to help give aid to grandpa until the ambulance arrived. Gratitude can truly change our perspective of any situation. Even when it has an outcome we don’t like.
Grandpa ended up just having a common infection that had gotten out of hand. He was treated and released that night. He was able to celebrate Christmas with us two days later. We had lots of reasons to be grateful that year. But even if grandpa hadn’t been okay, we still would have had lots of reason to be grateful. Being grateful in only the good seasons isn’t enough.
When bad things happen and we start to doubt God’s goodness, we should pray and ask Him to remind us of his many past blessings and of the ways He has cared for us through other troubled times. Remembering His goodness will restore our gratitude.
Disclosure
Please remember that this post contains affiliate links; that means if you click on the link, I will make a small commission at no extra cost to you. It’s a way to support my blog! I will only ever share an affiliate link if I love the product and think that you just might love it too!
If you are here, chances are you just might like my writing. (wink) If you Drop your email address in the box below I’ll save you time by emailing you the link every time a new post comes out!
