Tightly and Lightly

Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth had been in the service of the Lord their whole lives. 

You might cast them today as Pastor and Wife, and former missionary kids, but you'd have to know that they were the among the very humblest, joyful, obedient, wise and giving. 

6. And they were both righteous before God, walking blamelessly in all the commandments and statues of the Lord. 

All this, but they had no children. Elizabeth called her barrenness "a reproach". No one to receive the gift of their Godly heritage. No son to bring into the brotherhood of priests. No one to care for them in their latter years. And now they were in their latter years. Did it ever become easier to bear, I wonder, or was the cry of their hearts still for a child, even after so many years?

While Zechariah was waiting on the Lord, burning incense in an inner chamber, an angel appeared right there with him. History seems to indicate that heaven had kept its gates closed for about four hundred years. Israel was in a bad place, occupied by Romans - times were very hard. But what do you think the angel, (Gabriel, no less) chose to speak to Zechariah about? 

13 But the angel said to him, "Do not be afraid, Zechariah, for your prayer has been heard, and your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you shall call his name John.

Isn't it amazing that the Lord sent a messenger to burst into Earth's atmosphere, and the immediate subject is the prayer, the very old prayer, that the man had been offering for so many, many years? I love that after 'do not be afraid' comes 'your prayer has been heard'.

And not only will his wife bear a son, but she will bear A SON! If Zechariah and Elizabeth had written a description of the son they longed for, I'll bet it would be pretty similar to this one. Is it even possible that the angel is proclaiming aloud the hopes their hearts had only whispered to the Lord? Who knows, but I'm sure this father-to-be was buoyed higher and higher as he heard what was to come. His son, HIS SON would be:

15-17 "...he will be great before the Lord....he will be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb ...he will turn many of the children of Israel to the Lord...in the spirit and power of Elijah...turn the hearts of the fathers to the children, and the disobedient to the wisdom of the just, to make ready for the Lord a people prepared."

If the OB tucked your newborn into your arms and made such a declaration - can you imagine? The child's future would construct itself right there in front of you, glowing and grand, bright and beautiful - much much much more than you would have ever dared hope for!

ALL of what Gabriel declared did come true - of course it did, what else? But there's no way that it looked like what these two parents imagined. Absolutely No Way. In their golden vision of their future son, I'll bet there was no camelhair clothing or diet of bugs and honey. I feel pretty sure they did not imagine, no way did they envision their boy as a man living in the wilderness, instead of with them, denouncing the religious leaders, their own business associates, as it were: "You brood of vipers!" Do you believe that those young parents conceived a dream for their long-awaited son that included dungeons or his head on a platter?

I wonder if the Lord intended His words to be repeated to Zechariah and Elizabeth as they sifted  through the shards of their hopes, all that was left of their boy as Herod prepared to finish his time here on earth. Was He sending the comfort of truth to these disillusioned and distraught parents?

"Truly I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist." Matthew 11:11

Our dreams, our visions and our hopes for our children - no parent can deny that we all build them. How we think it will be, what we imagine it will look like, what paths they will take and how wonderful it will be! As you read this, do you sense the Spirit whisper encouragement to let those dreams go and to cling tightly to the Father instead? Let us hold lightly the dreams we spin for our children!

And rejoice over what He's going to do!

Luke 1:6-17

Sharing the View

I guess I'm a nosy sort.

OK, I am. 

But do you ever wonder what other people see every day outside their windows?

My window views are very, very familiar to me. Window gazing, especially in these months, can be a

 major distraction from the list of things I SHOULD be doing. (Those annoying SHOULDS!)

In the spirit of sharing, then, here is the window view from our tiny downstairs half-bath.

It looks out into the greenhouse, and when I say tiny, I'm talking about 16" x 30". The window, that is. The bathroom itself is 3' x 5'. It's a great reminder to keep my weight under control.

Pros:

* You have someplace convenient (the sink) to rest your head, if you need to, while 'using' the facilities.

* Clean-up time can be less than 5 minutes.

* It's easy to open the window, reach out there, grab a shovel, and scare away thieving raccoons.

(Husband is saying right now, "Easy for you, since you'd coaching from the bed while I do that!"   Sorry, MWH!)

* As stated before, major weight deterrent.

Cons:

* No laying in the floor, in case of stomach virus. (sorry - yuk!)

* Very difficult to paint.

* Not much room for privacy when wedging self into jeans that may be a teensy bit too tight. 

Which links back to a pro ...

* Odds are much, much greater that your phone will drop into the toilet in such a small space.

ANYway --- all that is a big long side note!

What I really wanted you to see is the stained glass hummingbird hanging out there! Found him at a sale this summer, and got him for a dime. A dime!His sunlit colors against frosted greenhouse glass are causing me to spend even more time window-gazing!

The Joyful Incidentals

As we go along, I'm surprised by the things that my boys keep as 'special' about

the Holidays. 

*Now by 'the Holidays', I mean the Big Three - Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's Day.*

And, as you might guess, it's not the things we intentionally set out to make  memorable.

Seems like, it's the incidentals that make the "I love it when ..." list.

I have a list like that, and you probably do too. 

I was recalling to my mom last night, 

"Remember when you used to make a pan of fudge when something really special was happening? I remember peeking in the fridge to see if it was cool yet, being so excited  waiting for that fudge!"

She was silent for just a second, then she said, "Did I do that?"

The oddest things get caught and stick on the lint screen of our memories.

Here's some of mine:

- At holiday time, there used to always be a bowl of nuts with metal nutcrackers and picks on the table. 

- Shopping in downtown Cincinnati was a big event. Entering the thickly perfumed atmosphere of the department stores at street level (perfume, gloves, purses...) was almost as wonderful as going up and up those narrow Shillito's escalators. The anticipation of going to a new floor and the gripping dread of getting caught in those ever-opening and closing stairs. I vaguely remember that Santa was there on the toy floor, but don't remember sitting on his lap. And the beautiful fruity embellishments on the Gidding-Jenny building! No wonder I was always tripping along - - - I was usually gawking up!

- Dad used to pop popcorn in a great big pan, then salt and butter it just for us.

- My favorite decorations to put out were the felt elves and the character shaped candles.

- Mom would snip and sew a special dress for me to wear on Christmas Sunday. I didn't get to see it until she was finished with it, and that moment seemed like a great unveiling TAH-DA! I was always filled with a sort of awed pride that she could make something so beautiful with her own hands.

Pondering this list myself, I see that every one of these is a memory of a moment when there was joy, or excitement - events that only happened once a year and which were accompanied by wide, shared grins or lovingly clasped hands. I wouldn't be surprised if my parents don't even recall many of these things, or that they would probably consider them to have been only incidentals. 

And that's what I try to remember with my own sons. We can be intentional in creating Holiday memories and traditions, and we've certainly thrown our best efforts into the ring. But what they'll probably take away on their Most Loved List will be Joyful Incidentals. It's all in the Lord's hand as He builds the reminiscences He will use in their lives, letting what's un-useful pass out of memory and causing what He considers to be the profitable bits  to catch.

I'm glad that I can trust Him with that, too.