I have been wondering how we came up with the term "Merry" as the adjective we most commonly use for Christmas??!! I know........kind of a lame thing to wonder about...........but , Hey!! It's my crazy brain. So, as lame as I am, I looked it up in my 1828 Noah Webster, huge, hard-back dictionary...........not on an I-Phone, etc.
"MERRY, a {Sax, mirige, myrig; Ar. to be joyful.
1. Gay and noisy; jovial' exhilarated to laughter.
Man is the merriest species of the creation.
2. Causing laughter or mirth; as a merry jest.
3. Brisk; as a merry gale. {This is the primary sense of the word.}
4. Pleasant; agreeable; delightful.
Chaucer....To make merry, to be jovial; to indulge in hilarity; to feast with mirth. Judges IX."
Well, that is something to ponder!! I don't think I have ever thought about that as my "greeting exhortation" to strangers or friends when I say to them "Merry Christmas"!! (which, by the way, I still choose to say to everyone........politically correct or not!) And now all the more since I have a fuller meaning.
Who but Christ Jesus the LORD, can bring that kind of delight to one's soul? And yet, even many who have been transferred, by His grace, from the kingdom of darkness to His marvelous Light, do not allow themselves this kind of indulging in hilarity and feasting with mirth over the birth of the Christ-Child!! Why is that?
As I take down the many nativity scenes in our home today, I will choose to continue my MERRY CHRISTmas!!
Friday, December 26, 2008
Monday, December 22, 2008
Pray about it???
Posting, journaling, writing anything have all been an unusual struggle for me the past five months. Today, I did a lot of going back over my prayer journal and was so surprised to see how brief and ..............well.........I am not even sure how to describe it all. What comes to my mind is distant or unreal. Very unusual for me. I have journaled prayers, thoughts, reactions to God and His Word for almost 45 years, I would guess. And now it is hard??? I can't figure it out.
As you know (if you have read much of my blog over the past year), our family has undergone some changes........major ones!!! So, I know that when there are circumstantial changes sometimes habits change, too. And I guess I am finding out that writing my prayers in a journal was a habit I formed as a very young woman. I am wondering if that young woman has left this "older body"!!?? I would like to think not, but the reality is that something is very different about my quiet times and how they have always been. It is probably a good thing, but I think I miss the old me!!
I am not trying to sound as introspective and almost morose as this is, but wanting to just express my curiosity as to what has happened. Maybe it is because I have been questioned a lot recently about prayer and "why we pray" and "does it really matter" and "isn't God going to do what He is going to do" and the like!! Those questions don't bother me one bit and I really do think I have fairly sound, biblical answers for them. So........it is not that my faith in prayer is shaken as much as my style of practice has changed. I am not sure I am comfortable in my new me.
Maybe I will just pray about it!!
As you know (if you have read much of my blog over the past year), our family has undergone some changes........major ones!!! So, I know that when there are circumstantial changes sometimes habits change, too. And I guess I am finding out that writing my prayers in a journal was a habit I formed as a very young woman. I am wondering if that young woman has left this "older body"!!?? I would like to think not, but the reality is that something is very different about my quiet times and how they have always been. It is probably a good thing, but I think I miss the old me!!
I am not trying to sound as introspective and almost morose as this is, but wanting to just express my curiosity as to what has happened. Maybe it is because I have been questioned a lot recently about prayer and "why we pray" and "does it really matter" and "isn't God going to do what He is going to do" and the like!! Those questions don't bother me one bit and I really do think I have fairly sound, biblical answers for them. So........it is not that my faith in prayer is shaken as much as my style of practice has changed. I am not sure I am comfortable in my new me.
Maybe I will just pray about it!!
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
The Christ of Christmas
While bringing down from the attic the bins and boxes of our many years of Christmas memories of our 42 years, I had the thought......"Why? Why do I do this year in and year out for 42 years?" I have had several hours to think about this, as it is an all day affair to get everything switched from "daily" to "Nativity celebration".
And in the process of unpacking and setting up many of my collection of various "Nativity scenes" I had my own answer to my thoughtful question. I do this because "Emmanuel" ...."God with us"!! That is it!!!! Christmas is my one chance to display in a special way that God is with me!! The amazing truth of God becoming a baby boy so that I could be filled with joy!!! Why would I not want to celebrate and display such an astounding reality that has forever changed my life and given to me the hope of life everafter!!
Over the past four months, without a doubt, it has been the very Presence of God in my life that has sustained, empowered, encouraged, fulfilled me while going through the worst storm of ours lives thus far. Because God became a Man Whose name was Jesus, the Christ, emptying Himself of the right to be exalted and worshiped as God while walking this earth, and giving His life as the payment for my sins, I, having trusted Him as my LORD and Savior, have gone through this trial of life with His peace, His provisions, His strength, His grace, His Truth, His power to trust and obey.
I have praised the LORD over and over, these past four months,for not taking Monty from me earlier this year with all of his heart events (about which I have posted previously). I am so thankful for our marriage and the way that we compliment one another in times of crisis, balancing perspectives and sharing each other's pain. I know that His grace would have sustained me as a widow, but practically speaking, having Monty here to comfort and support me when I felt a bit overwhelmed and allowing me to do the same for him made the enduring of this trial more bearable.
I can only say that my heart grieves for those who miss the whole point of Christmas. I pray that this year their eyes may be enlighted to the Light of the world in such a way that each one bows the knee to Him as LORD and thus finds the joy of keeping Christ in Christmas.
And in the process of unpacking and setting up many of my collection of various "Nativity scenes" I had my own answer to my thoughtful question. I do this because "Emmanuel" ...."God with us"!! That is it!!!! Christmas is my one chance to display in a special way that God is with me!! The amazing truth of God becoming a baby boy so that I could be filled with joy!!! Why would I not want to celebrate and display such an astounding reality that has forever changed my life and given to me the hope of life everafter!!
Over the past four months, without a doubt, it has been the very Presence of God in my life that has sustained, empowered, encouraged, fulfilled me while going through the worst storm of ours lives thus far. Because God became a Man Whose name was Jesus, the Christ, emptying Himself of the right to be exalted and worshiped as God while walking this earth, and giving His life as the payment for my sins, I, having trusted Him as my LORD and Savior, have gone through this trial of life with His peace, His provisions, His strength, His grace, His Truth, His power to trust and obey.
I have praised the LORD over and over, these past four months,for not taking Monty from me earlier this year with all of his heart events (about which I have posted previously). I am so thankful for our marriage and the way that we compliment one another in times of crisis, balancing perspectives and sharing each other's pain. I know that His grace would have sustained me as a widow, but practically speaking, having Monty here to comfort and support me when I felt a bit overwhelmed and allowing me to do the same for him made the enduring of this trial more bearable.
I can only say that my heart grieves for those who miss the whole point of Christmas. I pray that this year their eyes may be enlighted to the Light of the world in such a way that each one bows the knee to Him as LORD and thus finds the joy of keeping Christ in Christmas.
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