CHOOSE: TO REMEMBER ADVENT TRADITIONS

On this "Wordsmith Wednesday" a son's words recall "Advent, Liles style" for Allen Bible Church.

HOW ARE YOU “DOING ADVENT” THIS YEAR?

If “the Ghost of Christmas Past” could take you back to the Christmas of my childhood, you would end up at 1152 Longreen Drive in Memphis.  Approaching the house, you would already hear an “awfully off-key, yet strangely uninhibited” rendition of “We Three Kings” being belted out. Peek through the dining room window, and you would see a homely Advent wreath with candles lit at the center of the table.  Around the table, you would glimpse a mom and a dad trying their best to lead 3 squirmy kids in a few minutes of reflection that we called “doing advent.” “Advent” simply means “coming.”  And we did Advent as a family to remember that Christmas is about Jesus “coming” to our world.  God had promised this “advent” of a Savior long before Jesus was born in an animal feed trough.  That’s why we would read from normally untouched parts of the Bible—like Micah and Isaiah! That’s why we did Advent at 1152 Longreen. How we did Advent was more fidget than focus…more unraveled than seamless…mostly wiggly with a smidge of worship-y!

I couldn’t sit still then, yet now I can’t shake off lessons that somehow stuck with me.  Somehow by doing Advent God did something in me. Doing Advent Liles-style circa 1986!

How will you do advent this year?  How will you prepare yourself or your family to worship Christ the newborn King?

CHOOSE: TO LOOK FOR THE BABY

Afte Lucy's question, "Where is the baby?" I have been diligent to look for a manger filled with its symbolic resident. A Nativity with a capital N.

Seeking----as to physically see the babe in the manger. 

This morning I found Him in the hallway at the Baptist Surgery Center......

....as well as outside on the northwest side of the entryway.

Spiritually my prayer is for all to choose to seek Him. As Jeremiah 29:13 reminds me, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with your whole heart." 

CHOOSE: TO CONFESS

Internet keeps dropping---now I choose to be thankful for "working" WiFi at Baptist Surgery Center this morning as I await hubby's surgery shoulder. (12/5/17)

Book Juggler. Guilty as charged.

Yes, this phrase describes me. Avid reader is a part of who I am.

Right now I have a Susan Vreeland audio book going in the car. Her "literary" fiction books are about paintings and the artist who create them. Sadly, she died suddenly at age 71 in August. 

One book is on the kitchen table.

Two new devotional books are by my prayer chair, along with All Things New, a new Bible Study book, 

Three "short" Christmas books, a gift from Jerrie, are on the end table---at "my end" of the couch.

Three children's books are on hold for me at the library because I want to read, Say Zoop (Tullet), Iggy Peck Architect, (Beaty) and Remembering Vera (Polacco) as I try to keep up with latest books of author's grands might enjoy.

Four books are stacked bedside, on the floor.  

Many books are spilling out of my bedside table.

Am I reading all of them at once? No, not all, but I usually have 3 going at once. 

Reading multiple books is my way. Some books, intense in nature, I choose not to read at night. So....while that's set aside in the PM, I might pick-up a Jan Karon type book. Plus, I almost always have a non-fiction book going---informative but not gripping.

I can only hope it keeps my mind active---sort of like exercising the "little" gray matter by juggling more than one book at a time.

CHOOSE: TO CELEBRATE THE FIRST SUNDAY OF ADVENT 2017

For Christians, Advent is a time of waiting. Waiting for the Lord. Celebrating His birth at Christmas.
After seeing the movie "Star" with two of my grands we walked through the neighborhood to see decorations.
After seeing lots of Snoopy and Grinch Christmas decorations we came upon a large Nativity tableau.

Peering into the manger, Lucy, somewhat stunned,  asked, "Where is the baby?" My response was that maybe since it wasn't Christmas yet,  they would put the baby in the manger on Christmas Day.
Recently, I mailed Lucy info to explain the way we, her daddy's family, celebrate the 4 Sundays of  "Advent," even including some carols we sing and a small gift to open----as a way of focusing on the One who is the "reason for the season." It's a way pf making the "waiting" for Christmas a little easier.

Tonight we had our first Advent with grandson, Owen. Hubby read the Isaiah 9:6 scripture, "For unto us a child is born..." I shared the story of advent and then he, as his mother had always done on the first Sunday, lit the "candle of faith." We sang , "O Come all Ye Faithful" and then he "Scrooged" the candle out and opened his gift.

What a blessing to choose to celebrate "Advent" with grandchildren.

CHOOSE: RIGHT IDENTITY

Ice breaker games are a standard at church mixers.

In years past, we would either have to share a secret that few knew about us or choose 3 words to describe us. Often, to make the game more complex, those words had to be alliterative with our name.

Dotsy (according to the group) = diligent, dutiful and determined. Ugh, I would have much preferred delightful, dainty or dazzling. Oh well.

Siri even defines me as Ditsy.

However those descriptors have changed for me through the years.

During revival times, "In Christ Alone" would have been the 3 words I most desired. (1 Corinthians 6:17)

During my cancer journey my blog readers saw me as a dancing, tea drinking, reader.

Hm-m-m.....recently, at novel. bookstore, I came across the 3 words that best described me this last week through my "fatigue" schedule.

Snack. Nap. Read. Oh well again. (My sweet friend, Susan in LA, always said my epitaph would read, "She's just down for a quick nap.")

The good news is that I can brew my strong morning cuppa identity-TEA, with extra faith protein added to carry me on and sweetened with God's grace. (Lamentations 3:23)

His child is the right identity choice for me through all my seasons. (1 John 3:1)

CHOOSE: THE WAY

Biblically, "the Way" was the Acts 9:2 description of a group of people. Believers of Jesus Christ.

Psalm 32:8 shows the "way" as a direction. "I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go....."

The gospel of John describes "The Way" as a person. "Jesus said to him, I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life...." (John 14:6, w/ my capitalization emphasis)

For me, all of the above are the right way to choose.

CHOOSE: TO GIVE

I grew up hearing, "it is better to give than to receive." I believed it.

Later on I learned that particular "adage/platitude" was actually scriptural truth. Jesus said, "It is more blessed to give than to receive." (Acts: 20:35)

So.....I "give" my friend, Elnora, a special treat every month. It's her day.  "Nora's Day." 

It's always on Thursday. Except today---it was on Wednesday because of a scheduling conflict. Friends who called were confused when I said I was with her because they too know that for years, our together time has always Thursday.

This Thursday/Wednesday started with waffles at Bedrock on South Main....

....continued with a foliage hunt....(she likes pictures of trees, no matter what her sisters say.)

on the way to the National Civil Rights Museum, because she had always wanted to go...

....and onward to the Harrahan Bridge but said "NO!" to standing over the river, as she does NOT like heights!

We ended our day as we had begun it----with laughter!!

I still understand the truth of Acts:20:25 but I also know that I am the one who truly receives when I give Elnora a day. 

I guess that's the true blessing that comes from giving---receiving a blessing yourself.

Choose to give and it shall be given unto you. (Luke 6:38) 

Thanks Nora, for choosing to go with me even though you know we always get lost at least once!

CHOOSE: TO REMEMBER

The preacher in Ecclesiastes reminds us that there is a time to be born and a time to die. (3:2)

Certainly it seems easier to celebrate births (neighbor, baby Ford---or impending births (Emily and Nathan’s first child due this month as well as Norman and Linda’s grandbaby, Lilly B, due in May) and years of birthdays (Almeda, 101 & Lilly, 88) than to go into houses of mourning. But funerals have outnumbered births these last 6 weeks.

In the last 5 days, two friends have buried their husbands.

The week prior, I attended visitations for daughter of one friend and mother of another friend, both of whom I had worked with in education at Shelby County. 

A few weeks before that I mourned with a family, from my hometown, who had come to Memphis for their “Debbie’s” funeral. Not only were we all from Hopkinsville, but the Drurys were former neighbors who had lived around the corner from me on Virginia St. first on Moreland Dr. and then Jimmy and Greta lived on Alumni Moreland. 

Just a few days days before, I had attended the funeral for a dad of a former student from Southwind Elementary. 

Plus, two encouragers of mine, Carolyn O. from AR and Carolyn F. from MS both “lost” their sister and sister-in-law, respectively.

But God......in His love and mercy (Ephesians 2:4) reminded me to remember. Remember the good times and be grateful that they had chosen to believe.  A lot of grieving and yet much to remember with thankful hearts. 

For most it was a relief from physical suffering and a hope for a better life in the Presence of the Lord. So much earthly loss but so much heavenly gain.

Without that, the times of remembering would be difficult. But.....because of their faith choices, my choice to remember was one of celebration!

CHOOSE: TO HOPE

Locked out of laptop. Phone too small for me to blog. 

Hoping the Apple Store can fix it.

CHOOSE: SATURDAY AND TEACAKES

Saturday and Tea Cakes---a story in photos which blesses my heart.

Pictures can speak louder than the words this book loving, tea drinking grandmother could have even attempted to write when her only granddaughter set up this party for her friends.