Daily
I Thessalonians 1:4-7 (NIV)
4 For we know, brothers loved by God, that He has chosen you, 5 because our Gospel came to you not simply with words, but also with power, with the Holy Spirit and with deep conviction. You know how we lived among you for your sake. 6 You became imitators of us and of the Lord, in spite of severe suffering, and you welcomed the message with the joy given by the Holy Spirit. 7 And so you became a model to all believers in
Good morning!
I’m learning to do things differently as a grandparent. I think I’m a better “parental type” the second time around. Are there lessons learned while raising your kids that you might do differently if you had the chance to do it again?
Last night was one of those nights. When our children were young, I did a lot of decorating for holidays – Christmas and Easter were huge celebrations in our home. One of my favorite memories while growing up was making a big deal about the holidays in our home. We spent hours preparing for the big celebration, not only by decorating, but also in cooking, planning, inviting, and welcoming our neighbors into our home. Now that I’m a little bit older, I don’t do as much holiday decorating or baking as I once did, but whenever the grandkids visit, I go out of my way to make it special for them too. How I want these children to have a similar sense of the importance of preparation, as we await the wondrous gift of our Lord. The Christmas tree is a sacred space where we place our memories, tell our stories, and hang all our hopes and dreams for the world to come. Under the tree, we place a hand-carved nativity set, fully stocked with animals, shepherds, wise men and angels, all adoring the newborn baby King. I’ve collected a lot of breakable ornaments. When my children were little, I would only let them hang the plastic ornaments, for fear they might drop a glass globe and have it shatter on the floor. This year, I realized I had done the decorating all wrong. Ornaments tell a story, and if those stories are precious to us, how much more precious are they in the eyes of a child? I sat on the floor, admiring the glass ornaments as I pulled them from the plastic storage box. We have nativities under glass; angels, crosses, bells, snowflakes, and dated baby ornaments, all breakable and every one a precious memory. The ornaments of our life are shared in the story of our salvation. I watched in wonder as I handed each glass ornament to my five year old grandson and three year old granddaughter. They are not very tall, and I knew the tree would be bottom heavy with lots of sparkling glass ornaments. Do you want to know where they placed almost every sparkling globe? The children hung them near the nativity on the bottom branches of the tree. Not one ornament was broken last night. They decorated the tree with loving care. How in the world did I miss out on such a blessing? Why was I so frightened that something might get broken, that I refused to let my own precious children hang their glass ornaments on the tree of life?
We become models of faith through risk-taking mission and ministry. Love reveals itself best in the simplicities of our daily lives. Sometimes it is hard to change a time-honored tradition. We fear that in the changing, something may become broken, displaced, or lost forever in the mix. If we choose to reach out to the world and be the hands, feet, eyes and heart of our Lord Jesus, we must be willing to let go of our fears, and allow change to occur in some of the traditions that may keep us from experiencing the fresh breath of God in our lives. Are we willing to risk a little broken glass, if it means we can effectively turn hearts to the Lord?
The Thessalonians understood full well the meaning of risk-taking mission and service. There was no doubt of their call; it was evidenced not only through their words, but by works produced in faith, prompted by love, and the sheer endurance in their suffering. Sometimes change can hurt, yet, it may bring forth a double blessing. When the Holy Spirit comes upon you with deep conviction, you cannot help but do things differently. Lives are touched when we are willing to let go of some of the things we hold dear, and allow new ideas and new ways of doing ministry emerge.
Our grandchildren had a great time decorating Granny Deb and Pa’s tree last night. I sat on the floor and watched them in amazement. I’ve never seen the tree look so beautiful. I was always more concerned about safety and the strategic placement of each ornament. By taking this risk, I watched the evidence of faith emerge as my grandbabies placed their most treasured ornaments around the face of the Christ child. It is where all of our ornaments belong, and ironically, there was no broken glass to clean up.
May we learn in this holy season of Advent what it means to become models of faith, as we risk the willingness to change, so that we can win souls for our Lord.
Grace and peace,
Deb Spaulding
Faith UMC -
Pray for: the desire to become a living model of faith. With the power of the Holy Spirit, you can turn hearts toward Christ right now, right where you are at. Won’t you ask Christ to give you the desire and determination to be a risk taker for Him today?
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© Copyright 2007, Deb Spaulding
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