Finally, at 6:00 AM, we agree to open presents. This is only after the 2:00 AM squeal alert that presents had arrived under the tree.
My living room sparkles with shreds of wrapping paper, bows, and tissue paper. By now, the little girls play happily with their new dolls, and I drink coffee--lots and lots of coffee.
Amid the laughter, I hear my husband calling out, "Can you think of any other person's birthday party where you get the presents?"
He turns to me and says, "Isn't that the real meaning of gospel? We celebrate Jesus, but we end up getting the gifts."
Bring on the gifts, the shimmering joy, the peace, and the love. May we unwrap His gifts upon gifts, in obvious and hidden forms, today and all year. May we have the hope and the faith to see them, despite every circumstance.
May we lift our eyes and be led to what we've been waiting for all our lives. Can it be that what we most want, we find in that manger?
Merry Christmas from Live with Flair!
Showing posts with label gospel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label gospel. Show all posts
Saturday, December 25, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
A Message From God in my Vacuum
Yesterday, I vacuumed my entire house.
We recently had the carpets cleaned, and the kind cleaner suggested we needed a new vacuum. He said to get a "multi-cyclonic" system with a canister I empty out--not the bag kind.
I like my old vacuum. It's been with me all these years. To me, the carpets look great: clean and soft with little lines from where the vacuum travels. We don't need a new one.
But late in the afternoon, my husband suggests we purchase the "multi-cyclonic" vacuum (it was on sale!) to help keep our carpets clean. With his fall allergies, our three cats, and our Grand Central Station lifestyle of game nights, parties, and meetings in our home, I agree to see what the big deal with multi-cyclonic vacuuming was.
So I test it. I re-vacuum the entire house.
Apparently, multi-cyclonic means "miracle" in Greek. From the view of this different mechanism, the carpets I think are clean are actually filthy. The new vacuum removes so much unseen debris from my carpets that I literally sit on the floor and admire it in the canister.
I even call two friends to tell them about this vacuum.
Today in church, I think about that different mechanism that could remove what the old one couldn't. I ask God to come in multi-cyclonic form into the depths of my being to lift the stain and invisible dirt that I can't see. God removes it thoroughly, and for me, that's the beauty of the gospel.
The unseen violations--pride, criticism, judgment, favoritism, self-focus--sink deep in my fibers. Let me not just be clean on the surface. Let me be multi-cyclonic clean.
We recently had the carpets cleaned, and the kind cleaner suggested we needed a new vacuum. He said to get a "multi-cyclonic" system with a canister I empty out--not the bag kind.
I like my old vacuum. It's been with me all these years. To me, the carpets look great: clean and soft with little lines from where the vacuum travels. We don't need a new one.
But late in the afternoon, my husband suggests we purchase the "multi-cyclonic" vacuum (it was on sale!) to help keep our carpets clean. With his fall allergies, our three cats, and our Grand Central Station lifestyle of game nights, parties, and meetings in our home, I agree to see what the big deal with multi-cyclonic vacuuming was.
So I test it. I re-vacuum the entire house.
Apparently, multi-cyclonic means "miracle" in Greek. From the view of this different mechanism, the carpets I think are clean are actually filthy. The new vacuum removes so much unseen debris from my carpets that I literally sit on the floor and admire it in the canister.
I even call two friends to tell them about this vacuum.
Today in church, I think about that different mechanism that could remove what the old one couldn't. I ask God to come in multi-cyclonic form into the depths of my being to lift the stain and invisible dirt that I can't see. God removes it thoroughly, and for me, that's the beauty of the gospel.
The unseen violations--pride, criticism, judgment, favoritism, self-focus--sink deep in my fibers. Let me not just be clean on the surface. Let me be multi-cyclonic clean.
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