Keeping Christmas

By now, maybe you've taken down your Christmas tree. I know there are organized people who promptly pull out their Christmas decor the day after Thanksgiving and then pack it away on the day after Christmas.

I'm not one of those people.

But, even after several weeks of twinkling lights decorating the living room, I'm never quite ready to give up the multicolored dreamland.

I'm never quite ready to pack away the angel tree topper ...

... or turn off the light on the Noel that decorates my piano during the holidays.

Even as a child, I remember the letdown after Christmas. It didn't have anything to do with whether I'd gotten everything on my wish list. It was just that slight feeling of melancholy, a sadness at saying goodbye to that "hap-happiest season of all," as the song goes.

It's the most wonderful time of the year
With the kids jingle-belling
And everyone telling you
Be of good cheer
It's the most wonderful time of the year

It's the hap-happiest season of all
With those holiday greetings
And great happy meetings
When friends come to call
It's the hap-happiest season of all

But, even as I haul the boxes of decorations to the basement, I need to remember not to let go of the spirit of Christmas. Even if I must take down the twinkle of lights in my living room, I can let the Light of the World continue to shine in my heart, mind and soul as we enter a new year.
"For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace."

Isaiah 9:6

So how do we keep that Light when the world seems like a very dark place some days? A couple of my Facebook friends have recently posted a link showing a Gratitude Jar.

This January, as we look back and keep Christmas in our hearts, maybe these gratitude notes would help us to look ahead and look all around us to recognize the good that happens and the blessings that God provides each and every day. 

Then, next New Year's Eve, we could look back on all those blessings and pour them out, giving thanks all over again. 

Will you join me? 

***

One these cold days of January, some stick-to-your-ribs pasta dishes may have your family giving thanks.

 Try this Nacho Pasta Bake

Serve the Lasagna Soup with toasted, cheesy French bread for a hearty meal.

Or serve this hearty Lasagna Soup.

Ordinary Baby

A stained glass window at Lindsborg's Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church

Light filters through the jewel-toned glass, casting colorful shadows on the walls, floors and pew cushions. Light makes the scene come to life, as the angel hovers over the shepherds and tells them the Good News: 

⁸ Now there were in the same country shepherds living out in the fields, keeping watch over their flock by night. ⁹ And behold, an angel of the Lord stood before them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were greatly afraid. ¹⁰ Then the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid, for behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which will be to all people. ¹¹ For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. ¹² And this will be the sign to you: You will find a Babe wrapped in swaddling cloths, lying in a manger.” ¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: ¹⁴ “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”

 Luke 2: 8-14

I have heard those words every Christmas season for my entire life. I've been in many churches where the scene with angels and shepherds is beautifully depicted in stained glass. Each year, we add the delicate porcelain shepherds to the Nativity set, along with the pristine cows, sheep and donkey.

But this year, I've thought about the story in a slightly different way. Last month, Lovely Branches Ministries completed a Bible study called A Savior Is Born, which used video messages from Pete Briscoe.

In Bible times, he reminds us, the shepherds weren't society's elite. In today's society, Briscoe says, the shepherds would have more in common with homeless people than with CEOs. God chose shepherds - not the chief priests or elders - to hear the Good News first. 

The shepherds were dirty and smelly. It was the nature of their job. They didn't get to go home for a hot shower and meal every night. They were out among their sheep, keeping them safe from predators and rounding up ones who strayed away from the group. They sweated and got dirty as they walked miles and miles to find the best places for fresh water and green pastures for their sheep.

Just as the Bible study ended, my husband told me that a neighbor had baby lambs at his farm. So we drove over to look for a look and found our neighbor in the corral, wearing overalls and working the baby lambs. His boots were caked with manure. His hands were dirty, and his brow was sweaty on the unseasonably warm fall day.  And, I again thought about the shepherds.

As I stood on the outside of the fence and looked at the babies and the ewes, it was easy for me to think that this modern-day shepherd was rewarded with the cuteness quotient of his job. Of course, unlike the shepherds of ancient days, he is able to go into his house at the end of the day and clean up with a hot shower. But, while he was outside caring for those baby lambs and their mothers, it was more manure and straw than stained glass and light. 

In the evenings, he rounds up the littlest lambs and their mothers and puts them in the barn to protect them from the coyotes that would like a midnight snack. He doesn't have to lay at the gate to the pasture to protect his flock, like the shepherds of Bible times. But he does have to do his best to keep his flock safe. It means being home and being available at dusk to shepherd those most vulnerable creatures to the safety of the barn.

One of my favorite Christmas solos is called Ordinary Baby. Just some of the words are:

He was just an ordinary baby
That's the way He planned it, maybe.
Anything but common would have kept Him apart
From the children that He came to rescue
Limited to some elite few
When He was the only Child who asked to be born

And He came to us with arms wide open
Knowing how we're hurt and broken
Choosing to partake of all our joy and pain

He was just an ordinary baby
That's the way He planned it, maybe.
So that we could come to Him and not be afraid ...

He came to those dirty, smelly shepherds so long ago. He comes to imperfect and very human me. And even though my life and your life may not always be bright and shiny like stained glass, He promises to be our Good Shepherd, too. (John 10: 1-18)

Salem United Methodist Church, Newton, KS

May the true message of Christmas shine through all the busyness and the to-do lists, and may you find the Good Shepherd at the very center of your heart this holiday season. Merry Christmas from our Kansas farm to you! (Be sure and scroll to the bottom of this post for a link to some tried-and-true Christmas cookies!)

Messiah Evangelical Lutheran Church, Lindsborg

Here's one rendition of Ordinary Baby. Enjoy!

***

A few years ago, one of my friends hosted a holiday cookie exchange. It might be time to brush off that idea. Depending on how many friends or family members you invite, you can end up with a variety of cookies - without spending days upon end in the kitchen.

So please click here for a blast-from-the-past post from Lovely Branches and see how you, too, can host a cookie exchange.  There are links to lots of other cookie recipes, too. Happy Baking!

Life Preserver

I live in a sea of wheat fields, not a sea of water. Until we visited Randy's brother in 2011, I'd never seen a Life Jacket Loaner Station. But right near the boat unloading dock at Lake Cascade in Idaho, the brightly-colored life jackets caught my eye.

As I thought about this month's theme for Lovely Branches Ministries, Safety First, my mind kept drifting back to those life jackets. Someone had left them there for the next person to use. Maybe they had sold their boat. Maybe their kids had outgrown them. Who knows? Maybe their garage was full, and the handy-dandy life jacket loaner station was as good a place as any to store their own life jackets.

An Idaho fishing lake

Some days seem to be smooth sailing. All is going well. Nothing is rocking the boat. Life seems good. Who needs a life jacket?

But there are those others days - the ones that might require a high gale warning. We feel as though we're about to be swallowed up by life's storm - whether that involves health, a relationship, a persistent habit we can't seem to shake, a growing to-do list or anything else that knocks us off our feet and sends the waves crashing into us.

Tybee Island, Georgia, The Atlantic Ocean

At those moments, my stomach has more bubbles than the Atlantic Ocean can stir up, with wave after wave about to overtake me.

Tybee Island, Georgia

I've heard the song, The Voice of Truth, by Casting Crowns many times. But as I heard it again, those life jackets flashed into my brain. You can listen to the whole song by clicking below, but here are just some of the words:



Oh what I would do to have
The kind of faith it takes
To climb out of this boat I'm in
Onto the crashing waves

To step out of my comfort zone
To the realm of the unknown
Where Jesus is
And He's holding out his hand

But the waves are calling out my name
And they laugh at me
Reminding me of all the times
I've tried before and failed
The waves they keep on telling me
Time and time again:
 'Boy, you'll never win!'
"You'll never win"

But the voice of truth tells me a different story
And the voice of truth says "Do not be afraid!"
And the voice of truth says "This is for My glory"
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the voice of truth.

Last month, we finished the Bible study, Stuck, by Jennie Allen. Throughout the study, she was encouraging us to step out of the comfortable boat and take a risk, just like it says in the song. While we were going through the study, I also read the companion book, Anything: The Prayer That Unlocked My God and My Soul.

"To risk is to willingly place your life in the hand of an unseen God and an unknown future, then to watch Him come through. He starts to get real when you live that that."

From Anything by Jennie Allen

Do I really want to step out of a nice safe boat onto crashing waves? It seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it? But you know what? Just like those life jackets hanging there for the taking, God is there to keep my head above water. It doesn't mean that there won't be storms. There will be. However, just like Jesus calmed the storm for the disciples, He's there to keep me afloat, too.

Luke 8:22-30 - New International Version (NIV) 

Jesus Calms the Storm

²² One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. ²³ As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger.
²⁴ The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!”
He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. ²⁵ “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples.
In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.”

And because He's my life preserver, I'm called to be that for other people, too. Like those people who left the life jackets there for the next guy to use, I'm called to send that note of encouragement, to make that phone call, to smile at that Mom in the grocery store with a crying toddler, to cheerfully help my husband at the last moment - even if it's not on my to-do list. We can be the instrument that helps keep the other guy afloat, too, just by sharing the life-giving love that Jesus has for each and every one.

Isn't that a blessing to remember and to act upon during this month of Thanksgiving!Thanks be to God!

***

Is there anything more comforting than a bowl of soup on a chilly fall day? Try this Tomato Lentil Soup. It's become a favorite at our house, and it's full of nutritious ingredients like lentils, kale and carrots. Bonus! It's healthy and tastes great!

Or, if you have leftover turkey from your Thanksgiving table later this month, use it in this Southwestern Chicken (or Turkey) Corn Chowder.

Eyes Wide Open

I was rummaging through books at our church's Oktoberfest used book sale last year and found this Little Golden Book, Prayers for Children.

Little Golden Books were a part of my childhood, so when I was a young parent, I loved reading the familiar stories to my own children. There was The Shy Little Kitten, The Poky Little Puppy and The Little Red Hen, just to name a few. 

I don't remember Prayers for Children in my childhood library, but last year, with my new granddaughter on the way, I paid my 50 cents and took it home. The copyright is 1952, and the moms illustrated in the book look more like June Cleaver with their circle skirts and high heels. It may seem out of sync in today's world of jeans- or sweatpant-wearing moms.

The little ones pictured on the front of the book also looked like they were  from my era growing up in the 1960s with little hats for Easter and dotted Swiss dresses in different hues for my sisters and me. Jill had little bonnets and lacy dresses, too, and Brent had suit or two for Easter finery when he was a little boy.

Easter 1965, me at age 7; Easter 1967, me at age 9; Jill's first Easter, 1986; Jill & Brent also in Easter clothes, probably 1990? Wouldn't it have been great if I'd done a better job organizing and dating the thousands of photos I took?!

It's a much more informal approach to church clothes in 2012. Jeans are fine. So is a dress. People have come to discover it's not about what we're wearing.

As I paged through the Little Golden Book, I realized that while the clothes may seem old-fashioned, the prayers are just as relevant today as they were in the 1950s.

One of my favorites in the book was Father, We Thank Thee by Ralph Waldo Emerson. As I read the words, I thought about how we should open our eyes to the blessings all around us, each and every day.  I began reading Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, for the second time. And, as she reminds me:

"I pay tribute to God by paying attention. ... Praying with eyes wide open is the only way to pray without ceasing."

Ann Voskamp in "One Thousand Gifts"                                                          

Celebrating today the ability to pray with eyes wide open!
               

Father, We Thank Thee

Words by Emerson, Photos by me

For flowers that bloom about our feet,

Father, we thank Thee.

For tender grass so fresh and sweet,

Father, we thank Thee.

 For the song of bird and hum of bee,

For all things fair we hear or see,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For blue of stream and blue of sky,

Father, we thank Thee.

For pleasant shade of branches high,

Father, we thank Thee.

For fragrant air and cooling breeze,

For beauty of the blooming trees,

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

For this new morning with its light, 

Father, we thank Thee,

For rest and shelter of the night,

Father we thank Thee.

For health and food, for love and friends

For everything Thy goodness sends

Father in heaven, we thank Thee.

***

 Check out my Lovely Branches post about Saying Grace for another look at prayer life. 

***

If you are in the Stafford, Kansas, area on October 6, you are cordially invited to the Stafford United Methodist Women book sale. Proceeds from the book sale go to mission projects, both locally and in the world. It will be in the church basement from 9 AM to 4 PM. Maybe you'll find a treasure like Prayers for Children, too!

***

See that apple hanging in the photo above? It made me think of this yummy apple bar that is perfect for fall, Apple Toffee Blondies. You should try them, too! Happy Fall everyone!

Stone by Stone

I regularly travel down the Zenith Road. I'm usually flying down it in my car in my quest to make it from my house to some event in Stafford on time. Let's face it: When I'm hurrying to get from Point A to Point B, I don't always pay attention. The scenery flies by my window, but it doesn't make much of an impression.

But, once in awhile, my pace is a little more sedate. Maybe I'm driving a grain truck to the Kanza Co-op's Zenith branch. It could be another trip to get fertilizer and haul it back to the field for Randy. On those days when I'm forced to slow down, I see more. If the windows are down in the truck or pickup, I hear the birds. I feel the breeze blowing my hair. I smell freshly cut hay. I truly see - with all my senses.

On one of those days, a big stone barn caught my attention. Now, I go by that barn several times a week. Much of the time, it doesn't even register. But as I thought about Lovely Branches Ministries' September theme, Foundations, the stone barn again came to mind.

I don't know exactly when the barn was built. But the house at the same farmstead was constructed in 1908 - more than 100 years ago. And while the barn isn't in pristine condition, it isn't falling to pieces like many of the wooden barns that dot the Kansas countryside.

A wooden barn that's falling down - But notice the cross highlighted in the light. Pretty cool, too!

We can only imagine the work that went into building that stone barn. I'm sure it was backbreaking to lift each stone into place and meticulously cement them together. A firm foundation was essential - from the ground up and as each and every layer of stone was added.

What a metaphor for our faith! Where is our foundation? Is it built on solid ground? Is it carefully stacked so that it can withstand the storms of life that inevitably come our way?

I Peter 2: 4-5 says:  

The Living Stone and a Chosen People
⁴ As you come to him, the living Stone —rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him— ⁵ you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. (NIV)

I want my life to be built on the solid foundation of Jesus Christ. Just like those long-ago workers worked tirelessly to place stone after stone, I need to build my house on the Solid Rock, not on shifting sand, like it says in that long ago Sunday School song, "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" based on Luke 6: 48-49.

And I want Christ's light - the Light of the World - to shine through me - just as surely as a Kansas sunset is reflected in the windows of a sturdy old barn.

***

Stack your plate with veggies, rice, garbanzo beans and lean beef in this tasty Farmer's Market Salad. 

Stack up some of these Butterfinger Blondies and your family's faces will light up. Guaranteed.

Like the Redwoods

"Spiritually resilient people relate."

This was a bold-faced headline in a Lovely Branches Bible study of Daniel this past spring. The study went on to say:

"Spiritually resilient people are committed to living in community. They recognize that having others around them for support encouragement and accountability can mean the difference between life and death. For Daniel, he found this network in a small group he formed with three friends: Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah. In a strange land, they had a safe haven with one another."

Taken from Pursuing Integrity: A Study of Daniel

by John Ortberg with Kevin & Sherry Harney

At the time, a friend made a comment about how redwoods grow. Most trees have a root system that grows deep and long into the earth to anchor the tree and feed it. That's not how redwoods grow. Instead, they integrate their roots with other redwoods close to the top of the earth. This integration, or intertwining, of roots helps all the redwood trees stay together and live a long and healthy life.

Her statement about the redwoods reminded me of a trip to the Muir Woods in California for our 26th wedding anniversary. As we explored the San Francisco Bay area, I had marveled at the Golden Gate Bridge. I loved the cable car rides, the twists and turns of Lombard Street and the walks along the piers.

But the Muir Woods were absolutely breathtaking. How could I not feel the hand of God in that beautiful, quiet place?

At the time of our visit, I didn't know about the redwoods' unique relationship to one another. But as I looked again at the photos I took there, I thought about how our Christian life is enriched by those around us. We find that same intertwining, integrated strength through a Christian community - whether we find it in a Bible study or a church or one-on-one with a trusted friend.

Like the redwoods, when the winds blow and the storm rage, we can "hang on" to one another if we are involved in community. In order to survive the storms of life, we need a root system anchored by our faith in God and supported by a community of other believers.

 Ecclesiastes 4: 9-12, NIV

⁹ Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their labor: ¹⁰ If either of them falls down, one can help the other up. But pity anyone who falls and has no one to help them up. ¹¹ Also, if two lie down together, they will keep warm. But how can one keep warm alone? ¹² Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken.

 It's a pretty powerful reminder about the importance of community, isn't it?

Redwoods also use light in a unique way. Redwoods look up for light and strength. And that's where I should find my strength, too - looking up to the Light of the World. It's something that's easier to do with a little help from my friends.

Maybe we all need to learn a lesson from the redwood trees. I know I do.

***

 

These flavors of summer intermingle together in very pleasing ways, too. During the dog days of August, main dish salads with grilled meats can keep your kitchen cool and your tastebuds happy. Try this Tenderloin, Cranberry and Pear Salad with grilled steak.

Or use grilled chicken with this Caribbean Salad with Honey Orange Vinaigrette.

Refined

Three months ago, the landscape was barren. Fire had swallowed up dry prairie grasses like a voracious high school football team at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

But some 90 days later, the green grasses are dotted with prairie flowers in yellows and blues amid shoots of green.

What looked dead has new life. 

Not all the signs of the fire are gone. There are still blackened remnants, if you look closely at the base of the new green growth.

On March 27, we intended to burn CRP grass. The burn started out fine, but the fire jumped a fire break, and we ended up unintentionally burning an additional 80 acres of land belonging to other property owners.

A few days after our unintended excitement, Randy planted a mixture of Forbes grasses in the sooty field as the CRP contract requires. Only a few short weeks later, green growth was already emerging.
Now that is the very picture of perseverance, isn't it? Here is how the landscape looked on April 10, only a couple weeks after the fire.

And below is the transformation by June 16.

Maybe we humans aren't so different. We all have "fires" in our lives. We have times where the landscape feels as desolate as that blackened earth. We are lonely. We face health problems. We're concerned about our kids or our jobs or our community. The fires are different for all of us. But we all have them. We can get hot under the collar. We can feel like we're walking through flames.We can feel that all-consuming heat and wind surround us in a way where it's even hard to breathe.

But God can use those times to draw us ever closer to Him.

"I will bring them into the fire; I will refine them like silver and test them like gold. They will call on my name, and I will answer them; I will say, 'They are my people,' and they will say, 'The Lord is our God.' "

Zechariah 13: 9

The verse in Zechariah says we are to call upon God's name in those times. And when we do, we'll be refined.

Fires get mighty hot. I guarantee you I didn't much like the helpless feeling I had on that March evening, as we felt the heat and heard the whoosh of the flames as fire gobbled up everything in its path.

And I don't much like the "fires" that come into my personal life either. But God promises to be there - guiding me and directing me and making sure there is new green growth on the other side.

I think, too, of the potter and the clay. Pottery can't be used until it's fired.

Pottery is made by forming a clay body into objects of a required shape and heating them to high temperatures in a kiln to induce reactions that lead to permanent changes, including increasing their strength and hardening and setting their shape.

From Wikipedia

Trials by fire can have that same effect on us as followers of Jesus. Trials can make us stronger and set our shape as His followers. Or the fire of life's trials can cause us to crack and make us useless for His plan.

The words of James make more sense in the context of the Potter's process.

Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

James 1:2-3, NIV

There is no joy in the trial. When we are in a trial, God wants us to emerge strengthened and beautiful and useful. The lump of clay that is me and the lump of clay that is you has infinite potential because we have an infinite God that is patient and good. I pray that through the fires of life, we will allow Him to shape us in His image.

***

After fire crews responded to our out-of-control fire, I took treats to the four different volunteer units who helped us, including this new recipe, Peanut Butter Cup Fluffernut Blondies.

Or, if you're looking for a cookie with a patriotic flair for 4th of July, try this chocolate brownie which I dressed up with as much bling as a fireworks-filled sky by topping with chocolate icing and star-shaped sprinkles.