The God of the Future

Angels from heaven-

Spoke to the shepherds,

"Greetings we -- bring to thee –

Bethlehem tidings

Come from a manger,

On this morn, Christ is born."

Angels from Heaven

Spoke to the shepherds,

"You will see -- One who'll be –

Lord of the future,

King and Redeemer,

Son of God, Son of God!"

Traditional Hungarian Carol

The future-in many ways looks so bleak right now! Political unrest, rising inflation, and a host of other things will cause us great anxiety!

But, we have One who is Lord of the future! The is the One who knows all things yet to happen and He is Lord over it! He is already there! What a blessed reality. As the scripture tells us, all things are “under His feet.” Go into the future in peace with “Lord of the future!”

The House of Bread

A man made census brought Mary and Joseph to Bethlehem where they had a Divine appointment for Jesus to be born in the place where He had been prophesied to be born in Micah 5:2. "But, you, Bethlehem Ephrathah-though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to me the One to be Ruler in Israel, whose goings forth are from of old, from everlasting."

God has a way of bringing to pass exactly what He has promised and He uses the puny efforts of men in an amazing way.

Thoughts to ponder-

"Bethlehem" means "House of Bread." Jesus, was born in the "House of Bread" to become the Bread of Life which sustains all who believe in Him. Without Him we have no strength. He is The Bread. He is Life.

O little town of Bethlehem

How still we see thee lie

Above thy deep and dreamless sleep

The silent stars go by

Yet in thy dark streets shineth

The everlasting light

The hopes and fears of all the years

Are met in thee tonight.

For Christ is born of Mary

And gathered all above

While mortals sleep, the angels keep

Their watch of wondering love

O morning stars together

Proclaim thy holy birth

And praises sing to God the King

And peace to men on earth

Phillips Brooks

Wreath the Holly

 Christ was born on Christmas day:

Wreathe the holly, twine the bay,

Christus natus hodie:

The Babe, the Son, the Holy One of Mary.

He is born to set us free,

He is born our Lord to be,

Ex Maria Virgine:

The God, the Lord, by all adored for ever.

Let the bright red berries glow

Ev'rywhere in goodly show:

Christus natus hodie:

The Babe, the Son, the Holy One of Mary.

Christians all, rejoice and sing,

'Tis the birthday of a King,

Ex Maria Virgine:

The God, the Lord, by all adored for ever.

Traditional American Carol

Go ahead, hang the wreath, put up the lights, the nativity scenes, make the Christmas cookies! We have something amazing to celebrate, our Savior left heaven to set us free from sin and all of its effects. These seemingly temporal acts can be little expressions of our joy, so go ahead and let each temporal act remind us of the One who came!

All reactions:

13Betty Kelso, Rod McCollum and 11 others

Zone Cleaning Details (pt. 1)

 I have created a check list for each zone so that I can keep track of what I do in each zone each time.  Zone 1 is the Living Room/Entry area.  This is all basically one room so I combine it together.  I try to dust it each time (every five weeks), and do other things such as clean the front door, shine the floor and I plan to start cleaning out all the drawers and compartments in the furniture as time allows.  I will tackle one drawer, or compartment each time I'm in that zone.  In a year, I should be done going through it all.  But, by doing this system, you never need to Spring clean!  You are doing it as you go.  I need this system as I work and I don't want to spend a week or two deep cleaning my house.  THIS IS SO MUCH EASIER and EFFICIENT!  I encourage you to try it.  

Zone Cleaning

 Zone Cleaning is the hardest thing for me to get in each week.  I have decided to divide our small home into five zones.  Here they are-

Zone 1-Living Room/Entry

Zone 2-Master Bedroom/Master Closet

Zone 3-Both bathrooms on main level

Zone 4-Kitchen

Zone 5-Guest Room/Office/Hallway (includes a closet in each room, coat closet and linen closet)

This system is working pretty well, although it is not even as to the amount of time needed in each zone.  But, it's close enough.  During zone time, is when I clean showers in each bathroom which is iffy to me that it's enough, but it's working well enough for two people.  I also, continue to do a small amount in the kitchen each week, as there is a lot to do in that zone!  I also have decided that each zone will be a calendar week instead of the FlyLady's system which is crammed into a calendar month.  This works best for me since I'm a PayRoll FlyBaby.  :)

Next post...Details on Zones.  

Cleaning System continued...

 Based on the Fly Lady System, I no longer spend an extended amount of time most weeks cleaning bathrooms.  While the Fly Lady says to "swish and swipe" daily, since it's just Rob and I here, I decided to do a swish and swipe on Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday.  This involves a quick wipe of the sink, faucet and a little around on the counter top, quickly brushing out the toilet and wiping it down.  I can do this in both bathrooms pretty quickly.  On the  Tuesday swish and swipe, I do a few more things such as the entire counter top and refilling things that sit out, the shower cleaner, etc.  On Mondays as part of the Fly Lady Home Blessing Hour, I give the bathroom floors a good sweep and mop.  Also during that time, I can quickly clean the mirrors.  This system is still under development, but it's going pretty well.  

And, speaking of the Home Blessing Hour, I have adapted it to include these items...

Cleaning all floors well, changing out linens in bathrooms, emptying all trash, cleaning mirrors, quickly dusting the entire house with my swiffers, and cleaning the doorknobs.  I haven't gotten it down to an hour yet, but I think I can at least do all of that in an hour and a half.  By doing this routine each week on Monday evening or Tuesday afternoon, I could feel a little better about missing my zones if I run out of time.  Every room has had a little attention with this method and that's great!

Next post will be zones.  

Cleaning Systems...Daily Routines

 I've been exploring cleaning systems on YouTube primarily and in the book "Sink Reflections" by the flyLady, Marla Cilley.  I am realizing as I explore this topic, I already have a pretty decent system in place.  Maybe I should start a channel telling about MY system.   There ARE ways however, for me to IMPROVE on my system and constant tweeks are good!  

Here's my system....which I started developing pretty good in the Fall of 2020.  

I already had some daily routines which I have been tweeking and they are very helpful.

My morning routine on work days includes Quiet time in the Bible with my coffee, a 20 minute exercise routine, getting dressed and getting out the door to work.  Rob makes me a breakfast I can eat in the car and at work in my desk and he also does a good bit of bed making.    

My after work routine includes some type of activity such as walking, yard work, gardening.  Emptying the dishwasher/reloading and tidying the kitchen, a load of laundry, practicing the piano.  Then it's time for Supper.  I have developed a system of cooking a meal on Tuesday which we can eat for two days and another meal on Thursday which we can eat for two days.  This is working really well.  (Monday evening Rob goes to a men's Bible study and he eats there, so I can grab whatever at home)

Before bed routine includes loading the dishwasher, a quick kitchen tidy/sweep in main areas, getting my vitamins ready for the next day, making sure the coffee pot has water, getting my clothes ready for the next day and a few minutes in my office trying to stay on top of financial matters, etc.  Then it's shower/bath time and into bed.

If I keep these routines up, life flows pretty well.  And these routines are a little different depending on whether or not the next day is work day.  

In my next post, I will address my bathrooms and kitchen zone cleaning.  

Mid Life Crisis...

 It seems I find myself having a Mid Life Crisis of sorts, AFTER my mid life has passed!  For 30 years, I lived as a single woman, always hoping and praying that there would be someone for me even as I neared the half century mark.  I kept my life very busy with work, family, friends, pro-life activities and political friends and activities.  I had spent years cultivating a life that held meaning and purpose for me, always with an eye towards the future in hope that even yet, there would be someone for me.  

Then, almost overnight, I began a relationship with Rob and we were married five months later.  My life changed completely in very short order.

I got married.

I moved.

Covid happend the next year.

I changed jobs due to Covid.  I went from working in Overland Park, to driving in the total opposite direction to work in Lawrence. 

All this time we have been in a constant state of flux remodeling the house and cleaning up the property.

I quit being involved politically like I was.

I no longer have my music business due to Covid.

I quit attending Nall Ave Baptist Church where I loved playing piano due to Covid.

I thought I was only going to have work like this for one year, then I could ease up on working and focus on my music business and being a wife.  Didn't happen.

I went through Menopause.

I had a new family, who I love, to be around.  (One of the positives)

And I wonder why I feel so lost?  I'm still trying to find my footing!  

Our world has changed so drastically in four years.  Not only did my personal world change completely, but the entire world has changed.  And alot of the change will never go back to the way it was.  

The Apostle Paul felt the pangs of this life when he wrote "...we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life.  yes, we have the sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us..."

Having a marriage finally means that I have accomplished one of the deepest longings of my heart.  Now, to build the marriage and deepen it is the priority.  

But, what do I strive TOWARDS now?  My time on this earth shrinks each day!  This reality has become clearer to me and distresses me.  There are so many things I still want to do!  And I'm stuck in a job that has no end.  It's just a J-O-B.  Can I trust God with all of my desires yet unfulfilled?  Can I trust him when the marriage is not a fairy tale?  (No marriage is, by the way).  Can I trust him with my list of dreams?  Longings?  

I believe I CAN!  The same God who delivered Paul, WILL deliver me.  He will deliver me from myself.  My selfishness, my shortsidedness.  He will aid me and bring me into His glorious kindom someday.  

Building Up Our Homes or Building up Other things?

 Having just heard a sermon about generosity and then being given a long list of ministries that our church supports, I am left with a lingering sense of guilt.  My husband wants me to work and save money for my future.  This means that at age 54, being two years post menopausal and a body that is feeling and showing its age, I am gone from home up to 40 hours a week, spread over 5 days per week, including a round trip of one hour per day.  Then, when I'm home, I'm always seeking to stay on top of house work, laundry, cooking, office work, etc.  I struggle with feeling tired, depressed and burnt out already.  I'm also feeling guilty because I don't do more for my aging parents than I do.  And then I go to church and the guilt continues.  I should be doing more.  I should be involved in one of the plethora of "ministries" that the church supports and offers.  Sadly, I didn't hear anything about women being "keepers at home," or "building up there homes" as Proverbs tells us.  In fact, the home was not mentioned at all.  Except for the home that the church has supported for sex trafficking survivors as they transition back into society.   Which, by the way, is a great ministry.  Don't get me wrong.  

I just have two questions...when is the Christian woman supposed to fulfill her Biblical role of being a "keeper at home" and "building up her house?"  And the other question is this.  Would we even need to support so many ministries outside of the church if women were fulfilling their God given roles to start with?  Just some Sunday thoughts to ponder...

Winter Funk...

 I haven't blogged for awhile, since Christmas to be exact.  I sometimes get the winter blues/blahs, and I certainly had that some this winter.  But, after days like today where the sun has shone and temps rose up around 60, it does give hope for Spring!  I am ready to get out of the house, plant potatoes in our garden, and start working in the yard.  I don't enjoy the mowing times, even though Rob does the mowing, I do alot of the trimming.  I like having it done as it looks nice, but I hate getting filthy!  

It's just like life.  Many things I don't necessarily enjoy doing, but I LOVE the results.  Some of these things in mys life I can think of...getting my Nursing CEU's done so I can renew my license again...practicing the piano so I can play to  bless others...getting up early to go to my job so that later I will have money to give, save, invest and to enjoy the fruits of my labors.  So many others, but these came to mind quickly.  

I think  this is just part of living in a fallen world.  One day, when we are with Jesus in the New Heaven and New Earth, our primary occupation will be worshiping Him forever!  There will be no sorrow in that!  Only joy forever!

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #15 MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

 Merry Christmas!!!!

O come, all ye faithful,

joyful and triumphant!

O come ye, O come ye to Bethlehem!

Come and behold him,

born the King of angels.

O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him,

O come, let us adore him,

Christ the Lord.

Sing, choirs of angels,

sing in exultation,

sing, all ye citizens of heav’n above!

Glory to God, all glory in the highest!

Yea, Lord, we greet thee,

born this happy morning;

Jesus, to thee be all glory giv’n!

Word of the Father, now in flesh appearing!

 

Come one, come all! Poor. Rich. Faithful. Unfaithful. Sick. Well. Near. Far. Holy. Unholy. It matters not. Whatever your soul needs is found in Christ alone. And what our soul truly needs is forgiveness. Forgiveness for our rottenness. For our sinful, selfish ways. Christmas calls us out of ourselves to hope. Hope in the Christ Child. Hope for a new day. A new start. Run to Jesus today!

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #14 The Word Became Flesh

 Hark! the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the newborn King:

peace on earth, and mercy mild,

God and sinners reconciled!"

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,

join the triumph of the skies;

with th'angelic hosts proclaim,

"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

Hark! the herald angels sing,

"Glory to the newborn King"

Christ, by highest heaven adored,

Christ, the everlasting Lord,

late in time behold him come,

offspring of the Virgin's womb:

veiled in flesh the Godhead see;

hail th'incarnate Deity,

pleased with us in flesh to dwell,

Jesus, our Immanuel.

Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace!

Hail the Sun of Righteousness!

Light and life to all he brings,

risen with healing in his wings.

Mild he lays his glory by,

born that we no more may die,

born to raise us from the earth,

born to give us second birth. -Charles Wesley-

 

Important to the Christmas account and more so for us as earthlings needing salvation, is the core theological truth that Jesus became a man; Yet He was still the perfect Savior. He was and is the God-Man. God in the flesh. No human could save us. A perfect sacrificial lamb was necessary to atone for our sins. So, he laid His glory aside, stepped into history, and “veiled in flesh, the Godhead see.” We see God thru Christ. Amazing! Hard to comprehend. But, life giving. He was “born that we no more may die!”

Merry Christmas Eve!

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #13 Move Me Closer

When Michael and Shawna Wright and I used to sing together, at Christmas we’d sing this little song and Shawna would do the narration. If we only were closer to Jesus, how blessed we would be!

“Move me closer,

Move me closer,

Move me closer to the Child.

Let me see Him, let me hold His hand,

Move me closer to the Child.”

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 # 12 The God of the Unusual

 “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.”

Micah 5:2

I love this contrast of thoughts-

The One who has been around for a very long time will be born as a baby in an insignificant town and He will rule Israel. This is how our God works! He does things so differently than our humanity expects.

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #11 Christmas is Joy!

The message of Christmas is joy.  Joy and gladness is what Zachariah was to experience due to the birth of his son John in his old age. The Angel told him,”and you will have joy and gladness, and many will rejoice at his birth.” While John was not the Messiah, he was the forerunner, the one who would prepare the way for Christ.
What is this joy promised? It is the joy of having our sins gone! Of restoration to our intended state of fellowship with our Crestor.
May this Christmas season be one that is joy filled for us all-Christ is joy!

Let our gladness have no end, alleluia!
For to earth did Christ descend, alleluia!
Refrain:
On this day God gave us
Christ, His Son, to save us;
Christ, His Son to save us.

Prophesied in days of old, alleluia!
God has sent Him as foretold, alleluia!

See, the loveliest blooming rose, alleluia!
From the branch of Jesse grows, alleluia!

Into flesh is made the Word, alleluia!
He, our refuge and our Lord, alleluia!
Bohemian Carol

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #10 Wise Men

 As with gladness men of old

did the guiding star behold,

as with joy they hailed its light,

leading onward, beaming bright,

so, most gracious Lord, may we

evermore be led by thee.

As with joyful steps they sped,

Savior, to thy lowly bed,

there to bend the knee before

thee, whom heav’n and earth adore,

so may we with willing feet

ever seek thy mercy seat.

William C. Dix

It’s always a good day to draw nearer to Christ. It’s never too late, either. So many things and distractions conspire to keep us away, so Christmas is a

wonderful time

to draw near. The Wise Men let nothing, including King Herod, keep them away. Be a wise person. Draw near to the Savior today. In Him is all we desire.

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #9 Sons of God

 “Sweet little Jesus boy

They made you be born in a manger

Sweet little holy child

We didn't know who you were

Didn't know you'd come to save us Lord

To take our sins away

Our eyes were blind, we could not see

We didn't know who you were”

“He came to His own and His own did not receive Him.” John 1:11.

The heart of Christmas is the understanding of who Jesus is and His purpose in coming. So much more than a baby being born. So much more than the manger. He came to live and to die for me. For you. Because without His death as the perfect lamb we are without hope.

“The Son of God became a man to enable men to become sons of God.” CS Lewis

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #8 Jesus, Lunatic or Lord?

 A Child is born in Bethlehem

And joyful is Jerusalem.

He lies within a lowly stall,

The King who reigneth over all.

Sprung from no mortal father, He

Is born of pure virginity.

Unwounded by the serpent’s tooth,

He comes to us a man in sooth.

Like to the flesh man dwelleth in,

But all unlike to man in sin.

That He might bring our mortal race

Back to the image of His face.

A Child is born in Bethlehem,

And joyful is Jerusalem.

Now upon this, His natal day,

Bless we our infant Lord alway.

Possible 14th Century with Czech origins.

A key point of the Gospel is the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. The fact the He was born of a virgin is miraculous and lends credence to His claims to be God. Being born of a virgin made Him sinless and capable of being our sacrifice for sin. Without this reality, Jesus is just as CS Lewis said, “He would either be a lunatic–on a level with the man who says he is a  poached egg–or else he would be the Devil of Hell. You must make your choice. Either this man was, and is, the Son of God: or else a madman or something worse…. You can shut Him up for a fool, you can spit at Him and kill Him as a demon; or you can fall at His feet and call Him Lord and God.”

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #7 A Royal Family Tree

 Lo, how a Rose e'er blooming

From tender stem hath sprung!

Of Jesse's lineage coming

As men of old have sung.

It came, a flower bright,

Amid the cold of winter

When half-gone was the night.

This Flower, whose fragrance tender

With sweetness fills the air,

Dispels with glorious splendor

The darkness everywhere.

True man, yet very God,

From sin and death He saves us

And lightens every load

Jesus had a carefully planned family tree and from it we can learn a lot! A reading of His lineage given in Matthew 1:1-17 will tell the story of 4 women whom were in His family. Tamar, a harlot; Rahab, a woman of Israel’s enemies, Bathsheba who was Uriahs wife and Mary, His mother. The first three mentioned were not women who we would think would be in the family tree of the Savior of the world, but apparently, God, the Father had other plans! By having these three women in the family tree and actually placed in the record, we see a wonderful manifestation of the gospel in the tender plant of Christ. No one is excluded from this message of redemption. All may know His forgiveness. This is the message of Christmas!

 

Christmas Devotionals 2022 #6 "Find Rest in Christ"

 And ye, beneath life's crushing load,

whose forms are bending low,

who toil along the climbing way

with painful steps and slow,

look now! for glad and golden hours

come swiftly on the wing.

O rest beside the weary road,

and hear the angels sing!

Edmund Sears

Rest. It’s something we are not very good at. The press of earthly life keeps us often in a frenzy of trying to please many on multiple fronts and hold many things together! Christmas should be the time when we pause for much needed rest in our minds and bodies, but somehow even during this wonderful time we are frantic! Seek to find a restful spirit this Christmas and “be diligent to enter that rest…”(Hebrews 4:13a) which only comes in Christ.