Photo Credit: Sophie Pope

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selections December 1^st – 5th
Additional Reflections

At this point I’ve read through five days of Advent readings by Ann Voskamp in her latest book, “The Greatest Gift:  Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas.”  So far we have encountered Adam and Eve, Noah, and Abram, in some of the most profound, history-altering moments in Scripture.  I keep wondering about their perception of these moments as they moved through them.

I suspect that none of them understood the reverberation their life-altering moments would have throughout all of history when they actually walked through them.

Did Adam and Eve understand that when they ate the fruit, that every human after them, save One, partook of sin and death?   Did they understand the full extent of the curse until years of toiling with the earth and birthing babies had passed?  Did they know that one poor decision would result in separation from their eternal Love?  Did they even know there was life outside the Garden before they were put out of Eden?  Did either one of them wake up that day and think, “I’ve got a bad feeling about this day,”?

When God told Noah to build the ark, what was he doing?  And when he spent 120 years building the ark did he realize he was partnering with God to save a remnant of all of humanity? Did he even possess any carpentry skills?  Did he know that thousands of years later a special sign and promise God made to him would speak love and hope to every other person whose ever seen a rainbow?  Did he know millions of children (young and old) would smile with wonder every time they see the colors of Love displayed in the sky?

What was Abram doing when God came to him in the land of his fathers?  What about the day God made a covenant with him and he believed and was counted righteous?  I don’t know, but whatever he was doing, he probably did it almost every single day.  Did he wake up one of those mornings and think it was somehow special?

I think all of these extraordinary moments in Scripture people were right in the middle of the day-in, day-out, ordinary moments of their lives when God decided to show up.  Just like us they had jobs (so to speak), kids to raise, laundry that needed washing, homes (tents?) that needed keeping, and people that needed caring for.  And when those extraordinary moments arrived and passed, just like us, I am not sure they understood the full scope and importance of what had transpired.  In fact, I am almost certain they didn’t.  Why? Because most of the time we don’t either.

The extraordinary dressed in the ordinary.  God wrapped in humanity.  All of our moments are holy and extraordinary, because He comes for us, extends Himself to us in all of them.  Even when we think we are just folding the clothes, making dinner, or driving to and from work, He’s coming for us.  Can you feel it?

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selections for December 5^th
“Living by Faith”

Genesis 12:7 (NLT) – “Then the Lord appeared to Abram and said, ‘I will give this land to your descendants.’  And Abram built an altar there and dedicated it to the Lord, who had appeared to him.”

Have you ever wondered why God chose to appear to Abram?  For that matter, have you ever wondered what was so great that the Creator of the universe chose to speak to, appear to, or even work through ANY of the people recorded in Scripture.  Let’s face it, there’s only one Perfect man who ever walked the earth and it wasn’t Adam, or Noah, or Abram.

All we really know about Abram before God appeared to him is that he must have been a descendant of Noah and he’s from an area of the world that over time has developed a reputation for being opposed to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  That’s it.  Nothing distinctive.  Nothing special.  Nothing particularly godly.  He was just a man.

So why did God choose to appear to him?  Why did God promise to bless him and all the nations of the earth through him?  Why did God transcend the heavenlies and insert Himself into time and space to appear to just an ordinary man?

Because that’s the nature of unconditional Love, it truly has no conditions.  Which means it is wholly dependent on the person who loves, not the recipient of that love.  Abram did absolutely nothing to earn Love coming down in person, extending Himself to him and then choosing to bless him.

And we don’t either.  Christ comes to us in the middle of all of our humanity and if we will allow Him, joins with us and takes up residence in us.  And this was His plan from the beginning.

I love these Old Testament pictures of God extending Himself to man long before He literally did it through the Babe in a manger. The entire Bible is Advent – God coming for us.  What occurred to me as I was reading this passage in Genesis was that the Bible records history from a certain perspective.  It doesn’t record every single thing that’s ever happened since the beginning of time.  What about all the other ordinary people God came to, spoke to and blessed?  What about you and me?

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection for December 4^th
“Rise”

Genesis 6:6-8 (NLT) – “ So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. ⁷ And the Lord said, ‘I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them.’ ⁸ But Noah found favor with the Lord.”

Put yourself in Noah’s sandals for a moment.  Imagine living in a world where man has become so evil that God is sorry He created him (and her).  The Creator, the One who had created an entire world to express the essence of Himself, Love, was so sorry He had made man that He was willing to destroy them.  If the state of the world was heartbreaking for God, think how hard it must have been on Noah to live in the middle of it every single day.

But Noah found favor with God.  The Hebrew word for favor has in its root the idea of God bending, stooping in kindness, extending Himself to man.  God came down to Noah and extended Himself out of Love and compassion to Noah.

Do you know what the favor of God looked like to the human eye?  It looked a whole lot like Noah’s circumstances went from bad to worse.  When God flooded the earth with His grief over sin, Noah’s human frame was caught right there in the midst of it.  He had a front row seat for the destruction of humanity (except for the handful of family on the ark).  And while it rained for forty days and forty nights it appears from Scripture he was cocooned in that ark for a lot longer than that…maybe about a year.  Let me remind you, he was in that ark with a remnant of animals and a remnant of people (given evidence after the flood, the remnant of people didn’t seem to be of stellar character).  Five minutes after God closed the door on the ark I would’ve have been climbing the walls!

I don’t know about you, but if I had been in Noah’s position I might have really struggled with the idea of what it means to have the favor of God.  But that’s what happens when we judge eternity by our circumstances.  Life viewed from our position on this spinning globe does not afford us the correct position to judge our circumstances as good or bad.

As bad as things looked, Noah couldn’t have been in a better position or safer hands, even though it literally looked like his world was falling apart with the rocking of that ark.  Day after day on that boat, with every rise and crest of a wave, he probably felt like he was coming unglued.  And if you’ve ever spent even a brief time in tight quarters with your family in a stressful situation, you know he wasn’t the only one coming unglued.

But having the favor of God, having God come stoop right down to his human level wasn’t about his circumstances.  It was about a relationship with the living God IN his circumstances.  It was experiencing a new level of trust and belief in the only sure and safe thing there is, the God who is Love.

On this side of the cross of Jesus Christ, we have the favor of God and we miss the point when we waste time judging the good and bad in our lives.  Right now in the middle of where you are, can you throw wide your arms, letting go of expectations and outcomes in a fallen world, and simply receive Love Himself?  Can you trust Him implicitly even if your circumstances never change or, like Noah, actually get worse?  Can you simply trust He’s coming for your heart in EVERY. SINGLE. THING. that comes your way?  He’s bending low, stooping down, bringing all of Himself to you right this very minute.

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection for December 2^nd
“Life Begins as a Love Story”

Genesis 1:27 (NLT) – “So God created human beings in His own image.”

As a kid I used to wonder why God created humans last.  In my childish way of thinking, I would have created the most important thing first.  But growing up in a church tradition that was way more concerned about good behavior than a relationship with the Creator of the universe, we tended to focus on the part of the story where Adam and Eve fell and sin entered in.  My big take away from that emphasis on human failure was to spend the bulk of my life simply trying not to make mistakes because it made God mad.

That’s not living.  Trying not to mess up, trying not to sin, trying not to fail is not the abundant life Jesus came to give me.  Behavior management is always an inferior goal.  The gospel, what God intended all along, is so much more than that.  But I digress…

Back to Creation…beyond childhood Sunday School, I hadn’t thought much about it until a few years ago our Bible study group did an intense study of Genesis.  For several weeks I was immersed in the study of that first week and the wonder of all that happened.  As we talked about the order that came from nothing it became apparent to me, as I am sure the rest of the class already knew, that man was created last because God was preparing a place for him first.

My practical, efficient mind that strives to sort and order all the information it takes in, blessed God’s decision to do it that way, and so I finally said, “Oh, that makes sense.”

Well, of course it makes sense, but recently I’ve been looking at the totality of Scripture a little differently.  Instead of looking at it as a sum of 66 parts of information, I’ve started seeing it from beginning to end as one continuous Love story.  As I move through Scripture and allow God to reveal His Love for me, the journey has changed.  It’s no longer about gathering facts to build a case for why we must live up to God’s perfect standards, it’s about knowing the Author and allowing His Love to transform me.  The journey has become about intimate relationship with Him and it’s no longer about behavior management.

So once again back to Creation, now I see that yes He was preparing a place where we could live.  But it’s more than that– He was lovingly preparing a home for His bride.  All of Creation was intended as a gift for us to enjoy.  The Creator wanted to “Wow!” us with His Love and beauty.  He wanted us to be wonderstruck at just what great lengths He would go to in order to Love us well.

He’s been coming for us even from the beginning.

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection for December 1st pp. 1 – 7
“It is Advent: Come”

This first Advent reading selection is based on Isaiah 11:1 (NLT) – “Out of the stump of David’s family will grow a shoot— yes, a new Branch bearing fruit from the old root.”

Out of the stump of Jesse, Isaiah writes. I don’t know about you, but to me stumps represent things that once were and what no longer is. Things that appear to dead.

My husband and I still live in the home we bought one month before we were married over 22 years ago. It seemed so large and grand when it was just the two of us and not one stick of furniture. All we brought to that house were ourselves, some hand-me-down furniture (some of which I still own), our dreams and some memorabilia of life before we were an Us.

I don’t remember taking note of it before we bought the house, but once we moved in and started taking stock of our little homestead, both of us quickly fell in love with a little mimosa tree in the front yard. I don’t think I had ever seen one before. When it was in bloom each morning as the sun came up it would unfurl its fronds as if to display its beauty just for us to see. At night the branches would sort of close in on themselves as the sun went down, like the tree was going to sleep. I think that it bloomed twice a year. And for those few weeks each time it bloomed, it was like receiving a personal, “Good morning” and “Good night” from the Lord, just for me and Popey.

People who knew about these trees warned us that they are fragile and usually don’t last very long, but ours did. For 18 or 19 years that tree welcomed us every time we pulled into the driveway and even tucked us in at night. It beckoned a newlywed couple into an adventure of life together; it smiled on us as we brought home three beautiful babies from the hospital; it comforted us as we arrived home from funerals; it sent us out into the world each day with a smile; and it waved at kids getting off the school bus every afternoon. That tree said, “Home” to me and my family.

It grew so tall that it overshadowed everything else in the front yard. It felt like a protective canopy spread over our home. I loved that tree. I even loved it when the wind blew its fronds to the ground and the driveway and yard were covered with the tiny seeds. I loved it still when the blooms died and fell onto the driveway. I loved it a little less when it rained on top of those blooms and fronds and made our driveway so slick that you could practically skate down it.

Sadly a few years ago we woke up one morning after it had stormed and a significant branch was lying across our driveway. We had known the mimosa was too big, too weak and even though we had cut down some of the dead branches it wasn’t enough. It was time to cut the whole thing down. To me it was like cutting the hopes and dreams and expectancy of those newlyweds down. It was like saying good-bye to those two precious, unsuspecting kids who, in spite of themselves, had made a home in the blue house with the beautiful mimosa.

What had once looked so welcoming and comforting to me, looked barren and sad after Popey cut down that tree. In some ways it felt like I moved from a season of everything being a new adventure to the middle years where a heavy sense of resignation moved in for a long, cold visit.

A couple of years later, I pulled into the driveway one day and for some reason glanced over at the stump that used to be our grand mimosa. Right in the center of that stump were several mimosa shoots starting to pop up. I couldn’t help but smile. In the middle of that ugly stump was the hope of something new, something potentially grand. Popey told me not to get my hopes up, that it is very unlikely they will ever grow into a full-sized tree. But my hopes are up, I can’t help myself. I am smiling right now thinking about it.

As I read the verse for the first day of Advent, it reminds me that in things much bigger and more important than trees, I can have hope in the stump-y seasons. Right in the middle of seasons that seem dead and impossible. The coming of Christ two thousand years ago was the hope, the promise of new life in the middle of the dead stump of humanity. He came and He’s still coming. Every day, He’s still coming for us.

The Greatest Gift
Reading Selection pp. xiii – xiv, “Jesse Tree Invitation and Instructions”

Before beginning the journey of leading readers through the 25 days of Advent, Ann Voskamp includes two brief pages inviting us to decorate what she calls a Jesse Tree, each day. Each of the reading selections that follow include a picture of a paper ornament that could be a family craft project to work on together to help process the truth that “He has been coming for us from the beginning.” It’s an artistic way of internalizing the journey.

Let me say up front, if I haven’t before, I am probably the least “craft-y” girl you know, but I live with extremely talented, “craft-y”, artistic people. There’s a beautiful mix of visual artists, performing artists and musicians that live in my home that I get to share my life with…and unfortunately, for most of our time on this earth together I have completely misunderstood and probably misrepresented them as messy, inefficient people who would be so much more “productive” if they would just focus more.

When my oldest was a little girl, maybe 3 or 4, someone gave her an ENORMOUS bead making kit for Christmas or her birthday, I can’t remember which one. Within five minutes, which was as long as it took her to figure out how to unseal the case, that kit had exploded in my living room and about five million beads went everywhere. I remember saying unkind things under my breath about the person who gave her the kit, as I spent the rest of the day on my hands and knees trying to clean it all up. We had an infant learning to crawl and all the beads just looked like a snack to her.

It became apparent that all those beads were never going back into their case, so I found a huge gift bag with handles and just started dumping stuff in the bag. Once it was all in the bag I handed it to Liv Loo and told her she could play with it as long as everything went back in the bag after she was done. Well it didn’t take long for her to start putting her other valuables in the bag. She stuffed it not only with the bead kit, but glue sticks, bits of string, construction paper, gum wrappers, play dough molds, safety scissors and anything else that looked interesting to her. When asked what was in that bag she would say, “That’s my make-stuff.”

She carried that “make-stuff” bag around like it held the crown jewels.  She even slept with it sometimes.  Or more likely she simply fell asleep in the middle of her “make-stuff” when she pulled it back out long after the door was closed, the lights were off and she was supposed to be asleep.  She would sit for hours dumping it all out and creating beautiful art. She was processing her world. Her art included Barney, Popey and me, her sister with the “tight ears”, Mimi and Cod, Aunt Missy, her blue house, her green van and her school.

Back then I cringed every time that “make-stuff” bag came out because it meant days of finding beads and bits of string and paper everywhere. But in hindsight I smile and love all the beauty that came out of that mess.

So, now as I look forward to the season this year of celebrating the Christ who is Love and who has been coming for me since before time…coming for me right in the middle of my mess, I have a much greater appreciation for the “make-stuff” bag. Life is a lot more art than formula. A lot more messy than neat. A lot more about expression than production. It’s all about Love and not having everything tied up with a pretty little bow.

On this 31 Day journey, my artistic processing of these truths will be with my words. But this December I think I’ll see if I can find that “make-stuff” bag. And if I can’t maybe it’s time for a new one. I am pretty sure if I moved some furniture in the blue house, I’d still find a few beads and bits of string.

31 Days :: Day 31

31 Days :: Day 30

31 Days :: Day 29

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31 Days :: Day 27

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31 Days :: Day 3

31 Days :: Day 2

Welcome to 31 Days of Advent in October :: Day 1! (Yes, technically this is posting on September 30th, but since it’s late in the evening, we’re all just going to pretend it’s October 1st.

As I shared last week, I decided to join the 31 Days of Writing party at The Nester’s this year. It seemed fitting given that not having a blog to wear to the party last year is one of the things that inspired me to actually start my blog this year.  Practically speaking, this post will be an index page for all of my 31 Days posts, sort of a one stop shop.  So if you don’t want to receive an update every single time I post this month (that could be annoying), you could simply bookmark this page and come back when it’s convenient for you to read and then temporarily unfollow my posts.  I promise, I won’t take it personally if you choose to unfollow me this month.   But do please come back in November.  If you choose to continue receiving email updates throughout the month of October, well all I can say is THANK YOU!   You are the most amazing follower EVER!  Now onto the first post…

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Five pages into Ann Voskamp’s latest book, The Greatest Gift: Unwrapping the Full Love Story of Christmas, I was inspired to spend these 31 days of October reading selections from the book and writing out my own Advent thoughts and responses. Maybe a little heart-tuning to Advent in October will bear fruit of gratitude in December when everyone else’s attention also turns to the Babe in a manger.

As the book opens on page vii, with “Your Invitation to Unwrap the Gift”, I read words that have a familiar echo in my own heart in recent months: “…without the genealogy of Christ, the limbs of His past, the branches of His family, the love story of His heart that has been coming for you since before the beginning…” (page viii) and, “This, this is the love story that’s been coming for you since the beginning,” (page x).

The Advent season, the waiting, the coming of Christ, didn’t begin with the Immaculate Conception. It didn’t begin when an angel spoke to a young girl that she would be the earthly mother of Grace wrapped in humanity. It began before a promise to David, before a covenant with Abraham, and even before the promise and comfort in the middle of a curse in Eden.

Advent began before time when Love, in community with itself, decided to create an object for its affection. Christ, Emmanuel, God with Us was never Plan B. He was not Father God’s response to our poor decisions. He is The Plan and He always has been. Pure, unconditional Love wrapped in flesh, inserted into time and space for you and me.

“He’s been coming for us since before the beginning.”