Angels bending near the earth

I enjoyed singing Christmas carols so much this year.

I decided my favourite one is It Came upon a Midnight Clear ... "that glorious song of old, from angels bending near the earth, to touch their harps of gold..."

Singing it, I had a picture of a massive angel, hovering over the world, head bent down towards it, seeing and mourning at the wrongdoing and sorrow, but also full of peace that all will be well. Peace that God is in control. Knowing that God sees all, but believing that He also knows the bigger picture, and that there will be justice, and recompense, and a setting right, in the end.

Still through the cloven skies they come,
With peaceful wings unfurled;
And still their heavenly music floats
O'er all the weary world:
Above its sad and lowly plains
They bend on hovering wing,
And ever o'er its Babel sounds
The blessed angels sing.

These pictures are artwork to illustrate this same carol, by Erik Christenson, taken from his blog - I hope he would not mind. I love them.

This photo is of a tomb in the Protestant cemetery in Rome. I resonate with it because it shows how God and the angels grieve with us, even whilst knowing more than us. 

Because we live in a fallen world, that needs the God who came at Christmas, and who will come again.

Joy to.... us!

As you know, I have been on a quest (oh yes, good word), for joy, and peace. I think I have been asking God for those two things, for some years. I feel as though I used to have more of them. As a student I had a reputation for laughing a lot. More than other people. If you have only got to know me since I was older you probably wouldn't even believe that. I think I thought when my thyroid was fixed, my laughing would come back - some of you might remember me talking about that. It did some, but not as much as before - but then, I had young children and a husband and a mortgage and a house that flooded and lived in a place with power cuts and heat and bad roads... and was just less carefree, I suppose. I guess partly, that is just Life.

But part of what prompted me to start writing the list of a thousand gifts, was because I had a conversation with a friend, about how Jonah could find peace even in the stomach of the fish, and so how could I stop getting buffeted and blown around emotionally by my circumstances - and her answer was, to be thankful. Soon after that I read the book One Thousand Gifts, which, among other things said, that to be thankful is the key to joy. So, I started writing my list, and I also started praying for God to place his hedge of protection around me as he had done for Job (at the very beginning of the book) - and I began to feel a difference...

I do feel more peaceful these days, and happy too. But isn't it typical how, on a morning when you are driving along to have lunch with a friend, humming carols, on holiday for the Christmas period now, actually feeling JOY-ful - on that morning, I drove past my turning on the motorway, had to drive about 20 miles out of my way, finally got back on track and followed the Google Maps directions, to find myself on a different Ducie Road - several miles from the one my friends live on, lost, hungry, annoyed, and seething. Ugh.

Now, I heard a very good thing yesterday at work from one of my friends there, who passed on a tip from her training at Hillsong. She said, If you feel overwhelmed and grumpy, it is most likely because you are either tired, or hungry. So try solving those problems first. Great tip. And once I did get to my destination, and had some lunch,  the negative feelings evaporated completely and then I kind of wished I hadn't rung Dan and had a good grumble when I was lost. (Perhaps another tip should be, when you feel overwhelmed and grumpy, don't ring someone.)

I loved the video that went along with the song, "Mary Did You Know" that I posted on here yesterday, because it showed Jesus living so joyfully. At Christmas we often seem to be reminded that Jesus was born among us, born to die. But this video reminded me so strongly that Jesus was also born to live. And he lived joyfully, it seems. Hmm. Great!

Last night at Abigail's wonderful carol service in Gloucester Cathedral, the choir sang Benjamin Britten's song (which was based on some 15th century words) "This Little Babe" - which is amazing. But the last two lines struck me the most:
"If thou wilt foil thy foes with joy,
Then flit not from this heavenly Boy!"

Another great tip for joyful living!

The Twelve Days of Christmas

Last year I didn't give much thought to Christmas ahead of time, and it just kind of happened to me.

But this year, I am LOVING the build-up to Christmas. We were given a beautiful Christmas tree and we have decorated it and the whole house. I've already done our Christmas cards, sent off a couple of presents, bought stuff for the children's stockings and for Dan's stocking. We've invited people for a carol-singing evening next Saturday... I've even bought most of the food for Christmas lunch. Now what shall I do?!!

OK I haven't actually done all that much reflecting and repenting yet... maybe I should make some time for that.

We have been given the most lovely gift this year. On 1st December, Alex opened the door to go out and said, "Mum, why's there a chicken outside the door?" "A chicken? A live one?" "No, a plucked one." Sure enough, there was an oven-ready chicken on the doorstep, along with a branch on which were hanging two pears. And a note that said, "On the 1st day of Christmas, my true love gave to me..."

Then every day after that we have been given another gift in keeping with the song. Day two - two bottles of Dove handsoap with turtle pictures stuck on them. Day three - three packs of chicken kiev. Day four - a CD of a four girl band, Little Mix. Day five - a bag with five bars of chocolate in, and the olympic rings stuck on it in gold paper. Day six - six eggs. Day seven - seven boxes of Swan Vesta matches on a blue tissue "pond". Day eight - 8 bars of milk chocolate called "Milka". Day nine - nine narrow white candles with holders. Day ten - ten chocolate frogs. Day eleven - a set of piping nozzles for decorating a cake. Day twelve - we left out a card to say Thank You and Happy Christmas and some cookies in a box - and nothing came!!! Oh no!! Not sure what has happened...!

But the gifts have been so fun, creative, and generous. We have loved it. And, we have no idea who it is all from. We have asked various suspects, but everyone denies it. To me, as well as being so fun, it has been a sign to me of God's love - somebody being so kind and generous to us and not telling us even who they are, just wanting us to feel loved, I guess - and it has done exactly that for me. Whoever you are... Thank You So Much!!!