Day 3-10: Sometimes We're Called To Be Starters

So, you know that "25 Day Photo Challenge" I boisterously decided was a good idea in the middle of Advent? 

Here's what I know for sure....

Day 3: Gifts 

Seriously?  On day three?!!!  Who made this list?


Day 4: Tradition

We have no Elf on a Shelf.  We don't go caroling.  We find the mall, sigh inducing.  And unless eating Puppy Chow and watching Hallmark movies can be considered tradition....


Day 5: Santa

Really?


Day 6: Stockings

I was going to post a photo of the new tights I bought, which go with this smokin' hot red skirt I found for $9....but that just seemed weird.  And possibly not the "stockings" that the list was referring to.


Day 7: Snow

Um.  Up until today, we have reached 60* or higher since last February.


Day 8: Tree

Now our tree.  That's a beauty.  Photos later, perhaps.


Day 9: Treats

Again.  I would refer you to the Puppy Chow mentioned earlier.  But apparently, we're calling that "tradition" now.


Day 10: Joy

I could say something about joy....but I need to "save" whatever word I can muster, for this coming Sunday's sermon.  (Though let the record state...despite the fairly dismal showing of this list...I know great and abiding joy this time of year.  In ways that I don't sense, during other times of the year. And though I don't have photographic evidence of this abiding joy, it is there...it is real in nearly tangible ways...and it carries me from one winter to the next.)


So.  I'm out.  I should have known better.  Some of us are called to be starters.  And I'm afraid that's me. 

For MM: The Rest of the Story

There are a few things that shouldn't be hanging out in the world, alone. 

Like fried bread...without the cheese.
Or Burt...without Ernie.
Salt and no pepper.
Ketchup without its mustard.

And it was clearly an oversight, to not include the shepherd.  With the sheep. 

So here's the whole set... together at last.

Peace: An Advent Thought

It’s bigger than us, you know.  Peace. 

But it begins with us. 

It begins when we breath in the breath of God and cease the hand waving and the frenzied checklist of expectations and instead, extend our hands in an embrace and trade our checklists, our itemized "my-language," for dialogue grounded in hope, so that it becomes "other-language." 

Peace begins when we can recognize that we have “enough.”  Enough food, enough stuff, enough love, enough faith and in turn, respond when we encounter those who do not know what it means to have enough. 

Peace begins when we recognize the value of another…the value of God’s creation, made in the image of God…and respond with fewer frowns and eye rolls or snapped fingers or harsh words and instead with compassion and encouragement and love as we work – as we have been called to – as instruments of peace.

It's certainly easier said than done...maybe even especially during this time of year.  When breathing in the breath of God reminds us of how tight our chest is, how heavy the heart can be, and how high our shoulders have ascended. 

And so I pray this day, that peace might be yours...that it might fill the heart in ways that are consuming, so that you might share it with another, in ways that are life-giving.

Day 2: Decorations

I'm a day or two late, because despite the longer-than-normal time between Thanksgiving and Christmas Day, I'm just now starting to get the actual decorations put out and around the house.  We go a little Christmas-Crazy when it comes to decorations. 

I'm probably making up for my parents, who last put up a tree, in '02. 

It's hard to choose just one decoration...so here are a few of my favorites, but by no means, is it exhaustive.


I wish you could see how long this snowman's arms are!
They make me smile each and every time I walk
by them!  And...he's sparkly and handsome.  He's
like the Brad Pitt of snowpeople. And he's all mine!




This is the sheep-half of the "and the shepherds kept watch over
their sheep" duo.  As made and finished by my husband, Brett. 
We were living in the armpit of Texas at the time, purely
miserable, and frighteningly poor...and we'd given each other a
limit of $10 for Christmas gifts that year.  I think I
bought him a flashlight.  But he made me this nativity
set out of scrap wood that he'd found in the backyard when
we'd moved in...it sits at the fireplace and each year,
no matter where we're at in our relationship or how distressed
I am, I remember that moment and how grateful
I am that he's my husband.




I never knew my Grandfather - my Mother's dad - but
the story goes that when my Grandma and my Grandfather
bought their first television, he insisted on having this
duck-lamp to go on top of the t.v. (apparently, this was a
trend) or it was "no sale."  So each year, The Duck gets
dressed up with a bow and a Santa hat...
and even though I don't have
any idea who my Grandfather was or what his laugh sounded
like or how he smelled or what he was passionate about...
I feel a little connected to him - and my Grandma - each
time I see that duck (who now, lives next to our television).

































These sheep...how can you not smile, when you see these guys!
We've had them for years, and I guess I used to always figure
if we ever had a kid, we'd hide them around the house
"Elf on a Shelf" style...but now they just sit there and beckon
joy with their sweet smiles and lazy, swinging legs.  Much
like, I suppose, how I'd like to beckon the holidays.



Hope: An Advent Thought

Hope.

It's such an easy word to say.

"I hope Santa can find me!"
"I hope I get a car!" 
"I hope I get asked to the prom." 
"I hope I don't get caught." 
"I hope I can find a job." 
"I hope you'll love me even when it's not easy." 
"I hope she doesn't die before I get the chance to say goodbye."
"I hope we have macaroni and cheese."
"I hope we can pay for it."
"I hope you know how much I love you."
"I hope..."

I say it a dozen times a day. So much so, that maybe it loses its meaning? 

But during this season of Advent, that word...hope...takes on a different, special, nearly tangible meaning.  It's as if it might sprout wings any minute and show the world how to fly.  It bids us to take deep breaths and yearn for the unexpected.  It calls us to Emmanuel - God With Us - and in that calling, expects us to be the embodiment of the holy, for another.  It ceases our weeping and gives us pause in our pain, so that we might touch wonder, if only for a brief second.

Hope. 

It's a big task.  A hefty word.  A delicate scent.  An overwhelming gift.

I hope you sense it this day....

Day 1: Light

Doing This: Since I've Got Nothing Else To Do

So, Pinterest has beckoned and I've decided to do this...

Yeah.  Yeah.  It's a challenge from 2011, but I've never been super hip.  So let's call this "typical" and move on.

I think it might be fun and give me a little something to do.  Otherwise.  Just bored to tears over here.  Tears, I tell ya.

Excuse me while I go change my shirt.  It seems I have broken out into a cold Advent sweat....