Category: Winter

When God lets us rest

Potential

I hold seeds in my hand. Within them there is the potential to be tall green plants covered in white blossoms and dangling pea pods.

Potential. Growing up, I hated that word. Embedded in the compliment, I heard the complaint. I could do something, but I wasn’t. If I just apply myself, work a little harder, invest a little more, I could become the person they thought I could and should be. But obviously I wasn’t doing that, and I wasn’t the person they wanted me to be. I was, instead, a slacker.

My sense was that they were looking at a sugar snap seed and wanting me to produce tomatoes. Perhaps that is unfair. Perhaps they were just looking at a seed and wanting it to grow.

Here’s the lesson of the seed, though. Me wanting the seed to grow, and it having the potential to grow, does not make it grow. I cannot make that happen. The seed cannot make that happen. Only God can.

We have roles to play. If the seed is not good, or not a sugar snap seed, it will not produce sugar snaps. If I do not put it in the ground and water it, it will not transform. If I do not support the vine’s growth or protect it from predators, the harvest will be damaged. The garden is a cooperative effort between God and me, between nature and the seed.

But to all who received him, who believed in his name, he gave power to become children of God, who were born, not of blood or of the will of the flesh or of the will of man, but of God. John 1:12-13.

The seed is not enough, even if it has potential. And my desire for the seed cannot transform it into what I want it to be. God, through the amazing architecture of nature, has embedded a nucleus of a fruit-bearing plant in this seed. He alone gives it the power to become all that it has the potential to be.

God has embedded the nucleus of a fruit-bearing soul in me and you. We can help or hinder the transformation of that seed into a healthy, loving, spirit-filled life, but we can’t make it happen. Not by the will of man.

We need to put that seed of ourselves into the hands of God. He alone knows what we have the potential to be.

And this seed is one of hundreds. I will plant all of them. Hopefully, all of them will be transformed into fruit-bearing vines. Often, when we talk about God’s will for our lives, our purpose, we think we have a unique role. We don’t want to be like everyone else. We want to be special. That is pride, my friend. While every snowflake is unique, it takes thousands of snowflakes to carpet the ground in white.

A garden succeeds when multiple plants bring forth the same fruit.

What would our world look like if hundreds or thousands of us stood together and were loving and kind and peaceful? What if wide swaths of us were patient and gentle and joyful?

The Holy Spirit can produce that fruit in us. That is our true potential. We have been given the power to be children of God. God wants us to be a beautiful garden of healthy trees planted beside the river, bearing fruit continuously, and healing the nations (Revelations 22).

I think that is what God sees when he holds the seed of us in His hands. He sees our potential.

Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen. Ephesians 3:20-21.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Stay Alert

I love my gurgling creek, and I love God’s gift of rain. But on days like this, when the rain pounds on the roof and the creek roars as it rushes past, I need to stay alert.

I live in a flood plain. The lovely creeks that meet in my backyard can become a raging river that surrounds my house. It happens about every ten years. The last flood was in 2021, so I am not due for one, but God loves to throw curve balls, so I need to stay alert.

I can’t stop the creek from flooding, but I can minimize the impact. Most everything in my garage is elevated, out of harm’s way. But during the dry spells, things accumulate on the garage floor. On a day like today, I take things to the attic, put things on tables, and move things off the floor.

The first year I lived here, thirty-plus years ago, I was unaware of what living in a flood plain meant. The seller assured us the creek hadn’t flooded in the ten years he lived here. Then my new neighbor called to let me know my kid’s cozy coupe was floating downstream, along with all the other riding toys, and my trash cans. I think that’s called a learning experience.

I have installed new garage doors since 2021, when the food waters poured through the cat door and totaled my prius parked there. These doors are supposed to be strong enough to resist the push of water and have no cat door. Hopefully, they will keep the water out of my garage even if the creek is out of its banks. Maybe I will find out today.

Be alert at all times, praying that you may have the strength to escape all these things that will take place, and to stand before the Son of Man. Luke 21:36.

I must confess I am not alert at all times. I am alert when it rains for several days in a row, or when the clouds drop massive amounts of rain in a short period of time. I become aware when situations alert me to my complacency. The hours of rain push me to move the boxes into the attic where they belong. The ponding water in the yard motivates me to move the grandkids’ toys onto the patio.

Sometimes it takes stormy weather to wake me up. Someone I haven’t quite forgiven shows up unexpectedly. My child challenges some long-held opinions. Failure makes me examine who I am trusting. Storms are like that. They make you take another look around your garage and see if you have left things on the floor. They open your eyes to things God wants you to see.

My brothers and sisters, when you face trials of any kind, consider it nothing but joy, because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance, and let endurance have its full effect, so that you many be mature and complete, lacking in nothing. James 1:2-4.

So, I am considering this rainy day a joy. It has forced me to pick up my garage. The rushing water has cleaned the debris from the edges of the creek. The underground reserves are full of life-giving water which will soon transform seeds into plants and bring forth blossoms. Rain is a gift from God. Perhaps all storms are. Even the destructive ones.

They wake us up. They put us on alert. They make us examine what we can do and what only God can do. They force us to address who we are trusting – ourselves or God.

Everyone then who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on a rock, The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25.

Put on your high-water rain boots and join me standing on the rock.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Preparation

I took advantage of our brief window of warm weather Saturday to prepare the garden for sugar snaps. These lovely plants grow too tall for the tomato cages. Laden with fruit, they bend and fall to the ground instead of reaching for the sun.

Once the peas are planted and the cages set over them, I can attach the strings to the cages and let the vines climb them. Of course, I may need the ladder to pick the fruit! Right now it looks like some weird decoration gone wrong.

I may need more strings when the plants are growing. It’s difficult to anticipate, even after having grown sugar snaps for years. There’s always an insecurity that I have done too little or wasted my time doing something not needed at all.

The pictures in the catalogue seduced me again and I ordered lavender plants for the front of my house. When Nick was alive to tend to the vegetables, I tended to the flowers in front of the house. Now that I am tending the vegetables, the flower garden has become rather drab. I may have overcommitted myself (again!), but I needed to order the sugar snap seeds and once I was on the site…  If you give a gardener a seed packet, they’re going to want a root ball.

There are steps that need to happen now in preparation for a garden that will be planted later. There is a garden that needs to be planted in order to have home grown vegetables and blooming flowers later.

A garden, like life, is not instantaneous. To be successful, you need to plan, and you need to prepare. This is a simple truth most of us understand. We learned it by taking tests in elementary school. We learned it on costume day and picture day.

Do we know this about our spiritual journey?

Then the kingdom of heaven will be like this. Ten bridesmaids took their lamps and went to meet the bridegroom, Five of them were foolish and five were wise. When the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them; but the wise took flasks of oil with the lamps. Matthew 25:1-4.

The wise ones were prepared. They had brought flasks of oil with them. They had strung a trellis for the vines to climb. They had bought the seeds and plants. They had memorized the scriptures. They had learned to hear the still small voice of God.

Are you prepared to meet your maker? The question may make us smirk and roll our eyes, but the question is a real one. Are you? Are you prepared?

What does that even mean to you?

For me, it means that I am letting His Spirit review how I am spending my time. Am I reading the Word? Memorizing scripture? Learning His voice? If I sense the Spirit leading me to do something, am I doing it? Have I apologized to the people I know I have offended?

I can’t do this once. I must do it every day. Every day, I must spend time in prayer and let the Spirit guide me. Everyday I need to top off my oil reserves with some scripture. Everyday, I must visualize my garden growing and prepare for what it needs to thrive.

Keep awake therefore, for you do not know on what day your Lord is coming. But understand this, if the owner of the house had known in what part of the night the thief was coming, he would have stayed awake and would not have let his house be broken into. Therefore, you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an unexpected hour. Matthew 24:42-44.

Join me in taking advantage of today to prepare.

Love in Christ, Betsy

February Plans

It’s February – time to plan the garden!

The dampness makes the air chillier than I expected. My shoes sink in the soggy earth, and I think of Irish bogs and Louisiana swamps. It feels like January in the South, but I know the temperatures are rising, the sun is staying visible longer, and soon I will need to plant sugar snaps.

I am planting them early (in February) this year because I want to harvest some before I leave town for two weeks in May. Hopefully the weather will cooperate. If the ground is frozen in a few weeks, I will have to wait; get someone else to harvest the peas.

I am working on a better support system for my sugar snap plants. I plan on using a hybrid system of tomato cages, which prevent the vines from attaching to the fence, and a string trellis, which allows them to grow taller without falling over. I have the poles Nick erected years ago. Now I just need to climb a ladder and attach some twine. Once the ground is less soggy. The ladder would sink, and I would fall today. Maybe later in the week, and before I plant the seeds.

The next question is whether to leave the cardboard or pull it up and use weed cloth where I plant the seeds. Supposedly the cardboard will deteriorate over time, but it hasn’t yet. Nick just let the weeds grow with the peas, but I find that unappealing. The cloth works well, but doesn’t reach under the landscape timbers, thus the cardboard, which does. So much planning!

For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not first sit down and estimate the cost, to see whether he has enough to complete it? Luke 14:28.

Am I thinking this much about growing in my faith? That is what Jesus is talking about in this verse. The one before it makes that clear:

Whoever does not carry the cross and follow me cannot be my disciple. Luke 14:27.

Whoever is not willing to prepare the garden and plant the seeds will not have sugar snaps. Whoever does not control the weeds and support the vines cannot expect a healthy harvest. I am willing to do these things for my garden; am I willing to do them for my faith?

Do I go to the church my friends attend? The one with the music I like? Do I prefer the minister who makes me feel good about myself? Is my relationship with God based on what I can get out of it?

Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.” John 6:26.

Am I following Christ for what he can do for me, or am I willing to put in the work to let his Spirit grow eternal fruit in me?

Am I scheduling time to prepare for God’s presence in my life? Am I planning time to study the Bible, pray with others, pray in my closet alone with God?

Have I planned for support? Not just friends who will listen, but friends that will help me grow tall. Friends that will not let me attach to the earthbound fence but encourage me to grow upward. Am I praying for those friends, seeking out such groups, making the investment of time needed to connect to them?

Do I have a plan to keep worldly worries at bay? Or am I going to let the weeds overtake me?

There is joy and a little trepidation in making these plans, making this commitment. I could fail. It could be too hard. Certainly, there are easier paths. But there is nothing like a fresh sugar snap picked from the vine. There is nothing like the love and joy and peace that only comes from following Jesus.

Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. John 6:27.

Won’t you join me in planning?

Love in Christ, Betsy

Melted Snow

The snow has melted and sent its stored water into the ground, into the creeks, and along its way. From the ground, the water will encourage seeds to transform into plants. It will provide moisture to the microbes and worms and creatures that live in the soil. The water that seeps into roots will travel into stems, up stalks, out branches, and into leaves and flowers and berries.

The melted snow that flows into creeks will gather into rivers from which animals can drink. Fish will thrive in these waters and animals will feast on them. As the waters gather, some will be diverted to supply our thirst, power our homes and machinery, and irrigate distant crops. Abundant water flows into the oceans that cover the earth.

Warmer temperatures will heat the collected water into the air forming clouds that winds will carry to parched areas, sharing this stored water with others.

Water is rarely stagnant, rarely stays in one form for long. Remembers those drawings from grade school about rain and evaporation? One of the wonders of water is that it is continually giving itself to the next need. Whether it is moisture for dry ground, sap for a tree, water for a deer, habitat for fish, or rain for distant plains, water is always giving.

Perhaps all of God’s gifts are like that. Perhaps everything is supposed to flow.

I will bless you, and make your name great, so that you will be a blessing. Genesis 12:3.

What if we saw every gift sent our way as a gift meant to be shared with the next one in line? Our time, our resources, our abilities, the family and nation into which we were born, our experiences, the lessons we learn, all of everything – given to us not just for our benefit or learning, but to be shared with others; to flow from us into the larger world.

And let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water.’ John 7:38.

I spent the last week in San Antonio, Texas. The largest mission there, Mission San Jose, was started by a monk who had spent the previous forty-three years of his life walking throughout Central America, Louisiana, and Texas sharing the gospel with whomever he found. Can you imagine? That seems an undoable task now. Imagine what is was like in the late sixteen hundreds. He referred to himself as “la misma nada,” nothing itself. Signed his letters that way.

The purpose of the missions has fallen out of favor in the anti-imperialistic, multi-cultural world of today, but this man, and many others like him, gave everything, every part of their life, to water the world with God’s love.

Sometimes, I hesitate to bring up God around people I don’t know well. Perhaps I am hoarding my blessing instead of sharing it.

God’s love, God’s passion for people, His willingness to join with us and care for us and forgive us and embrace us – this is Good News, my friend. This is an unimaginable gift. This is bigger than the most important person you can imagine calling you on the phone and inviting you to dinner. This is GOD, the creator of the universe, Lord of heaven’s armies, giver of all life, meeting with you in your den. And bringing the wine.

People need to know how much God loves them. We can let them know by passing on God’s love for us to them. We can share every gift we have with them. We can love others as God has loved us – with everything we have. We don’t have to walk for forty-three years to do it.

Perhaps the first step is to admit that we are nothing without God. God gave us everything we have, made us in our mother’s womb, and gave us breath. We are loved so that we will love others.

Let the water flow.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Treasure Stores

The snow still sits in the corner of the yard, under bushes and in the shade of buildings. Diminished snowmen grace the yards of my neighborhood. It hasn’t snowed for a week. The roads are clear and dry but secret stashes of the snow persist.

Here is the south, this is not the normal way of things. In Tennessee, snowstorms are often followed by sixty-degree days. Or the snow turns to rain before it can accumulate, and rain washes any trace of snow from the ground.

But this snow has stuck around. Even as the temperatures reach fifty, stubborn pockets of the stuff gleam white in the daylight.

I’m a big fan of water. Drinking it, looking at it, boating on it, swimming in it, spraying it on my growing garden. Snow, it seems to me, is stored water, delayed water, water saved for another day.

In my yard, it is not saved for long. I am amazed it has lasted a week. But as it melts, I wonder if the grass growing there is grateful for water on a dry day. I know that further north the snow collects for weeks, even months. On the tops of mountains great heaps of it collect.

When the time is right, these stores melt, and the precious gift of water flows into the ground, into rivers, into fields of new crops.

He gives snow like wool; he scatters frost like ashes. He hurls down hail like crumbs – who can stand before his cold? He sends out his word, and melts them; he makes the winds blow and the waters flow. Psalm 147:16-18.

God cares for his earth. He plans for it, protects it, organizes it so that all living things can find their path, their home, their mates. The plants get their rest and then their water. The animals get their shelter and their food. I see the beauty and the design of God’s creation and wonder how anyone could doubt His existence.

God is letting the snow collect during this quiet time. The cold drives us inside; the long nights call us to rest. We, too, can take this time to let God store treasures in us for the future as He stores water in the snow.

There is some scripture you can read today that will water your parched soul in a few months. There is a connection you can make with the Holy Spirit this morning that will bring forth life when your circumstances seem barren in the future. God is preparing us just as He prepares His earth.

The time will come when you need those resources. Just as fires rage and storms destroy, you will face droughts and strong winds. You will lose the power so readily available to you now. So, store up your treasures now. Build your reserves; fatten your spiritual soul.

But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:20-21.

I find myself tied in knots sometimes, doubting my choices and decisions, anxious about what tomorrow will bring, frustrated at being forced to be the decision maker. My body heat rises and my heart thumps faster. It is then the cool water from a bit of stored snow-treasure refreshes me.

Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today’s trouble is enough for today. Matthew 6:34.

Thank you, Lord, for a cold day in which I can store up treasures from You.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Snow Day

I had seen her footprints in the snow but was not prepared to see her beautiful orange-red fur silhouetted against the snow. A red fox!

Foxes have lived by the creek on and off in the three decades I have lived here. Usually, I hear them screaming in childbirth or barking when I get too close. They are wary of humans and quick to hide.

The snow and cold has sequestered us southerners. She must feel safe roaming in the morning light. Of a generation that does not carry their phone, the fox is almost back in hiding before I get a picture.

Once more I am humbled by the wildlife that lives among us. Unseen as we rush about our daily tasks, they are there. Perhaps waiting for the silence of an early morning covered in snow; before the kids are building snowmen; before the dogs are barking at the edge of their invisible fences; before the cars are rushing through the streets.

Such beautiful animals, foxes. So much prettier than the coyotes or the ever-present squirrels. Perhaps their rarity makes them even more beautiful. Cardinals and blue jays are just as beautiful as parakeets and macaws, but so common we sometimes miss their glamour.

Perhaps it just takes this white backdrop to appreciate them.

God saw everything that he had made, and indeed, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day. Genesis 1:31.

During these days of snow when the newscasters advise us to stay home, I have immersed myself in the stories from Genesis, mostly the stories of Abraham and his family.

What a group of scoundrels! My apologies to those of you who think God only blesses right-living people. Abraham let another man take Sarah as his wife to protect himself! Jacob lied to his father and swindled his brother! Admittedly, this was well before God gave Moses the law or Jesus expanded it, but they knew their actions were wrong. The Bible makes it clear that they knew that they were wrong.

So, Pharoah called Abram, and said, “What is this you have done to me? Why did you not tell me that she was your wife? Why did you say, ‘She is my sister,’ so that I took her for my wife? Now then, here is your wife, take her, and be gone.” Genesis 12:18-19.

This was after God had called Abram, after God had told him he would be a blessing (12:2).

In today’s world, the first families of our faith would need therapy, probably mandated by the courts.

Isn’t it an amazing gift that God should choose such people? Aren’t you grateful the tales of their misbehavior are included in scripture? Does that give you as much hope as it gives me?

God knows I have sin in my past. God knows when pride or greed nibbles at my soul even today. God knows that we live in comfortable mansions while people starve and freeze. God knows we do not always welcome the stranger in our midst. God still calls us. God still blesses us so that we can bless others.

Maybe that is the only reason God blesses us – so that we can share that blessing with others. It certainly can’t be because we deserve His blessings. We do not.

As it is written: There is no one who is righteous, not even one; there is no one who has understanding, there is no one who seeks God. All have turned aside, together they have become worthless; there is no one who shows kindness, there is not even one.” Romans 3:10-12.

And yet God has blessed me with a fox sighting this morning. God has blessed the earth with snow and rest. I am glad I can share this blessing with you this morning. God is so good.

Love in Christ, Betsy

The New Year

January arrives wet and cold. The ground sinks under my weight as I go out to the garden for the first time in weeks. Intrepid winter weeds dapple my brown yard with green.

Nothing is happening in my garden. It looks very much like it did after I planted the garlic in December. Only wetter. I should say that there is nothing happening that I can see. Because there is a lot happening where I can’t see it.

Underneath the cardboard, garlic cloves are fattening themselves on nutrients from the dirt and an abundance of water. Below the leafless branches of the fig and raspberry, their roots are growing thicker and stronger. They too are collecting and storing nutrients for the coming year.

Under my yard, hidden aquifers are replenishing their stores of water. Unfelt vibrations of the earth are pushing rocks and minerals to the surface. The ground is using this time of rest. The earth needs to lie fallow for periods of time, just as we do.

But I wonder if I do that, lie fallow and rest, well enough. Is just the winter enough of a sabbath for my garden? Is just an occasional “down day” enough for my spiritual life? I observe Sabbath during lent; should I do it year-round?

2 Chronicles 36:21 makes refence to the holy land making up for its lost sabbaths while the jews were in exile in Babylonia. As if God was imposing a stop in activity because his people would not take it willingly. A stop in agricultural activity and a stop in normal life. It echoes God’s promise in Leviticus.

Then the land shall enjoy its sabbath years as long as it lies desolate, while you are in the land of your enemies; then the land shall rest and enjoy its sabbath years. As long as it lies desolate, it shall have the rest it did not have on your sabbaths when you were living on it. Leviticus 26:34-35.

I am not going to make the leap that if we do not rest, God will make us rest, but there is some scientific support for the concept. Stress kills people. Inadequate sleep leads to poor decision making, unhealthy habits, and a weakened immune system. We need our rest.

The land needs its rest. Some say the pandemic was a forced sabbath for people and for the land. Almost five years later, I hope we taking regular small sabbaths, self- imposed rests for our mental and physical wellbeing. God made us and all creation to need rest.

Rest may look like nothing is happening, but we know that is not true. Rest allows us to absorb nutrients and strengthen our root system. Rest fattens the Spirit’s presence within us and prepares us for the coming year. Rest allows the rain that falls to fill our hidden reservoirs.

The rain has made my yard spongy and filled my creek. I love to see the water ripple over the rocks and swirl in the eddies. I love to think of how much life is carried in that water. Life for the dormant fish eggs lying among the rocks. Life for the resting trees lining the creek banks. Life for the growing plants who will benefit from the aquifers this creek fills.

On the last day of the festival, on the great day, while Jesus was standing there, he cried out “Let anyone who is thirsty come to me, and let the one who believes in me drink. As the scripture has said, ‘Out of the believer’s heart shall flow rivers of living water’” John 7:37-38.

January arrives wet and cold. What a great time to rest and refill the river of living water in our hearts.

Love in Christ, Betsy

God Sparkles

The wet grass has frozen overnight and catches the morning sun like glistening jewels. Not the glare of sun reflecting off snow, not yet this winter, not this far south, just sparkling frost. I can’t capture it with the camera. But the sight holds me mesmerized for minutes.

Reflected sunlight. Just little bits of sun in behold-able sparkles. And isn’t God like that? Sometimes He is the glaring sun that makes us shade our eyes and look for a hiding place. But more often, I think, He reveals himself more gently. In the moisture left from the rain, in the chilly weather that allows the plants to rest, in the reflected light, in a sparkle the camera can’t quite catch.

I drink my coffee – beans from the earth, water from the skies. I look out my window – glass made from sand and rocks eroded by the weather. I snuggle into my sweater –an animal’s wooly fleece. I am protected in a house of bricks made from clay. My home is heated by gifts from God’s earth – gas, or coal, or water-generated power.

How accustomed I have become to all God’s gifts, how readily I take them for granted. How rarely I take the moment to thank God for them all.

In the moments I stand and watch, the warming sun steals the glittering frost. As if God’s appearance in this moment was for this moment only and not a thing to be captured and held onto. I want to build a tabernacle to this moment when I saw God in the sparkles in my yard. Perhaps that is what I am doing as I write this.

Just as they were leaving him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good for us to be here; let us make three dwellings, one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah” – not knowing what he said. Luke 9:33.

But it is not the sparkling grass that I need to admire. Not the sun or the rain, not the coffee beans, the glass, or the sheep’s wool. All these just point to the gracious provision of a loving God. Provision that is not based on my worthiness or even my gratitude, but on His love for me, for you, for all of us.

Then from the cloud came a voice that said, “This is my Son, my Chosen; listen to him!” Luke 9:35.

I turn from the window, refill my coffee cup, and head to the chair beside my Bible. Listen to Him. And isn’t that the real gift? That God gave us Himself in human form, spoke to us in a voice we could hear and understand? I turn to Matthew five and listen to Jesus’ words. Comforting, inspiring, challenging, words which call me know Him, to hear and do.

It’s a new year – 2025 – but these old words are still the ones worth listening to. Jesus’s voice is still the one God tells us to listen to. And His words still carry more life-changing wisdom than the millions of words written since then. I’m not a big resolution maker. God is in charge, and He may have other plans. But I can resolve to listen to God’s Son more. To hear and do.

Everyone who hears these words of mine and acts on them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain fell, the floods came, and the wind blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. Matthew 7:24-25.

Listen to Him.

May God bring you blessings and joy in 2025. May you build your house on the rock and withstand the storms.

Love in Christ, Betsy

Merry Christmas

Thank you for taking a moment amid all the celebration to join me in the Victory Garden.

Years ago, a favorite pastor reminded us that the Lord who lived for nine months in Mary’s womb, lives eternally in those of us who call him Lord.

Take a moment and let that sink in.

***

The Spirit of God lives in us.

And I wilk ask the Father, and he will give to you another Advocate, to be with you forever. This is the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, because he abides with you, and he will be in you. John 14:16-17.

And just as any mother must take care of the life growing within her, we need to take care of the holy life abiding within us. Feed, nurture, listen to that being’s needs, desires, urgings.

The baby Jesus left Mary’s body, but His Holy Spirit leads ours into an ever-closer relationship with God and Jesus, into an eternal life with our God.

If the spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Jesus from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also through the holy Spirit that dwells in you. Romans 8:11.

And just as Mary brought Jesus into the world, we are privileged to bring His love into the world around us. The Holy Spirit has come upon us (Luke 1:35), and we are bearing the fruit of His presence, extending His kingdom with our obedience to his calling.

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit from God, which you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you were bought with a price: therefore, glorify God in your body. 1 Corinthians 6:19.

The Spirit of God lives in us who profess Jesus as Lord. Hallelujah. Christ the Lord is born today. Where meek souls will receive him, the dear Christ enters in.

Merry Christmas!

Love in Christ, Betsy