Merry Christmas from the Schlimpert's
While I sit here with tree lighting
my little world, with the gloom outside, but inside held in the cocoon of my
abundance, with little dog snoozing on my couch and hot coffee warming my belly, and fire blazing strongly,
the gloom of the world seems away for the moment. The family I’ve been blessed with smiles
beautifully from the Christmas cards ready to send. But the world still encroaches upon even this
blessed world – I’m praying for worries I know lie behind those smiling faces
of my loved ones. And deep also in my
belly is the anxiety of knowing the plight of so many people suffering outside
(am I doing your will, Lord?), of meeting the small but many obligations of my day
before the energy runs out (when am I going to get those cards out?), of the
thousand ways we all “suffer brave” in the words of my Advent devotional this
morning. And the gloom creeps inside as
I read the reason for the small but deeply buried inside angst that must be
fought even in the midst of blessings.
Anne Voskamp in her Advent devotional The Greatest Gift – Unwrapping the
Full Love Story of Christmas has the words to catch that small but deep buried
hole within:
No one knows how your heart quakes a bit
inside. At how headlines hit too close,
how in the blink on an ordinary day, it could be one you love bloodied by a
crash or getting chemo pumped through the veins…The economy crumbles away under
your feet. People fail. Dreams fail. You feel like you fail. Some days it’s hard not to panic and to weep
for all that isn’t. For all that you aren’t…But
in the barrenness of winter we are offered a gift we must always carry close: rejoicing in the Lord happens while we still
struggle in the now…As the cold can move you deeper toward the fire, struggling
can move you deeper toward God, who warms you with joy. Struggling can deepen joy. Even though.
Even now. And even though (as
Habakkuk reminds us) there are days when the fig trees have no blossoms and the
Christmas tree aches a bit empty, and there seem to be no struggle-free days,
even though I fail, even though so much fails – even now I will rejoice in the
Lord. The secret of joy is always a
matter of focus: a resolute focusing on
the Father, not on the fears. All fear
is but the notion that God’s love ends.
When does He ever end? When you
can’t touch bottom is when you touch the depths of God…I can be joyful in the
God of my salvation. Re-joys,
re-joice. Hasn’t He already
unequivocally earned trust? You can take
your hands off your life – you don’t have to try to save it. Behold Him everywhere, and be held. Though the fig tree does not blossom – His
love always does. Count, recount gifts:
rejoice, re-joys. A song of thanks
steadies everything…Brilliant people don’t deny the dark; they are the ones who
never stop looking for His light in everything.
I read those words and the angst that often
rises within me is named – it is the way of the world. “In this world there will be trouble, but
rejoice, I have overcome the world.” And
the lights of the tree – the tree that is here because we are celebrating the
tree that the baby came to save us on – the baby the world celebrates even if
they don’t know Him.
And the gloom once again
retreats. The light shines in the
darkness. It shines into the barrenness
of my soul that has begun once again to focus on the world around me, and feel
the need of being saved – and I do rejoice.
I am able find re-joys in the blessings and chase away
the to-dos and the worries, and just walk
into the day held. Like a psalm that
begins with David’s cries for help and ends with the realization of God with
him, God with us, Emmanuel, holds my heart for a minute this morning before I
start the scramble back into the world.
And once again Anne Voskamp’s words describes the Christmas gift I am
unwrapping once more this morning – a gift that never stops giving any morning,
any moment, if I but take time to sit down and unwrap it:
Forsake the fairy tales for the story that is
history: this king from backwater
Bethlehem is the true and the real once and still coming King – the King of
humanity’s memory. There is your winter wonderland set up on the cosmic
stage: the Son sent in through the
fallen kingdom, born into a barn to wrest the forces from the pit and woo the
world back to life. And on Calvary, evil
corners the Son, iron spikes the King to the tree – only to have Light shatter
the dark and the King fling off the rotting grave clothes and rise. The unexpected Bethlehem King is the one
coming again to rule the earth and make all the sad things untrue. And like the angels singing the night that
humanity witnesses the King-God inhale earth air into His lungs you can feel
it: “joy beyond the walls of the world.” And the very trees of the world are going to
dance and clap their hands. The King is
coming, and the new Kingdom is stirring. And stirring in you. When the King rules your world, you cease to
rule or worry. All worry dethrones
God. For we can remember – there is a
King born in Bethlehem and on the throne – and you can breathe. There are lights on Christmas trees blinking
in living rooms in cities and small towns – and the lights on all the trees
dance.
If we but seek hard to remember
the lights are all for the coming King, then the darkness recedes again and we
remember we walk in the light.
Joy to the world. The Lord is come!!! Let earth receive her King. Let every heart prepares Him room. And heaven and earth rejoice.
May you hear the words of the
carols anew this year. Joy to your
world.
The Gift in the Darkness
Into the darkness the baby comes
The light showed the way.
The shepherds and the wise man
Came to behold the blessed day.
The darkness still surrounds us
The headlines penetrate our
hearts.
The dailyness of living wearies
us
Right from morning’s start.
In this world there must be
trouble.
But He has given us the light,
The way to walk in the darkness
That in its midst will make all
things right.
The peace that passes
understanding
Is the gift that we behold.
But we often look right past it
As our hearts in the dark run
cold.
We must listen to the carols
And the hymns written to the
Light.
And must take time to unwrap the
goodness
That can shine in the midst of
the night.
The government is on His
shoulders.
So we can rest in the call
To pass the gift to others
Although it seems so small.
In three years of manhood, that
Babe grew to spread the message
far and wide
His light has come.
It’s the reason why He died.
With the tree at Christmas,
We remember the one that held him
in the dark.
We must remember the meaning of
Christmas
The babe that lit the spark
Of the light that has come to the
world.
It’s the gift that holds the
light.
Spread it to those around us
It’s our hope of making all
things right.
-
By Sherrill Schlimpert
Christmas 2018
