“And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God and saying: “ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, goodwill toward men!” (Luke 2:13-14)

I read a story once, I think it was by author Jill Briscoe, and if memory serves me correctly, it was called Prime Rib and Glory. In the story, (and I’m going on memory here, so please forgive any mistakes I make) a little angel begs the Father to allow him to go to earth with the angel choir on the night Jesus is born. The Father says yes, and the angel is so excited that before he leaves, he snips off piece of the Lord Jesus’ glory from where he had tucked it away when he entered earth. The angel just wants to wrap a little bit of it around his Lord, to keep him company while he is so far from heaven. But on the way to earth, he sees the baby in the manger, and he wants so badly to tell someone! After all, the whole world ought to know the good news! So he does what any self-respecting apprentice angel would do. While he is still in the sky looking down on the infant, he points, and of course, the Lord’s glory slips out of his pocket when he does so, and shines all around him. He didn’t expect those star gazers from the East to swallow their telescopes at the sight and follow him!

The story was Jill’s way of explaining the star the wise men followed. The star doesn’t fit any earthly description. Not really. Not well. And why couldn’t it be a piece of God’s glory? This was God’s Son after all.

Whatever the real explanation, it’s fun to imagine what might have been. What was it like for Jesus to set aside His glory to take on human flesh? What was it like to live without it for 33 years before taking up the cross and dying and finally rising and ascending to His Father where He could take it up again? No wonder the angels could sing, “Glory to God in the higest, and on earth, peace, goodwill toward men!”

And as the Psalmist once said in Psalm 115:1 “O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.” It was the Father’s steadfast love for us that sent His Son to earth that first Christmas night.

Glory not to us, but to God in the highest for His love and faithfulness and peace and goodwill toward men.

What a blessed Christmas gift is this!

When my kids were small, I was always on top of Christmas preparations. I was one of those people that tried to be nearly done with my shopping by Thanksgiving. My wonderful hubby pushed his shopping ’til closer to Christmas Eve, but not me. I’m a planner, and I like to have things completed.

Funny how things change. This month has been crazy, but I think I’m finally done Christmas shopping. Wrapping, however, is another story. :) Tomorrow, I’m hoping to get most of it finished. Randy is baking our Christmas cookies as I type this, his yearly contribution in the kitchen, the only time he bakes, and I appreciate him all the more every year for taking this task from me. He comes up with some yummy treats! My goal is to not gain five pounds during the holidays!

Christmas Eve we will celebrate with my extended family, and today I spent time at two grocery stores buying the food. Christmas day I’m trying something new – a fondue dinner with gourmet recipes I got online. Steak, cheese, and chocolate fondues. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Christmas cards finally got sent this week, and I’m trying to keep up with everything else. We still have some sickness around here – two sons are fighting a cold and a weird form of flu. We’re trying to keep anyone else from catching them.

But most of all, I’ve been enjoying this time of year best because I’ve been focusing on Jesus and all He’s done for us. Without the manger, there would have been no cross. And without the cross there would be no life. He came that we might have life and have it abundantly.

Merry Christmas to all – may your days be filled with God’s joy and peace.

Song of Solomon 8:6-7 says, “Place me like a seal over your heart, like a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, its jealousy unyielding as the grave. It burns like blazing fire, like a mighty flame. Many waters cannot quench love; rivers cannot wash it away. If one were to give all the wealth of his house for love, it would be utterly scorned.”

Love is as strong as death…is anything stronger than death? Everyone dies and no one can stop death. People spend billions of dollars every year trying to keep death at bay, searching for some elusive eternal-on-earth fountain of youth. Yet everyone dies. That tells me death is strong. Stronger than any man in all his power and renown. It’s a train that’s coming, like it or not.

Yet love is stronger than death. Unstoppable.

Love is also like a mighty flame, a burning passion, a blazing fire that many waters cannot quench. The prophet Elijah once built an altar and saturated it and his sacrifice with water until it overflowed the thing. Not something you want to do if you’re trying to get a fire going. Elijah did that on purpose to prove that God can do anything. He prayed and God sent fire from heaven to quench the water. It’s supposed to work the other way around.

But since God created both fire and water, he can turn the tables on what He created any time He pleases. God’s fire can quench God’s water. God’s love is like that fire. Unquenchable.

I Corinthians 13:4-8a says, “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.”

God is love. I know that, but I don’t often stop to think about what that means. What is God’s love like? Based on what I know of Scripture, I came up with a few adjectives, by no means exhaustive.

God’s love is all-giving, all-reaching, compassionate, everlasting, forgiving, immovable, irrefutable, irresistible, merciful, overarching, passionate, priceless, undeniable, unfailing, unsearchable, unstoppable, unquenchable, and stronger than death. It is a blazing fire, a mighty flame. If men tried to buy it, they would be disdained for even trying.

And yet, they don’t need to buy God’s love…it’s free. God’s gift to us…wrapped in swaddling clothes and lying in a manger.

God’s love…exquisite…extravagant…Emmanuel…God with us…

That’s love!

You’ve heard the saying, “If anything can go wrong it will.” It’s Murphy’s Law, and though I don’t know who Murphy is, he had a point. And his law has been busy at our house for a few weeks.

After the clogged water pipes, which are fixed now, the garage door rollers came out of the track, for whatever reason, on the same night we were trying to all make it to a Christmas concert at our new church. Thankfully, the door works again, and we didn’t miss a second of that concert.

But a few days later, things really got interesting. Last Wednesday morning I took my mom to a local hospital to have cataract surgery, only to come home later, to find that my dad didn’t look so good, and ended up at another hospital with him all afternoon and evening. Turns out he had the flu, and of course, as things would happen, my mom and I both came down with it, followed soon after by one of my kids.

Sometimes, I feel wimpy. I can’t bench press my weight, which my son tells me is healthy. (Does ten pounds count? I can bench ten!) I can’t outrun a rabbit, but I might beat a turtle in a race. I can’t fix a flat tire, or calculate alogorithms, (don’t even know what they are!) or program software, or climb a tree or do a lot of things other people can do. But those things don’t make me feel weak or inferior – most of the time! No, it’s little stuff that reduces me to wimpiness and the one that tops the list is the stomach flu. I can tolerate other types of pain and have endured quite a bit, but stomach viruses? The curse and bane of life! Well, one of them, anyway.

From Thursday to Saturday I spent 33 hours in bed. I got up for an hour and a half and tried to watch TV (went from bed to a chair) and went right back up to bed. Oh yeah, the virus comes with a nasty headache, no extra charge.

By Sunday I was much better and we went to a second concert at our new church, this one a contemporary play. I must say, a larger church draws in much talent and it was awesome to see Christians using the talents God has given to them for His glory – working at it with all their heart – and doing a marvelous job in the process!

Earlier that Sunday morning, the pastor spoke about the three major festivals of ancient Israel and what they had in common (relating it to our celebration of Christmas). The first thing he mentioned was that at each one of these festivals the Israelites were told to remember what God had done for them. Even before he spoke, I’d been thinking about remembering.

It’s so easy to forget the good when the bad smacks us in the face. When Murphy’s Law takes over and everything seems to be going wrong. We want to focus on the bad, feeling overwhelmed even, and in some cases, we really are being bombarded. Overwhelming feelings are normal in trying circumstances. Like Israel felt when they were slaves in Egypt. Like we feel when people are unkind, even cruel. When we lose a loved one or a job, when a child rebels or is abused, when the bills are too high and the income too low, when we are alone, vulnerable, and lonely. When people reject us or misunderstand, when hate overrules love…

That’s when we need to remember. Look back and recall, what has God already done for us? With what good has He blessed? What prayers has He answered? What joy has He wrought? What peace has he granted?

If we stop to remember, we’ll be able to do the next thing the pastor said – rejoice! – something I dare say, most of us find very hard to do.

But as the old hymn song title declares, “Good Christian Men, Rejoice!” Yes, and good Christian women too!