When my kiddos were little, my husband, Ken, and I created a Christmas Eve tradition that became something I looked forward to every year. After we’d set out the plate of cookies and glass of milk, and tucked our kidlets into their beds, we would make sure that everything was completely set up and ready around the tree. We would turn off all the lights except the tree lights, sit on the sofa and listen to a song by Mannheim Steamroller called, “Stille Nacht”.

Quietly watching the lights on the tree and listening to the gentle orchestration of the beloved Christmas carol, Silent Night, remembering and resting, breathing in the peace and stillness of those moments. Knowing soon the morning would come. The kids would wake up early without any prompting eagerly waiting for their grandparents to show up so we could have breakfast and open gifts.

Those moments were priceless. All the work to get to that point was worth it. The anticipation of the celebration we would have together…just hours away. And I wonder, as Joseph and Mary made their way to Bethlehem and all of heaven awaited the moment of Jesus’ birth, in the still of the night, lit only by the stars in the sky….was there an anticipation in God’s heart…for the greatest gift ever given…about to arrive and change the world forever?!

Luke 2:8-14 (NLT) tells us, “That night there were shepherds staying in the fields nearby, guarding their flocks of sheep. Suddenly, an angel of the Lord appeared among them, and the radiance of the Lord’s glory surrounded them. They were terrified, but the angel reassured them. “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Savior—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David! And you will recognize Him by this sign: You will find a baby wrapped snugly in strips of cloth, lying in a manger.” Suddenly, the angel was joined by a vast host of others—the armies of heaven—praising God and saying, “Glory to God in highest heaven, and peace on earth to those with whom God is pleased.”

I believe that God delights in our conversations with Him. In Matthew 7:7 (NIV) Jesus said, “Ask and you will receive.” So every year I ask God to give me a word or a phrase that He would like me to focus on, to listen for, to dig deeper into and the word for this year has been ‘abundance’. I have studied the Scriptures that God gave regarding abundance and there are so many!

One of my favorites for this year has been 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 (NLT). “God loves a person who gives cheerfully. And God will generously provide all you need. Then you will always have everything you need and plenty left over to share with others.” There are so many principles to take to heart and practice every day just in that one passage of Scripture.

You know what I discovered this year? I became almost hyperalert to the blessings of God in my life, in my family, at my workplace, and all around me. God is the God of abundance and He loves to pour out His blessings and His favor on us. He does it every day. The question is: are we watching for it? are we giving Him thanks for it?

Probably the most read chapter in the Bible, Psalm 23, even references His abundance in verse 5 (NIV). “You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Just consider this year when you have felt surrounded by those who are against you…right in the middle of all that chaos…God set a table for you, poured His anointing oil over your head…and filled your cup…not to the brim…but over the top and running over…into the saucer and maybe even onto the table! THAT is abundance.

Maybe you would ask God for a word for this next year? Experience the joy of having a theme and staying alert to all that God wants to show you in it. Write it down. I think your journey will be sweet.

There was a time when restaurants were closed on holidays like Thanksgiving and Christmas. Convenience stores weren’t around. Gas stations had set hours and if you pulled up to the pump after hours – there was no pumping gas – because debit cards weren’t around yet either!

My husband, Ken, and I found ourselves in just such a situation coming back on a tour bus from a concert on Thanksgiving morning. The church that hosted us the night before gave us cash to buy lunch and so we left early that morning heading back toward our ministry home base in Pensacola, FL. Reminiscing about Thanksgiving family meals with the rest of our group and watching for signs of a restaurant open on Thanksgiving…and NOT finding any…we started getting really hungry.

Finally, we found a tiny, roadside gas station, the kind with a single gas pump, and just a handful of small items on the shelf inside by the cash register. That Thanksgiving Ken and I split a little pop top can of vienna sausages and a coke for our Thanksgiving meal….and we were so thankful! That was roughly 35 years ago…and we still remember that holiday with gratefulness. That memory reminds us that God is in every detail of our lives and He provides for us all along the way. Everyone else was at home with their families on that holiday…except that one guy…who decided to stay open on a back road in the middle of nowhere….with a few cans of vienna sausages and a soda machine.

God provides. It may not always look the way we think it should, but He knows what we need and when we need it. Philippians 4:19 (NLT) is our promise of Jehovah Jireh. “And this same God who takes care of me will supply all your needs from His glorious riches, which have been given to us in Christ Jesus.” Acknowledge God in your story and watch and see what He will do!

Imagine going out to eat dinner and walking into the restaurant only to discover that everyone who works there…is a chef. At first you might think, ‘hey, that’s really cool! I’ll never go hungry eating here.’ But, who would serve you? Who would order all the food so the chef didn’t run out? Who would keep the receipts and pay the bills? Who would wash the dishes and keep the tables cleared for the next customers?

Every person is vital to its success. Each with his or her own job responsibility has the opportunity to make the experience memorable for the good….or not so good. It’s not just what makes a good dining experience. It’s also key to the success of every workplace, church, organization…even family.

We are all unique. God made each one of us with different temperaments, talents and capabilities. We have experienced different things in our lifetime. We’ve stood atop different mountains of victory and we’ve slogged through different valleys of hardship and sorrow. God fits us together for a season to serve His people and share His love and light with the world.

Ephesians 4:16 (NLT) spells it out completely. “He (God) makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.” Teamwork is God’s design!

I think there is a very good reason why the door to my oven has a window in it. It’s the same reason the lid for my crockpot is see through glass. When something is cooking I keep wanting to check its progress. Call it curiosity. Call it impatience. Either way, any time we lift the lid or open the door to peek at what’s cooking and how far along it is….we extend the time it will take to finish. Because we let the heat out!

The heat is what cooks the food. When we open the door before its appointed cook time is up, we delay the process and it takes longer to prepare. Even though I have a view through the glass I am still tempted every time…to open the door or lift the lid.

Oh how often we delay the process we are going through by getting impatient with God. We try to rush the process but God has a plan and a purpose…and He is refining us through the heat! 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV) reveals, “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

We can’t see our whole story yet. What we see is like looking through the oven glass. We know part of it but not the finished work. God’s promise is beautiful though. Right now we just see or know part of it. Someday, face to face, we will know in full what God was making of our lives. So, no more peeking!

A very common phrase that I remember hearing as a kid is the phrase ‘Lo and behold’. No one ever really explained what that meant and I guess I never asked but it always felt like discovery phrase to me. Like ‘all of a sudden’ or ‘can you believe it?!!’ A friend said that phrase to me the other day and it made me curious so I started digging around trying to find out where it started and what it really means.

Both lo and behold are words used separately in the Bible. Some say that the word “Lo” was an abbreviation for the word “Look”. So the literal translation of that saying is “look and see”. At a glance you might think that’s a bit redundant. Don’t they both mean the same thing?! I think there are many times that we can look without actually seeing?!! Yosef Baskin said, “I believe that lo means look, and behold means to absorb then what you see. So the pair has the doubling power…without really repeating meaning.”

How often have we looked but not really seen? We miss so much at times when we are busy or oblivious…or both…just to glance and not take the time to really see. To look and absorb what God’s Word is speaking to us. To look and absorb what is happening around us and what we might be able to do to make a difference.

Jesus said in Matthew 7:7-8 (NLT), “Keep on asking, and you will receive what you ask for. Keep on seeking, and you will find. Keep on knocking, and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks, receives. Everyone who seeks, finds. And to everyone who knocks, the door will be opened.” It’s a beautiful invitation to ‘come and see’. Look and absorb. Lo and behold!

The first Advent calendar I remember had a little piece of chocolate hidden behind each day and I’m pretty sure my brothers had eaten their way through December 24 before the first week was over. I don’t remember the church I grew up in lighting Advent candles the Sundays leading up to Christmas so I didn’t fully appreciate the reverence of Advent until later in life. Advent was a season that was marked on the calendar but it really hadn’t marked my heart with its meaning.

Did you know ‘Advent’ is a Latin word that means “coming” or “arrival”? It is a season of remembrance and expectance and looking forward with great joy. What a beautiful story is told through the lighting of those candles and daily reminders of why we celebrate Jesus’ arrival…His birth at Christmas.

But we also live in another season of Advent. As believers, we find ourselves in a time of looking forward to our Savior’s second coming or arrival. Living between TWO Advents! Jesus promised in John 14:1-3 (NLT)  “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.“

How precious that promise is to our hearts to know that Jesus is preparing our heavenly home…and when EVERYTHING is ready…He is coming back for us! The magnificence…and the mystery…waiting between two Advents. Just think! We could be present for the second Advent of Christ!

Girls learn how to cover up at a pretty early age. When we are old enough to begin playing around with foundation and concealer we learn to cover up our facial flaws and accentuate our favorite features. We also learn to dress monochramatically to look taller and be sure to wear dark colors to minimize and wear light colors to draw attention to our best features.

From almost the beginning Adam and Eve found themselves naked and ashamed…and then…the real cover up began. Once they disobeyed God’s one restriction in the Garden of Eden, Genesis 3:7 (NLT), “At that moment their eyes were opened, and they suddenly felt shame at their nakedness. So they sewed fig leaves together to cover themselves.” And we have been covering up ever since.

Later in verse 21 of Genesis 3 (NLT), the first animal was sacrificed as God used its skin to cover them. “And the Lord God made clothing from animal skins for Adam and his wife.” Even though the perfect connection was broken in that moment between God and man, and even though there was a cost for Adam and Eve’s disobedience, God still provided for them.

Today, God still provides for us, not because of anything we’ve done or not done, but because God is faithful. And there is no need to cover up our sin anymore. God provided His Son, Jesus, not too cover UP our sin; but, to completely wash away our sins. Because He is faithful to His promises we can be completely restored in our relationship with God.

There is something so special about visiting someone at Christmas and seeing all the decorations on their tree. It tells their story. Our tree holds ornaments from when WE were children. We collected an ornament every year we’ve been married and picked one for every Christmas for each of our kids. There’s a cloth sleeve on our tree that held my husband, Ken’s, eye glasses from three years ago at Christmas when he had surgery to implant a port for his chemotherapy to fight cancer. There are memory ornaments that have a sweet photograph of each of our pets who are gone now but never forgotten. There are several coffee cup ornaments and other collections of ornaments of things that bring us joy.

Collections. Memories. Milestones. Our tree tells our story. Each beautiful and unique. Even a new tree with all new ornaments tells a story of new beginnings…and hope. And when we are done with all that we have to hang on our tree we all stand back and watch as the star or the angel is placed at the top and we call it complete. And we gaze at this beautiful collection of past, present and even future that is our story.

There was another tree that tells God’s story. Cut down and fashioned into the shape of a cross and on it was placed the precious Son of God. He revealed God’s story of love, of the Lamb of God, Jesus, who was slain before the world was even formed (Revelations 13:8). God had seen that dark day even before He created the earth, and yet He still grew the tree and sent His Son to carry all of our stories, all our sin, ALL of it…Jesus took it all…willingly…to that tree. When He was about to take his final breath, Jesus said, “It is finished.” John 19:30 (NKJV)

Jesus bore all of our sins on that tree so that we could have a new story to tell. One that says we are forgiven and that we now have the hope of eternity in heaven with Him. That’s the greatest story ever!

Do you know what is one of the most frequently left behind items in a hotel room? The phone charger! Perhaps you’ve done it yourself. And when do you typically realize that you left it behind?…Of course. Not until your battery is low and you need to charge it again.

So much of what we use in our day to day requires charging. Computers. Phones. Watches. They all require a power source to keep them running at optimum level so we are careful to plug them in to charge. We unplug them for convenience to carry them around, to use them wherever and whenever we need them. And from the moment we unplug them from the power source…they begin to lose their charge. Sooner or later we have to get them back to the power source again for recharging.

Sound familiar? We require charging too! It’s not just about resting and sleeping. We were created and designed to connect with our Maker. Our power source is God. Getting plugged in to Him, every day, is vitally important. And the instant we unplug from the Lord…we begin to lose our charge. Listen to what the Amplified Bible, Classic Edition tells us in 1 Corinthians 8:6. “Yet for us there is [only] one God, the Father, Who is the Source of all things and for Whom we [have life]…”

Staying plugged into our power source is the best way to live. Then we never have to wonder where our charger went!