There ought to be a home for
children to come to, and their children,
a central place,
to which they could always
bring their joys
and sorrows,
an old familiar place for
them to return to on
Sundays and Christmases.
An old home ought always to stand like a mother with open arms.
It ought to be here waiting for the children to come to it,
—like homing pigeons.
Bess Streeter Aldrich,
A Lantern in Her Hand
I have really enjoyed this book, over and over again. I purchased it in 1993 when our boys were little!
It gave us a better understanding as parents of some of the historical origins of holidays. Having that information was insightful, being that there are pagan origins of holidays we had no clue about. This book has encouraged us to have more intentional vision and purpose to celebrate Jesus every day of the year, and not just the calendar marked holidays. We learned from this book of special ways to bring Him to the forefront of our hearts and minds, and to make Him known and celebrated in our home every day.
Author Martha Zimmerman says, “The word ‘holiday’ comes from the phrase ‘holy day’, which means ‘a special day set apart for a spiritual purpose.’ Holidays are an opportunity to affirm our faith. Through them we communicate what we believe. Holidays invite us to participate with God’s people through the centuries in historic events that have effected all of time, including the present, preparing us for the future! They replay decisive events, reminding us of God’s marvelous works done on our behalf….
Meaningful celebrations are rooted in relationships, not obligations. As we encounter and are warmed by God’s love, we are drawn into deeper relationship that enables us to share His love with one another. Meaningful relationships are built as people experience Holy Days together. Every event, whether it be a simple early-morning candlelight breakfast or an elaborate Epiphany party, can be a celebration of God in our midst if we choose it to be!…
The challenge is to integrate your faith with your daily life so that they cannot be separated.”
Every chapter is full of historical information, and ideas of how to reclaim the calendar to celebrate Jesus!
Throughout the book, Martha encourages the reader to…
“Put something where you can see it so your eye will remind your heart.”
As a young mom, I attempted to do this, and still today, I appreciate precious reminders of the days we as a young family celebrated our holidays with more Christ centered purpose.
As I glance back through this book, I’m encouraged to consider returning to some of Martha’s suggestions for celebrating the next Christian year!
The first chapter (and I believe my favorite) in the book, aside from any specific holiday, Martha has this to say about “The Table: The Family’s Gathering Place”…
“Everyone is so busy. Restoring the principle that on at least special occasions the family gathers for a celebration will go a long way toward building family unity.”
Who’d have thought NOT gathering and NOT prioritizing time to share a meal would discourage relational unity? But it makes sense that NOT having a central place to meet, to sit down and invest time would aid disconnecting.
“Throughout the Old and New Testament the table is thought of as an altar. Approach your table where holiday meals are served as if it is an altar. Invite God to be present. Remember the Lord’s presence does not require long faces and formality. Rather, the table should be a place where people have a good time together in the very presence of the Lord” and one another.
And there you shall eat before the LORD your God, and shall rejoice, you and your households, in all that you undertake, in which the LORD your God has blessed you. Deuteronomy 12:7
Our children too shall serve him, for they shall hear about the wonders of the Lord; generations yet unborn shall hear of all the miracles he did for us. Psalm 22:30-31, TLB
She closes the first chapter with this poem…
“The Risk
One takes a risk when one invites the Lord
Whether to dine or talk the afternoon
Away, for always the unexpected soon
Turns up: a woman breaks her precious nard,
A sinner does the task you should assume,
A leper who is cleansed must show his proof:
Suddenly you see your very roof removed
And a cripple lands in your living room.
There’s no telling what to expect when Christ
Walks in that door. The table is set for four
Must often be enlarged and decorum
Thrown to the wind. It’s His voice that calls them
And there’s no use to bolt and bar the door:
His kingdom knows no bounds- or roof, or wall, or floor.
Author Unknown
Such encouragement!!
LORD may this be so in our home and hearts! Please help us to be mindful of Your presence, Your provision, and those You bring to us! Please make ready our hearts daily to receive Your fellowship, and those who need the company of others to love and refresh them. May we welcome and love one another the way we say we love You.
I am thankful for the example of our dear mothers who lovingly encouraged us to gather around their tables for special celebrations of the year. Many years!! We have treasured memories of gathering, of being united and encouraged in our faith and strengthened in our family relationships. Our moms went many extra miles and made extra special efforts to prepare their tables and homes to welcome and love us. The Lord has given us a rich heritage!
I pray our children and grandchildren will always know the joy and comfort of being gathered, as often as we can arrange, and they will come, that our times of unity and fellowship would not be hindered by what modern culture has told them is difficult or inconvenient to do!
May the LORD daily draw our hearts to Him. I pray He’ll use our family table to be a place we gather to celebrate Him.
May our family grow into His fullness and bountiful love for one another. Without Him, we would live lonely and isolated lives!
I will extol you, my God and King,
and bless your name forever and ever.
Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.
Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.
One generation shall commend your works to another, and shall declare your mighty acts.
On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.
Psalm 145:1-5
Photos: Gathered around the tables of Meme and Mawmaw for birthday parties for Jesus
"This is a picture of Ganmama!"
October 18, 2022
I am honored and blessed that she was thinking of me. 🥰.
I hope that will never stop.
This is the Christmas crown
Not to be worn,
But to adorn
The top of the Christmas Tree.
For it has been told
By angels so bold
Of God leaving Heaven one night.
On that first Christmas eve
His crown He did leave
In Heaven until He returned.
For He placed it just where
Three kings were to stare
High in the eastern sky.
And it shone like a star
To those from afar
But in fact ‘twas the gold of His crown.
While that’s but a story
It’s true of His glory
And the crown He alone wears today.
So atop of my tree
This crown helps me see
What the King set aside all for me.
Author: Unknown
This is the first ornament I place on our tree each year.
It’s placement at the top of the tree is a reminder that Jesus, the Son of God, humbled Himself to come to earth in human likeness, as a baby, to took on flesh to live among us. He was born to a young virgin mother, whose heart after God was to trust His plan, even though she may be shamed and ridiculed for being pregnant.
This sermon was especially helpful to hear last Sunday morning, and I am all the more awed and encouraged to consider more Jesus’ humanness, the limitations and suffering He experienced to come as a baby, to live to die, that He may save us…
https://www.sermonaudio.com/solo/sgbcjax/sermons/12422184202705/
Dad and I are reading an advent devotional by J.C. Ryle which has also encouraged us to rightly consider Jesus’ first and second coming together.
Jesus is Lord of lords, and King of kings. When He came the first time to accomplish His Father’s will, He was despised and rejected, betrayed, condemned, and crucified.
He returned to His Father and now sits at His right hand. One day He will return to rule and reign as King over ALL!
I pray I will better understand how He wisely and lovingly rules and reigns over all now. I pray He’ll help me trust Him that I may better submit to His sovereign authority in all the circumstances of my life.
Our Christmas Crown reminds me of His Kingship today and everyday because He came!
Thank you, King Jesus!
ALMIGHTY God,
give us grace
that we may cast away the works of darkness,
and put upon us the armour of light,
now in the time of this mortal life,
in which thy Son Jesus Christ
came to visit us in great humility;
that in the last day,
when he shall come again in his glorious Majesty,
to judge both the quick and the dead,
we may rise to the life immortal;
through Him who liveth and reigneth
with Thee and the Holy Ghost,
now and ever.
Amen.
The Collect for the first Sunday in Advent,
Book of Common Prayer, 1662
Thanksgiving is nothing if not a glad and reverent lifting of the heart to God in honor and praise for His goodness.
J. R. Miller
A broken ALTAR, Lord, thy servant rears,
Made of a heart and cemented with tears:
Whose parts are as thy hand did frame;
No workman's tool hath touch'd the same.
A HEART alone
Is such a stone,
As nothing but
Thy pow'r doth cut.
Wherefore each part
Of my hard heart
Meets in this frame,
To praise thy name:
That if I chance to hold my peace,
These stones to praise thee may not cease.
Oh, let thy blessed SACRIFICE be mine,
And sanctify this ALTAR to be thine.
BY George Herbert
God has promised to supply all our needs.
What we don't have now—we don't need now.
A submissive heart is content with what God gives.
Have we the humility to thank our Father
for the gift of pain?
Elisabeth Elliot
The Path of Loneliness:
Finding Your Way Through the Wilderness to God
By day the Lord commands his steadfast love,
and at night his song is with me,
a prayer to the God of my life.
I say to God, my rock:
“Why have you forgotten me?
Why do I go mourning
because of the oppression of the enemy?”
As with a deadly wound in my bones,
my adversaries taunt me,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation and my God.
Psalm 42:8-11
Teach me never to let the joy of what has been, to pale the joy of what is.
Elisabeth Elliot
As a young couple, new to our community, we were surrounded by the older original homeowners, who were thrilled to welcome us, a young couple in their midst.
It was not uncommon for us to hear neighbors say, “You purchased a big home. Are you hoping to have a lot of children?”
“Yes, that is our desire. We’d love to fill our home with children!!”
We were told there was once close to 100 children that lived on our block. Those children grew up fast and left, leaving their parents empty nesters by the time we arrived. In fact their children were our generation. So it was no surprise when we’d go out for walks, those older couples would stop what they were doing to engage us, and eventually, our children. They fast became our special friends.
Those friendships began 30+ years ago. Many of those dear neighbors aged and left, or sadly, passed away, leaving us to eventually become one of the older couples on the street. It’s strange to realize we’ll soon be the empty nesters.
John will marry in February and our home will be quiet and empty of those many joys we once treasured when our children were young.
It’s hard to believe we will come full circle soon, back to being here alone, together, just Mark and I, as we were when we moved into our home almost 32 years ago. I was pregnant with our first baby then. ❤️ Now that first baby and his wife live close by and enjoy their two babies!
Our early days here were full and treasured days. Our days now are no less full, but different, yet rewarding for knowing we strive to live and fellowship with those God has called us to serve. We want to live in the LORD’s presence here where pleasures continue forevermore at His right hand, at least here until He calls us Home!
I pray for grace to trust the LORD more as we watch and wait to see what He will accomplish here in our home and in our lives. We are learning a lot of Him, we read and pray more, and aim to welcome more fellowship with family and friends as we live out these good and special days. The LORD has ordained them for His pleasure and glory!
You make known to [us] the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
Psalm 16:11
Photo: Mid term Election Day
It is a naive sort of feminism that insists that women prove their ability to do all the things that men do.
This is a distortion and a travesty.
Men have never sought to prove that they can do ALL (my emphasis) the things women do. (YET)
Why subject women to purely masculine criteria?
Women can and ought to be judged by the criteria of femininity, for it is in their femininity that they participate in the human race.
And femininity has its limitations.
So has masculinity.
That is what we’ve been talking about.
To do this is not to do that.
To be this is not to be that.
To be a woman is not to be a man.
To be married is not to be single - which may mean not to have a career.
To marry this man is not to marry all the others.
A choice is a limitation.
Elisabeth Elliot
Let Me Be a Woman
A creature,
A choice,
A limitation,
A call,
A privilege,
A gift…
A participation,
A human race.
His glory!
His praise!
It is mercy that our lives are not left for us to plan, but that our Father chooses for us; else might we sometimes turn away from our best blessings, and put from us the choicest loveliest gifts of his providence.
Susannah Spurgeon
Unplanned time together yesterday filled me up! Together time was a gift, very much a blessing to linger with Addison after almost 2 weeks of not being together. I am thankful to be her Grandmama!
Also, yesterday was Felicity’s birthday! She is 3 years old, a very enjoyable age!! She is so very sweet, sociable, and teachable. She is learning so much! Of most value is Scripture and hymns! I soo cherish time with her!
She loves me full. I am thankful we both thrive on playing and working together. She is good medicine for me!
5 See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.
6 Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’
7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?
8 And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?
9 “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children—
The most fundamental task of a mother and father is to show God to the children. Children know their parents before they know God. This is a huge responsibility and should cause every parent to be desperate for God-like transformation. The children will have years of exposure to what the universe is like before they know there is a universe. They will experience the kind of authority there is in the universe and the kind of justice there is in the universe and the kind of love there is in the universe before they meet the God of authority and justice and love who created and rules the universe.
Children are absorbing from dad his strength and leadership and protection and justice and love;
and they are absorbing from mom her care and nurture and warmth and intimacy and justice and love – and, of course, all these overlap.
This Momentary Marriage –
A Parable of Permanence,
Desiring God Foundation, 2008, p.143-144
Last night we joined the Derenoncourt family for dinner and sweet fellowship! What a special added blessing it was that they’d ask us to join them for their family worship time as well.
Family worship time with our own children was always my favorite time of the day! Sitting together to hear Dad read God’s Word together always brought me comfort. Nothing was of greater value to me than to introduce our children to Our Father. I still pray and trust they are growing to know and fellowship with Him more!
I’d still treasure time for all of us to gather again to read God’s Word and pray together as father and mother, children, spouses, and children’s children, to discuss what the LORD is teaching us!! I miss sharing spiritual fellowship with our grown children immensely!
Spending time together as a family in God’s Word marked me!
The Derenoncourt family worship time began with an original family song. As Sabiana and Alain sang the children’s pet names, they came running one by one to the table. What a fun and clever way to draw and encourage the presence and participation of all as Alain began to read from Judges, chapter 2- ❤️
