Chapel of Hope Stories

Dear Reader:

Yesterday afternoon this story popped up from one of several  devotions that come to me daily…I don’t remember ever signing up for them but they do seem to appear at the right time for me.

This little short story called “Believing in Hope” came from the book Streams in the Desert by L.B.E. Cowman. The author died in 1960  but earlier in her life she was a pioneer missionary in Japan from 1901 to 1917.  She then went on to write many books on her experiences abroad and at home. This true “at home” story touched my heart and I hope it does yours too on this beautiful Christmas Eve.

“When my little son was about ten years old, his grandmother promised him a stamp collecting album for Christmas. Christmas came and went with no stamp album and no word from Grandma. The matter, however, was not mentioned, until his friends came to see his Christmas presents. I was astonished, after he had listed all the gifts he had received, to hear him add, “And a stamp album from my grandmother.”

After hearing this several times, I called my son to me and said, “But George, you didn’t get a stamp album from Grandma. Why did you say you did?”

With a puzzled look on his face, as if I had asked a very strange question, he replied, “Well, Mom, Grandma said, and that is the same as.” Not a word from me would sway his faith.

A month passed and nothing else was said about the album. Finally one day, to test his faith and because I wondered in my own heart why the album had not been sent, I said, “George, I think Grandma has forgotten her promise.”

“Oh no, Mom,” he quickly and firmly responded. “She hasn’t.”

I watched his sweet, trusting face, which for a while looked very serious, as if he were debating the possibility I had suggested. Soon his face brightened as he said, “Do you think it would do any good for me to write Grandma, thanking her for the album?”

“I don’t know,” I said, “but you might try it.” A rich spiritual truth then began to dawn on me.

In a few minutes a letter was written and mailed, as George went off whistling his confidence in his grandma. Soon a letter from Grandma arrived with this message:

My dear George,

I have not forgotten my promise to you for a stamp album. I could not find the one you wanted here, so I ordered one from New York. It did not arrive until after Christmas, and it was not the right one. I then ordered another, but it still has not arrived. I have decided to send you thirty dollars instead so that you may buy the one you want in Chicago.

Your loving Grandma.

As he read the letter, his face was the face of a victor. From the depths of a heart that never doubted came the words, “Now, Mom, didn’t I tell you?” George “against all hope… in hope believed” (Romans 4:18) that the stamp album would come. And while he was trusting, Grandma was working, and in due time faith became sight.

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Isn’t this a wonderful lesson for us, our children, and grandchildren…that while something we asked for might not appear under the tree Christmas morning…if we trust it will at some point…if we trust that God is still at work  and knows the right time for the right gift…then “in due time faith becomes sight.”

So until tomorrow…At Christmas time may be you be filled with wonder touched by peace and believe in miracles.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Another miracle…tonight I will “walk” up to the podium at the five o’clock children’s Christmas Eve Service and tell my story titled: ‘The Christmas Time Stood Still.”

*I will provide you with a synopsis of it tomorrow for Christmas Day with the story behind the story of how it came to be.

*The family and grandchildren are all coming over this afternoon for a light lunch, snacks, a little birthday remembrance for Tommy and Walsh… a “fake” snowball fight and the opening of Boo Boo’s stockings for the grandchildren…then off we will go to the Christmas Eve Service. This year Eva Cate and Rutledge will assist me in the closing of the story…not to be missed.

Now all the grandchildren are on their Christmas pillows remembering their first Christmases with family…a treasure chest of memories.

Yesterday I took advantage of my new “wheels” and rode around Summerville snapping photos of beautiful homes decorated for the holidays.

To one and all…”Have a Very Merry Christmas!”

*I love it when my students I taught come by with their families now…this is Blair Mallard (Stegalis) ….happy and successful in her life…a wonderful sight for a teacher! Blair has little twin girls…one of whom you see in the picture…she and her husband were taking turns with each twin at every other neighborhood stop. Thank you and Merry Christmas Blair and family!

Dear Reader:

For three months I wandered in my imagination (while reclining with my foot up on top of so many pillows… I felt like “The Princess and the Pea“) wondering what my next car would look like…most likely my last car. For awhile my mind was caught up in a specific type and color of car that I thought would  be just perfect for me. It turned out not to be so.

Instead another car had been patiently waiting for me to come along the whole time. It was a little older, a little more experienced, and it provided some little extras that I have yet to learn how to operate but they make me smile and giggle. I got exactly the right car at the right time and my mind is still filled with wonder over how it all came to pass.

It took several family member giving ideas and gifts to make it all come true…giving in its simplest form…is the most beautiful gift of all.

I came across a Christmas message from Kent Nerburn (one of my favorite authors these days) that he wrote several years ago. His message is just as important today as it was when he initially wrote it. It made me pause and re-think the ‘miracle of giving’…I hope you will enjoy it as much as I did.

The Miracle of Giving

As I write this, Christmas is approaching. It is my favorite time of the year. For this one brief season we count our money not to measure our own security, but to see how much we can give. For this one season we look to make others happy and to find our joy in the happiness they receive.

How simple a lesson, and how quickly forgotten.

Almost as quickly as the day ends, we once again become takers, measuring our happiness by what we can gain for ourselves. Just days before, we were valuing our lives by the joy we could bring other people. Suddenly, we are back to the practical business of assessing all our actions by how they will benefit us.

What a sad transformation. How can we forget so quickly? Giving is one of our most wonderful and beneficial acts. It is a miracle that can transform the heaviest of hearts into a place of warmth and joy. True giving, whether it be of money, time, concern, or anything else, opens us. It fills the giver and warms the receiver. Something new is made where before there was nothing.

This is what we have such a hard time remembering. We instinctively build our lives around getting. We see accumulation – of status, of money, of recognition – as a say of protecting ourselves and our families, or as our due for being hard working members of society. Little by little, we build walls of security around ourselves, and we begin to understand the good things in our lives as the things we can lose. Giving becomes an economic transaction – what I give away must be subtracted from who I am – so even the smallest gifts are weighed on the scales of self-interest.

Even when we reach out and give, we need the return of being noticed and praised, so our hearts are really motivated by the praise we will be getting, not by the pure joy of opening to the needs of another. We are locked in a prison of our own self-interest, and we are blind to the fact that our real growth and happiness would be better served by the very actions we resist performing.

The only way to break out of this prison is to reach out and give.

Each Christmas I rent a Santa Claus outfit and go out on the streets, just to teach myself this lesson anew. In that Santa suit, there can be no subtle playing for self-congratulation or benefit. No one knows who I am. I am simply Santa, the man who gives.

I go into nursing homes, grade schools, hospitals. I stop and talk to kids in parking lots and bring presents to people who need them. Parents pass me notes and make requests, some wanting me to reassure their children of the reality of Santa, others just wanting me to pay attention to their child.

Being Santa costs me money, time, and no small amount of grief – one time two young kids ran a stop sign and banged their car into mine, and I couldn’t bring myself to turn them in, because how can Santa press charges on Christmas Eve? But despite every inconvenience that it involves, I would not give up playing Santa for anything. I receive too much in return.

People who are focused on getting can never understand this. They might think that what I do is praiseworthy. They might even say, “That must make you feel good.” What they don’t understand is that it is beyond feeling good; it is creating good. It is bringing good into the world where before there was nothing.

Giving is a generative act. When you give of yourself, something new comes into being. Two people, who moments before were trapped in separate worlds of private cares, suddenly meet each other over a simple act of sharing; warmth, even joy, is created. The world expands, a bit of goodness is brought forth, and a small miracle occurs.

You must never underestimate this miracle. Too many good people think they have to become Mother Teresa or Albert Schweitzer, or even Santa Claus, and perform great acts if they are to be givers. They don’t see the simple openings of the heart that can be practiced anywhere with almost anyone.

Try it for yourself. Do it simply if you like. Say hello to somebody everybody ignores. Go to a neighbor’s house and offer to cut the lawn. Stop and help someone with a flat tire.

Or stretch yourself a bit. Buy a bouquet of flowers and take it to a nursing home. Take ten dollars out of your pocket and give it to someone on the street. Do it with a smile and a lilt in your step. No pity, no hushed tones of holy generosity. Just give it, smile, and walk away.

Little by little, you will start to understand the miracle. You will start to see into the unprotected human heart, to see the honest smiles of human happiness, and you will be able to see humanity in places you never noticed it before. Slowly, instinctively, you will start to feel what is common among us, not what separates and differentiates us.

Before long you will discover that we have the power to create joy and happiness by our simplest acts of caring and compassion. You will see that we have the power to unlock the goodness in other people’s hearts by sharing the goodness in ours.

And, most important, you will find the other givers. No matter where you live or travel, whether you speak their language or know their names, you will know them and become one with them, because you will recognize each other. You will see them in their small acts, because you will recognize those acts, and they will see you in yours. And you will know each other and embrace each other. You will become part of the community of humanity that trusts and shares and dares to reveal the softness of its heart.

Once you become a giver, you will never be alone.

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So until tomorrow…

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Today we have two birthdays in the family to remember and celebrate…Walsh and ‘Aunt Pap.’

I still remember the evening of Walsh’s birth… everyone was over at our house for some Christmas festivities..I had been cooking and hostessing and suddenly, very quietly I knew…the time was approaching. I went over to Pap and asked her how she felt about sharing her birthday with her latest nephew and she was thrilled. December 23…brought two wonderful people into the world… special Christmas presents for all our family!

Walsh…you are truly one of those rare individuals whose name can be turned into a popular verb…as in *”He “walshed” in the room and every one felt his presence…it lit up. Thanks for lighting up my life at Christmas and every single day of the year! Happy Birthday son!

The doorbell rang yesterday afternoon and there was my great-niece Ady with her mom, Bekah, and grandmom, Susan. It was so good to see them and we had fun catching up…they had brought some goodies of all kinds…cookies, Christmas writing pad and wonderful lotions….a pampering time for me is needed for all these gifts. 🙂

Dear Reader:

What a mixed bag of emotions Thursday was…blustery, rainy weather…an oncology appointment…and then everything changed!

The photos above were actually taken in the morning (Friday morning)…not at night… because yesterday everyone was having a P.J. Christmas party at school…from Jake’s pre-school, to Eva Cate’s second grade class to Mandy’s Buist Academy. Fun, fun, fun!

John had picked me up from my oncology appointment Thursday so I could spend the night with them and then he planned to get me to my foot wound appointment in Mt. Pleasant Friday. After all that he then was bringing me back to Summerville. *(And I didn’t even get to wear p.j.’s to my appointment.)

However things didn’t go as planned…they went as God planned. (Which is always better!)

After feeling like I have been stuck in some type of inside ‘recliner purgatory’ coupled with an outside ‘no wheels purgatory’… everything finally broke loose. John found an amazing deal on a relatively small SUV (used with a few thousand miles…but not much… and still a 2018) which we went to look at in all the blustery, rainy weather after my oncology appointment.

Everything fell into place so easily…I knew God was directing this whole scene from start to stop. A wonderful young salesman greeted us, we asked about the car, he checked to see if it was still there and it was…I test drove it around a neighborhood during a break from the rain…loved it…great price…exactly what I could afford and more…***The children had all pooled together to provide a down payment against the total car price for my Christmas present.

I was speechless…but not tear-less…the biggest surprise of my life! I love you all so much…or as Tiny Tim said…“God bless you…every one!”

So yesterday John didn’t need to take me to my foot surgeon appointment or drive me home because I drove myself!!!!! “Thank you God, Amen!” 

(I was so happy I didn’t even mind getting stuck on I-526 for over an hour when the fierce winds blew a trailer off the top of a truck Friday…blocking traffic for miles and miles. *I knew my car wouldn’t die out on me like the Vue would have done having to idle that long…so I listened to the Christmas music channel and just happily sang along.)

This is probably the closest I have come to a Christmas miracle…I am still reeling from the newly conceived conviction that …“I am a car owner again.” Thursday night I kept jumping up to see if the car was still in John’s driveway…or was I just dreaming and wishing?

So until tomorrow...”Miracles come in moments…be ready and willing.” (Wayne Dryer)

I was ready and I was willing to acknowledge the true Master behind the plan to get me “wheels” once again and break me out of my earlier, restricted daily life. Now it’s my turn to help others! Pay it forward time.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*Our wonderful reader, Ambika, sent me this quote concerning the blog post about Brooks Moore and the two yellow #2 pencils he received from a student his first year teaching. It is perfect!

Mother Teresa,  “I’m a little pencil in the hand of a writing God, who is sending love letters to the world…”

*A special shout-out to my favorite son-in-law John who found this wonderful deal on the car… that just happened to have my name on it…a Christmas present from God and family!

CHRISTMAS BLESSINGS

JOHN O’DONOHUE

Celebration is an attentive and gracious joy of presence. When you celebrate, you are taking time to recognize, to open your eyes and behold in your life the quiet miracles and gifts that seek no attention; yet each day they nourish, shelter, and animate your life. The art of belonging in, with, and to your self is what gives life and light to your presence; it brings a radiance to your countenance and a poise to your carriage. When your heart is content, your life can always find the path inwards to this deep stillness in you.

*Today is my mother’s birthday! I love you mom and I strive each day to be more like you…a woman with the strongest faith I have ever known. I miss you.

Lori Hollister simply must be nominated for Grandmother of the Year…she is truly amazing! Yesterday she picked up her granddaughter Lily from school, along with two friends…(Eva Cate being one) and took them (no less) for a spend-the-night at the Belmond Charleston Place.

She had baggies of fun items for them (including elf hats); they could go swimming in the indoor pool and just be little bouncy girls for a night out on the town. What a way to start the Christmas holidays!

Dear Reader:

Today is the winter solstice…the shortest day of the year. (thus it is sometimes called the Longest Night of the year) On this day the sun is at its lowest arc and appears to “stand still”…which is Latin for the word solstice.

If you like gloriously long shadows today is your day…with the sun at its lowest arc…it now makes the longest shadows.

Yesterday I felt like I was playing with shadows too…but of a different nature…shadows of the past. I know Honey and I have talked about the strange feeling that comes over us when we are looking for something in a drawer and suddenly we pull out an object or letter or something from our past that brings back a sudden memory of a family member long passed.

*Honey says this happens to her more with finding her mother’s memoirs than any other and it is always when she has had her mother on her mind or dreamed about her .

When I found this old 1944 Christmas card daddy sent mother when they were still engaged and he was fighting in England during WWII it just made me smile a little sadly and wish he had lived long enough for me to get to really know him…to have more memories of him.

No sooner had I found the old sentimental Christmas card (from my father to my mother) than I read a true short story from a Guidepost entry called “A Greeting Card from Heaven.” (Diana Ayden- Inspiring Stories)

My husband’s best friend Mark always sent greeting cards. There wasn’t a holiday, birthday or anniversary that wasn’t honored with an encouraging card and note—and always arriving exactly on time.

How does he do it? we wondered.

There was only one time a card arrived on the wrong day.  It was in mid-January when my husband brought in the mail, he recognized Mark’s handwriting.  Opening up the card he said, “That’s odd. It’s two weeks early.”

Two days later, Mark died suddenly of a heart attack. We were heartbroken by the news, but the odd coincidence of getting one last birthday card, comforted us that Mark was okay.

That was two years ago, and every holiday, every birthday since then is a little lonely without his greetings. Hanging up the Christmas cards this year I thought about how we missed him. Of course his Christmas card was usually the first to arrive.

My husband was stringing the lights on the porch. “Do you know where the replacement bulbs are?” he asked. I found a box filled with old lights on a shelf in the basement. I started to un-pile the bulbs… looking for what he needed.

At the bottom of the box something bright red caught my eye. An envelope. I turned it over. Mark’s handwriting. Opening it up, I read his wishes for a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Holding the card to my heart, I shook my head at the timing.  An old Christmas card from years ago, somehow put back in the envelope and packed away. Found right when we needed it. The only card in the bottom of a box of old lights.

Of course, if anyone could send us a Christmas card from heaven, it’d be Mark!

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So until tomorrow…Let us stop and embrace those moments when we come face to face with our past memories of loved ones gone before us. I always touch the memoir whether it is a  picture, letter, card or object, remind the person of my continued love and blow some kisses heavenward. We are all closer than we think.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Caleb (Boogie Boy) Brooke’s precious grandson made the news (Post&Courier) this past week as his photo was taken staring up at Marshall…one of the  characters from Paws Patrol during the Christmas Lights Display…downtown Charleston. Too cute!

Dear Reader:

A good friend of mine, Brooks Moore, a (mostly) retired educator after 45 years in the “business,” sent me a copy of his book titled: Chalk Talk: 30 Stories that will touch your funny bone and heart.

Vickie works at the golf club a street down from us and she said Brooks gave her a copy of his book signed and inscribed…he asked Vickie to give it to me. On the way to my appointment last Friday I read some of the true stories aloud to Anne and this one touched both our hearts. Hope you enjoy.

As a first-year teacher Brooks was excited about his first Christmas classroom party with his students. He had bought refreshments out of his own pocket but it would be worth it to give his students a celebration on the last day of classes before the Christmas holidays began.

Just before the party started a young male student by the name of Theoleonis asked if Mr. Moore would step out in the hall with him. He needed to tell him something. Theo was an African-American student who had five siblings and a difficult home situation, but still he worked diligently and never gave up.

Once outside in the hall Theo told Mr. Moore that he was too embarrassed to give his gift inside…he then reached into the back pocket of his tattered jeans and pulled out his gift… wrapped in newspaper and a red ribbon.

“Mr. Moore, this is for you, Theo said and I hope you can use it.” With trembling hands he pressed the gift into Brooks’ palms. With a lump in his throat Brooks opened his special gift and pulled out two #2 pencils. He then started to read Theo’s hand-written note. Tears started welling up in Brooks’ eyes because the note read: “To my favorite teacher of all time. Merry Christmas, Theo.”

Brooks opened the classroom door and let Theo back in…telling him he would be right back…he needed to get something else for the party. Instead he headed straight for the faculty restroom to wipe his eyes and try to get control of his emotions before returning.

As his eyes gazed over at the presents covering his desk… (once back in the classroom)…he already knew that Theo’s gift was the best one of all. It was then that Brooks said Divine Intervention must have struck him full force because suddenly he found himself telling the class that he had just received two magical  pencils from Theo and they would always have a special place on his desk.

They were never to be used or moved without permission. When the students returned from Christmas break he would explain how the magic worked. Brooks kept his word…on the first day back he reminded the students about the two magical pencils and explained the procedure.

Before any big test Theo was to go around the room holding the pencils while each student touched them for good luck. Brooks reminded the students that the magic in the pencils didn’t work, however, unless the student had studied and prepared him/herself for the test…this was the secret ingredient that released the magical power!

Theo went on to become a concrete finisher and had his own successful business. Years later, Brooks ran into him and told Theo that he was the reason why he had continued on in education.

He went on to explain how those two yellow #2 pencils taught him what his calling was…and it was Theo who lead him to it. Both men hugged and then went their own ways…both better for the experiences they had shared together.

So until tomorrow…Don’t ever get down thinking you aren’t contributing to the world in any significant way…all it takes is one thought expressed to another to change someone’s life. At Christmas all it took was one little baby, born in a manger, to change the world forever.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*I loved the idea of the pencils being magical…just like Christmas should be filled with magic too…because hope always walks alongside it. And most importantly…that hope gave Theo a way to achieve and find a friend (in a teacher) forever.

I got batteries put back in the pineapples and at night when I turn off all the lights except the Christmas tree and the pineapples…my happy place does turn magical.

Dear Reader:

What fun yesterday was! Honey was the first to stop by to pick up the Apple Tree stand but she had to leave before Mollie and Eloise arrived. Thank goodness we were all able to reconnect later in the day.

Eloise was so excited at the Christmas tree lights and all the shining objects as she toddled unsteadily from ornament to ornament. I wanted to get all the Christmas t-shirts and outfits to the grandchildren so they could wear them before Christmas. We just needed a rendezvous day to exchange.

We decided to beat the crowd and scurry over to Five Loaves for lunch! We made it in before the crowds and the food was delicious as usual. However…little glass Christmas globes had been placed on each table and before either Mollie or I could react Eloise grabbed one and it slipped right out of her little fingers and broke on the floor.

Our waitress and the manager came running to help locate and pick up the slivers of glass as Mollie and I apologized over and over. Oops!…Oh well… accidents happen.

Later when the same manager returned  to our table and squatted down next to me… we grew a little apprehensive…. she was smiling brightly, however, and told us our family had been selected that day to receive a  Happy Holidays  free meal from the Glowfisch family (owners)…in the spirit of Christmas giving.

What a wonderful surprise! Mollie and I just both looked at each other and squealed…we had never won anything (and especially since we were the family that caused all the mess and commotion.) We started giggling like three little girls crowned princesses of the day!

In the book Anne gave me for Christmas ( 52 Little Lessons from a Christmas Carol) one lesson is seeing life through a child’s eyes. It mentions the wonderful ability of Bob Cratchit to let troublesome adult issues go (after being scolded by Scrooge for wanting a day off) and then instead of pouting…quickly reverting to childlike enthusiasm as he goes “snow sliding” with some local youth and once home  joins his children in a game of blindman’s bluff.

In other words Cratchit becomes like a child. The narrator suggests there’s value in looking at the world from a child’s perspective. Scrooge only considers himself an important adult…he has left childish ways behind. “Yet it’s the children, not Scrooge, who get it. They are living life to its fullest. They live with zest as flush as their rose cheeks. “

In  one Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come scene, young Peter Cratchit reads Mark 9:36 to his mother and siblings: “And he took a child, and set him in the midst of them.” And ultimately,  it is where Scrooge will find his redemption…in a little boy…Tiny Tim.

So until tomorrow…Let us strive to enjoy the moments of happiness together with a new understanding ….being adult enough to know the value of looking at our surroundings through a child’s eyes…full of enthusiasm and zest for life.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

When we got back we were playing around in one of the back rooms when we heard Honey…she had returned with the completed apple tree for the centerpiece…the annual event that marks the “official” start of Christmas in my home!!! There should have been trumpets sounding…and what a lovely smell!

Honey also had a bag of goodies for me…wonderful books on planting and a garden journal…along with a homemade pottery angel and other adorable ornaments for the tree. The Christmas tree and planters has never been happier!

 Vickie came bringing goodies and the chubbiest red bird that made me laugh…I told her that this was how I was going to look if I didn’t get off that recliner with my foot up and quit eating all the goodies coming in….Queen Victoria in her later life.

Dear Reader:

There are probably a good handful of us ‘baby boomers’ out there who still remember growing up with the popular series “Father Knows Best.” It aired from 1954 to 1960 and immediately went into syndication with the closing of the last episode.

The story plot was simple…There was Jim Anderson, the wise father, his common-sense wife Margaret, and their three children, Betty, Bud, and Kathy…they all lived in a small town in the middle of the country. Every time a problem arose…from big or small, silly or serious…each member of the family knew who to go to for help….FATHER…because, after all, ‘Father Knows Best.’

As a long-time history teacher the discussion of the importance of studying the past would come up for debate quite a lot with my eighth graders. I would put several different quotes up by famous people on the importance of studying history and have the students react to them.

After all these years of debating the purpose behind studying the past …. (one popular position being so our mistakes won’t be repeated- which sadly still occurs)… it has come to me that studying the time-line of mankind and his influences on earth over thousands of years helps us see a pattern that definitely repeats itself.

Yet…every once in awhile…something monumental happens…a catalyst comes along that changes everything we thought we knew prior to that event. Life is not the same again. Such is the birth of Jesus. As grandmother used to say “Timing is everything.”

David Jeremiah in the following excerpts from his article “God’s Timing: He Knows the Future” re-examines God’s role in history and also, in our own lives.

“God often does the most extraordinary things in the most ordinary ways. Sometimes His acts are clearly extraordinary — like the burning bush where Moses encountered Him (Exodus 3:1-6). But other times, they are so ordinary their significance is only gradually realized — like the birth of a Child in a stable in Bethlehem (Luke 2:1-7).

There is no exact reason given in Scripture for the timing of Jesus’ birth. The apostle Paul said it happened “when the fullness of the time had come.”

As for location, it seems a comparison was at work: King David had been born in Bethlehem, and Jesus would be the “Son of David.” And a contrast: Bethlehem’s small stature in Judah would be contrasted with Jesus becoming the “Ruler in Israel” (Micah 5:2).

In hindsight, we might have picked a different time and place for the Son of God to enter the world — just as we often question the times and ways God works in our life.”

One of the many messages of Christmas is God’s timing.

“Just as God sent His Son into the world in a seemingly “ordinary” way, so He works in our lives with the same purposefulness. As you celebrate Christ’s birth, remember that every work of God is extraordinary — including the times and ways He acts in your life.”

So until tomorrow…Isn’t it comforting to know that like the fictional Andersons in ‘Father Knows Best’ we all have a Father, too, who knows best and part of that “best” is timing. Only God has seen history from its creation until now…so only He has the vast expanse of knowledge about the importance of timing… that eludes our mortal capabilities. We must trust that God is helping us exactly at the right time in our lives.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

Luke and Chelsey went through the potting shed and found an old orange planter in the back to re-plant “Little Big Red” so he could have more room…he was out-growing the original planter. Now he looks so happy in his rightful place on the bench at Christmas. Thank you Luke and Chelsey! A wonderful Christmas present!

The grandchildren have all been busy with Christmas activities…but Walsh took some time out with Rutledge and Lachlan just to go fishing!

Jackson and her boys are giving themselves a wonderful Christmas adventure road trip gift to to each other… they just landed in New Orleans…all dressed up for Christmas!

  That’s a good thing because I had three sets of visitors yesterday all bringing me sweets…I told them I felt like King Henry VIII sitting on his throne getting fatter and fatter…but really who can turn down Christmas sweets? Thank you K.C. Gin-g and Luke and Chelsey!

Dear Reader:

I should have remembered yesterday that the pink candle of Advent (representing joy) would be lit. What a fitting day to return to church and be filled with joy at seeing friends, whom, I haven’t seen in months!

The music was beautiful and the familiar readings comforting. I was infused with that quiet kind of joy that comes from being in a place where so many memories of my life and my children’s lives have been spent. (Once crying babies, fidgety toddlers, sullen teenagers and suddenly young adult children who return with families of their own….the life cycle starts over quickly.)

Even now I want my adult children to retain fond, funny, and poignant memories of this church that they were brought up in. (These days returning with spouses and children of their own for special holidays… bringing their crying babies, fidgety toddlers and impressionable school age sons and daughters…to re-live and see their parents’ church growing up… with new eyes.)

These memories should be joyful and happy… because one day the grandchildren will gather and reminisce about the church services at Boo Boo’s church on Christmas Eve… always waiting to hear what surprise Christmas story would be told.

We each have an important decision…a life-altering choice, to make each and every day when we wake up. One day, after we are long gone…will our families remember us with joy and fondness…regaling family stories far into the night or we will remember a parent or grandparent who was a “Bah-Humbug” Scrooge and always ready for the season and especially Christmas Day to be over. The choice is ours.

We have the power to leave behind the legacy of joy to our loved ones who follow us… or  sadness. I realized one day, as an adult, that mother would gladly have skipped Christmas if she could have. For a single parent with one hand and a limited income…the thought of Christmas was overwhelming to her on many different levels.

Now I understand why we went home to her mother’s farmhouse in Laurens for Christmas a lot …especially when we were young. She wanted us to be surrounded with cousins, aunts and uncles who could put joy in Christmas for us when she couldn’t. Mother stayed stressed most of the holidays…back then there wasn’t medicine for depression and it wasn’t easily identified. Still she didn’t want us to be down-trodden and did all she could to cover it up.

So, as a young adult I had to make a conscious choice to have joy at Christmas, no matter the circumstances….some years were and are easier than others. The gift of joy is incredibly powerful, one that will keep on giving generation after generation in the form of funny, light-hearted, and sometimes poignant stories …re-told and shared.

Haven’t we witnessed both sides of this Christmas coin? In one article “Sharing Holy Christmas Joy”  (365 Devotions for Living Joyfully) the author concludes with….

“Some people prompt family feuds, even after they are gone. Others trigger sorrow, and others spread joy. What type of memories do you want to leave for those you love?”

A legacy lives on forever…generation after generation…leaving a legacy of joy is the greatest gift anyone can leave.

So until tomorrow… Let us feel grateful and blessed for our ancestors who came before us…bringing joy to us throughout their lives, in spite of daunting trials and tribulations. The loved ones who mentored the spiritual type of inner joy that can not be diminished by stress or holidays…

After church yesterday Doodle and Harvey asked me to stay for lunch…and it was a delicious soup!….While there I had so much fun walking around admiring all Doodle’s Christmas decorations and special traditions…it is my favorite thing to do at Christmas…admire so many different varieties of past and present decor. It brings me joy!

*And speaking of joy…Sammy the Cardinal brought me a surcie yesterday (at church) to add to my dining room decor…Thanks Sammy – ( Dee and Mike Lesko.)  Glass red bird coasters for the dining table. Who would have ever thought at one time that Sammy would be bringing me joy now when he pecked havoc on my car mirrors just a couple of summers ago?

Dear Reader:

Quinn Caldwell (All I Really Want-Christmas devotions) shares insightful musings on the one single animal species (that lives on the ground) who can sing…us!

“Humans are also the only singing species with a precise and shared sense of rhythm, which is what allows us to sing together. Two birds might sing the same song, but they can’t coordinate it. They can sing next to each other…but not together.” 

Today Doodle and Harvey are picking me up for church because it is our special seasonal service filled with  readings from the Christmas Story accompanied by carols and the beautiful music of a wide and diverse arrangement of songs and instruments sung and played by our talented congregational members and others.

It is one of my favorite annual services…I look forward to it each year and was so happy when Doodle offered to pick me up and take me. It has been literally weeks since I have been able to attend church…between the stolen car and the restrictions on a serious foot wound and standing on it for extended periods of time…it has flown by.

I can’t think of a better service to return to church with…music that calms me and brings me peace, music that puts joy in my heart and makes me smile. It just isn’t Christmas without this service. Now all is right with the world again.

Caldwell explains in his Christmas devotional research why we humans all love the experience of hearing music together…quite interesting.

…”If a roomful of people sings at the same time, they start to breathe at the same time as well. And not only that, but studies have also shown that when people sing together, their hearts start beating together, too. And if we’re singing together and breathing together and our hearts are beating together, then it’s like we’re one body. 

We, as Christians, actually feel like we become the body of the One to whom we are singing. Singing together gives us courage and strength…we become a Body that does not back down. We are ready for the challenges ahead…with strength in unity.” 

When Jo Dufford came to pick me up a week ago to do some quick Christmas shopping…we somehow got into the discussion of thinking about the music we would like played or sung at our memorial services. After we both finished, we started laughing…we want the same thing….a song fest for a memorial service.

I just want some scriptures about joy read and recognition of the joyful life I have lead…and then bring on the songs…my favorite songs..I am so lucky to have (on both sides of the family) extremely musically talented members, as well as, friends. Let’s make a joyful noise!

So until tomorrow… If  singing together and breathing together and allowing our hearts to beat together will take place at a song fest of any kind… giving us strength and courage to face the future….then let’s have more of it!

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

* I love the wreath on the dining wall mirror…because, not only does it catch my reflection here at Christmas…reaffirming my physical existence (can you find a tiny piece of my reflection in the title photo?) but, also, the lights from the Christmas tree….reflections of Christmases past and present…hopefully continued reflections for the future…the light of hope.

Dear Reader:

This is the season where I find myself longing to re-read Madeleine L’Engle’s thoughts and prose on the meaning of Christmas. Such thoughts as:

“Was there a moment, known only to God, when all the stars held their breath, when the galaxies paused in their dance for a fraction of a second, and the Word, who had called it all into being, went with all his love into the womb of a young girl, and the universe started to breathe again, and the ancient harmonies resumed their song, and the angels clapped their hands for you?” –Madeleine L’Engle

Christmas makes me believe in a moment of the deepest calm, an overwhelming sense of peace engulfed in the most silent frozen element of time. It might sound strange…but whenever I mentally picture the Nativity scene…it is as if I am far above looking down …like what the angels would have seen that night…and everything is fixed in time.

I don’t expect to hear conversation between Mary and Joseph or the shepherds…nor will I hear an infant cry, or the animals bellowing…it is like a scene where time has stood still…for thousands of years now.

I live by the impossible… How dull the world would be if we limited ourselves to the possible. Madeleine L’Engle

How revealing that quotation by L’Engle is…Christmas must be lived by the impossible made possible by our Creator. Think about if Joseph and Mary had lived only by the “possible” restrictions of social norms and earthly limitations ….neither one would have been able to accept the birth of Jesus as the Son of God.

The shepherds would not have been able to accept the possibility of angels revealing the future king to them in open fields on a normal evening like any other.

The wise men would have thought that the star they saw on the night of Jesus’s birth was possibly a planet never seen before or some other celestial object but certainly not a sign of a foregone prophesied king…a ruler who would change the world.

Christmas is a time when the our rational thought must turn to irrationality…faith at its most trusting. Perhaps this short piece of prose by Madeleine L’Engle is my Christmas favorite.

And how grateful we ought to be, that such an accepting spirit pervaded in Mary’s heart and mind as well…

This is the irrational season
When love blooms bright and wild.
Had Mary been filled with reason
There’d had been no room for the child.

So until tomorrow …Christianity is all about impossibilities made possible by God… and Christmas is the apex of what can happen when we have trust and faith in our Creator and what He will do for us….out of love. Christmas is pure, untainted love at its best…a peek into what love is all about…an insight into a love beyond our limited comprehension.

“Today is my favorite day”  Winnie the Pooh

*What a messy, rainy day yesterday was! It not only was raining ‘cats and dogs’ but I think a few chickens and pigs too. It poured on Anne and me all the way to Mt. Pleasant for my doctor’s appointment.

*We had to laugh at the irony, however, that we got there faster yesterday (even stopping by John and Mandy’s to drop off something) with no traffic delays. It was much better than we have done on regular sunny mornings. Go figure!

*Doodle…the lemon squares were the hit of the morning! The nurses and doctor kept running back and forth to grab another lemon square! And I got great news! I go back next Friday and I might or might not have one more “Affinity” treatment…the skin inside the wound is almost level now with the rest of the skin area….”All I want for Christmas” just might be coming true!

* The hardest part of the journey yesterday for Anne was getting to my house from her house…someone’s car had gone in the ditch on Old Orangeburg road and had traffic tied up while some wonderful folks helped the woman inside get the car back out.

I waited on the porch for Anne so I would be right ready…and the beauty of the poinsettias (with rain drops glistening off of them) just filled me with joy…a sign it was going to be a good day! And it was! A day of both possibilities and impossibilities!