Merry Christmas (+ Why You Should Celebrate!)

Dear Friend,

Merry beautiful Christmas! *all the hugs*

I always enjoy asking people how they celebrate. I'm the girl that wants to hear all the unique family traditions and memories and differences and try to invent my own to make the day that much more special!

Because that's the word I keep thinking of: celebration

Christmas is a celebration. That means my job - no, my joy - is to celebrate.

I love the stories of celebrations in the Bible! I read of Esther, the victory God gave, and how they set aside that day to exchange gifts and rejoice and remember! Stories of battles won, enemies defeated, and God had His people set up monuments to remember.

When I see trees and lights sparkling in the early nights, I remember. When family gathers together in air scented with apples and cinnamon and Christmas dinners, I remember. When we open gifts and laugh and tell the nativity story one more time, I remember.

I remember as I turn on Bing Crosby and sing about snow and how it's beginning to feel a lot like Christmas (I can't even write that without my heart singing).

There's this cheer in the air like at no other holiday, and it's most beautiful when it all flows from Him, from this God who came down to change the world and grant us a Kingdom because He loves us.

Even if 2020 was hard. Even if you don't deserve it. Even if you messed up today and are so distracted and feel so far away. Even if celebrating feels just too difficult for you.

Friend, your joy is to celebrate. To remember what God has done and praise!

Like it says so often in the Psalms, let's praise Him! With instruments, with song, with silent prayers in our hearts, by giving gifts, when you see your breath in the cold air where lights twinkle.

And to praise, it takes us switching our perspective off ourselves and this world and to a Kingdom and a King more eternal, fathomless.

Praise Him, my friend! Let every moment remind you of His praise!

Let everything that has breath praise the LORD.

Praise the LORD!

- Psalm 150:6

And two little things I'm excited about this season:

A Lyric Video!!

My brother created this song, and it's one of my favorites. He just released it around the Christmas season; what better way to celebrate Jesus' birth than by rejoicing in His ultimate purpose and sacrifice and how that changes life forever?

Click the cover to listen!

And one more:

A Giveaway!!

My friend Victoria is hosting a beautiful Christmas giveaway that I get to be a part of, along with other wonderful creators. I'm excited to gift a copy of The Torch Keepers to someone this Christmas season along with the other great prizes. Click the picture to enter!

So merriest of Christmases, friend! May this time of remembrance continually point you to Jesus as we rejoice together! He is so good and worth all. And yet He chooses to give us another Christmas, another time to celebrate, and He gave us His all so long ago because He loves.  *more hugs*  ♥

Your turn! How do you celebrate? What's your favorite Christmasy song or tradition? I'm eager to chat in the comments!

I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,

My soul shall be joyful in my God;

For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,

He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,

As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,

And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.

For as the earth brings forth its bud,

As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,

So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.

- Isaiah 61:10-11

~♥~

Find Our Roots and Remain (+ Story Snippets!)

His fingers turned my chin to look straight into his face. "No honor is greater than being a servant of the King's way, my son."

I rubbed at my eyebrow and looked away.

"It comes with a price. I have sought the Oasis and the King, and I lost much... You too may have loss if you follow the King's ways, but it is always worth the pain."

I leaned my chin onto my fist. My forehead grew tight. The words tumbled through my head, but they couldn't seem to connect.

"Don't forget, Rekém." He leaned forward. "Don't forget the Oasis. There is so much I do not understand, but never forget the Oasis and where our people came from. And my son, when you are confused, go find our roots and remain there. Find the four riverheads that flowed into the Oasis. When you find where the moon-flower grows, you will be there..."

A shadow passed over his face. "It's your decision, my son."

 

- The Torch Keepers // chapter 7 

Life can sometimes feel like I'm an artist.

I have a blank canvas, brushes by my fingertips, the bristles eager to jump into paint and spread beauty across the world. My easel is ready, and I unseal the tubes of paint to let them slowly leak onto the table. I fill a jar with water, grab another to hold the brushes, inhale deep.

Sometimes I paint the canvas.

Angles and dabs, squiggles and marks from the fan brush. They combine to form a melody from an orchestra, all those colors and lines and marks making something beautiful beyond myself. Something that takes on meaning. Something that tells a story and makes you smile and creates emotion in your eyes.

Other times, I paint different things.

Like my toddler sister's fingers. She grabs the paint tubes and squeezes. Color everywhere - on her hands and face and bare tummy. Blue on the floor and green on the door handles and in the sink. Little footsteps on the kitchen floor, that half-circle and five little toes.

Or maybe I don't paint anything. Maybe the dreams twine in my mind, and I keep them there, secretly locked up like an attic chest, treasures within.

My days are like that. Some create obvious beauty. Some make colorful, confusing messes. Others feel secretive, waiting.

If my value and purpose as a person was in my art itself, my work, my days, I'd be a miserable failure. But praise God, it isn't. He makes every single day beautiful and purposeful - especially those toddler fingers.

Joy comes, not in the art alone, but in rejoicing in the Artist who fills my heart with dreams to create. He is my root.

 

I was made to lift up my hands in praise to you

I was made to lift up my voice just to worship you

Who is like you, Lord God the Almighty, You are holy

- Jon Thurlow

Friend, find our roots and remain.

Remember where we came from. Savor the moment you first met Jesus and fell in love. Re-live those times He answered your prayers. The moments you wanted to dance because He filled you with joy. When you were scared, and He covered you with His feathers. All those times He was faithful.

They happen again. He is faithful continually! But there's also beauty in the remembering, in the thanking and whispers of praise.

Like Rekém in The Torch Keepers as he returns to his roots and discovers a glory and peace he cannot describe. Like his father, recounting stories of the ancient tales that still inspire hope.

And like you today, wherever you are, whatever life throws at you or smears on your canvas, whether obvious or abstract masterpieces, there's this greater purpose, and it's beautifully Jesus. He is our First Love.

If today seems to make masterpieces, messy toddlers, or blank canvases, it's all for good! God is the One who gives you those dreams. Live them just to praise Him, just to worship Him!

Life is a continual praise.

That's the root, Friend, the firm foundation: praising Him.

Where life has purpose. We have purpose.

But it's your decision. What's your root today?

 

Whoever keeps the fig tree will eat its fruit;

So he who waits on his master will be honored. 

- Proverbs 27:18

Thus says the LORD:

"Stand in the ways and see,

And ask for the old paths, where the good way is,

And walk in it;

Then you will find rest for your souls..." 

- Jeremiah 6:16

~♥~