how the light gets in

Category: DECEMBER 2017

• Waiting Rooms

  Posted at 12:51 pm by How the Light Gets In, on December 24, 2017

  If there was a vote for worst room in a hospital, every time I say it’s the “Waiting Room.”  Waiting is the worst. This time last year, ugh.  This time last year, we had finally gotten into Hopkins, visited with several specialists, had several tests done; all to wait and wait and WAIT.  This December is different.

  I don’t know how I got to be so lucky… to be able to look back while my completely healthy boy sits at my side; but here we are.  I still pinch myself. And Joseph.  With such a miraculous gift of healing I love looking back to see how to keep moving forward.

  A devotional I’ve been reading, launched my perspective for this post.  I’m on Day 55 of “100 Days to Brave.”  {sidetone: if you don’t know Annie F Downs or her writing, do yourself a favor a pick up one of her books or the devotional!} The title for today is “in the waiting season.”  Again, the wait.  The scripture at the top of the reading says,

  “Wait for the Lord; be strong and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!”  

  Psalm 27:14

  David used his writing to encourage you in the wait.  I like that the Bible acknowledges that life is not easy, that waiting is hard.  It makes me feel better that the stars of the Bible had it rough too.  Is that selfish?  Anyways, David’s words are everything; especially if you are waiting.  Be strong, he says.  Let your heart take courage.  Don’t fill your thoughts with deadlines and timelines.  Don’t set your hopes or next move on the “perfect moment” or the right doctor or next month.  Let your heart take courage.  Let it be brave.

  Jesus.  Reading my journal from last year, I see how hard the wait was but how Jesus kept showing up in the wait in so many beautiful and knowing ways.  There is so much comfort in handing over the pain of the unknown, the wait to Jesus.  It might sound weird, but what else have you got while you wait?  Really.  What do you have that’s better; working off the anxiety at the gym, drinking away your worry, hiding from friends, drowning in social events?  I see you.  I am you.  We are all human.  The wait is hard for us all.  And I am telling you, holding your hand and telling you; God has you.  Whatever it is your waiting for; can you invite Jesus into the wait with you?

  The season of Advent is all about the wait. Let your heart take courage. Breathe in deep peace.  Waiting is hard.

  Lucky for you, for me, for all of us; the wait is over.  Jesus is born this night.  Invite him in.

  Merry Christmas.

  Posted in DECEMBER 2017 | 2 Comments | Tagged 100 Days to Brave, Advent, Annie F Downs, Courage, How the Light Gets In, Journal, Psalm 27:14, waiting room

• ‘Tis the Season

  Posted at 3:20 pm by How the Light Gets In, on December 9, 2017

  Tis the Season…

  A Season of Wonder.

  What kind of wonder though?

  There’s a lot of heavy out there in our world with the tweets that never end, faces of starving children in faraway places, news of a friend burying his first son, tension among every color.

  There’s a lot to do out there, crossing off Christmas wish lists, big memories that need to be made, gingerbread making, cookie decorating, party hosting.

  There’s a lot to feel out there in our world; loneliness, pain, regret.

  Do you feel it?

  All that can lead your heart to a different form of wonder; wonder-ing why, wonder-ing how, wonder-ing when.  Then, Christmas becomes a finish line to cross.  Let’s not do Christmas that way, okay?

  Christmas is so much more.  And to make it more, YOU have to let go.  Release the questions, the pain, the anger.  Give it to God.  Right now.  Look up, open your hands and say, “please take this.”  That’s called faith.  And it is hard, I know.  I know.  But, it is so good.  Faith is believing, trusting in the unseen God.

  Faith is the ingredient with the power to change a season of wonder-ing into a Season of Wonder. 

  Look up the book of Luke.  Right now.  This is a bossy blog post.  But, he put a lot of work into his story for us.  Luke says in chapter 1 verses 3-4, he “investigated everything from the very beginning and decided to write an orderly account for you… so that you may know the certainty of the things you have been taught.”  I love that he investigated for us.  Maybe he wondered if his ‘orderly account’ would make faith easier for US to try.

  Now that you’ve read it; Clear out the heavy and make room for a miracle.  I don’t know what your miracle might look like.  I’m happy to pray for it with you, if you like.

  Christmas celebrates one of the sweetest miracles, Jesus’ birth.

  I wonder if that’s why God sent his son as a baby… so we would want to get a closer look?  So we would want to see, hold and love Him.

  I wonder how many times we will watch “Home Alone.”

  I wonder how many times I’ll blubber at Josh Groban singing “O Holy Night.”

  I wonder if you’ll open the story of Luke and open your heart to the miracle of Jesus.

  I love the wonder of it all.

  Posted in DECEMBER 2017 | 2 Comments | Tagged Christmas, How the Light Gets In, Luke 1:3-4, Wonder