It is a time, Christmas, where in the natural, we are wrapping up presents, untangling lights and trim. Hanging up cheer, spreading joyful expectation like garland. It’s chaotic and lovely, lively and a bit maddening, all at once. There is even more emotion than decoration- and that’s saying a lot. Even as we bustle and hustle, tying up loose ends with hands and plans. in our hearts and spirits, there is a different invitation.
To unwrap.
See, we use ropes and ribbon, purse strings, heart strings, all year round. We tie and bind, cut and loose, based on emotions and feedback. We trim and let go based on performance or lack thereof. We use earthly bindings and chords and associations to tie us to what we like or what we think or what we think we want. Those have limitations all their own, though. Too harsh, too loose, too narrow sighted. Not strong enough, too entirely suffocating.
FREE THE GIFTS
In a season of wrapping and ribbons, remember what the real gifts are. Time, no matter how it’s spent. Love, no matter what it looks like. Service, no matter how uncomfortable it may feel. People, real live gifts, that aren’t meant to be tied like packages, tamed according to our opinions, tangled up in what we think. We aren’t meant to be either.
When you give a gift this season, anytime really, let it be one of less pressure. Less pressure for the recipient to perform or provide back for you a certain way or with a certain response. Untangle people from needing to give you what it is you want.
Cut the chord, and see your dissatisfaction fall to the wayside. Like a ribbon that’s been cut, freeing the actual gift. You thought your hopes and dreams came tied up with the ribbons and wrappings of expectation. You realize now that those ribbons were only holding it down. Your expectation of what made something beautiful was only holding it back, holding back the gift.
When we take the pressure off the wrappings, we better enjoy the presents. We are meant to have a more heavenly attachment, anyway. One which supplies, satisfies and supersedes any earthly one.
This is a season of untangling and uniting. Untangling old ties, breaking broken records, tossing out old tethers, forgetting opinions, even if they were yours. Where we’ve allowed what other people think to be more important than what God thinks. Where we allowed what we think to be more important than what God thinks. When we got caught up in all of the ribbons and bows.
There is a better way.
I used to be a great wrapper. I even did it professionally for a season. Long after that foray, I would buy the best paper the day after Christmas at a local boutique. I would dress the next years presents in all of the best colors, matching these, pretty tags and bows.
Now I’m grateful if I get it all wrapped in time, labeled with a pen and maybe slapped with a bow, just hoping to keep Santa’s paper straight. I could feel guilt for the lack of lovely. But I firmly and decidedly do not. I will not be guilted by last decades priorities. I will not spend extra time wrapping up presents, not when I’m so busy really enjoying them.
I’m in a season not only of not just wrapping up gifts, but untangling them. The pressure is not on presenting or wrapping up the gifts to look a certain way. The focus is instead, on taking the pressure off. And enjoying it more.
It is also most importantly. a time and season- and forever may it remain- for attaching myself more to Him, and less to other things. Less to earthly expectations or any man’s opinion, including my own. To enjoy the earthly gifts He’s given, to unwrap them and free them, while still placing in Him only my Hope and expectation. To search for the Heavenly gifts, uncover them, and be less concerned with earthly ones.
When you care less for ribbons and bows, what people say and think, and attach yourself more to Him, you free your whole self from earthly pressures and entanglements. You become more tied nto heavily ties. The kind that free you to fly, more loose than you imagined, more safely held than any man made structure.
Take the pressure off your earth relationships. Lean on your Heavenly one.
Be entangled to Him. HE will work out what needs to be. He will untangle out hearts from unmet unseen unknown unrealized expectations. Untethered, HE will binds us together in PERFECT unity. When Christ means more, Christ means everything.
Be free to be bound, only to the most perfect gift. Him. Then you can enjoy all that He has to give.
I’ve been thinking a lot this advent about how Christ slipped into the world mostly unnoticed. How He came to be, cloaked in darkness, in a womb of a woman who couldn’t see or understand. There were no ultrasounds that confirmed it, not pictures that showed His baby frame. She carried a promise that no one understood. When He was born most people didn’t even hear the news or know of His advent. His birth. His coming. I mentioned that to my kids on a night walk recently, looking at Christmas lights and enjoying the season. “When Jesus came and was born that night, practically no one knew it.” Everything had changed, but Most people didn’t know yet.
His family welcomed him of course. The angels rejoices. We know the shepherds had heard the good news. The wise men had noticed something, wondered and wandered, to find him later, too. (Their journey actually took a while.)
“I wonder if the animals really knew when they looked at Him. Do you think they sensed it?” I wondered aloud a different time, at the kitchen sink this time.
Who else? The inn keeper? Not likely. It’s possible though.
Herod heard. He heard and he hated the thought of him. He waged a war and raged against this baby. A baby that might usurp him.
Did anyone else sense this change, this advent, this coming? There may have been some stray characters that knew or saw or sensed.
Did anyone hear the angels sing, only to dismiss it because it “couldn’t be”. “Everyone must have seen the giant star of Bethlehem! It was huge,” the kids exclaimed another time. They’re probably right. Many probably saw it. But did those that did know what it meant when they saw it? Later, perhaps?
When He was born there was no crown on His head. When He died there appeared to be a crown of shame there instead. From His birth to His death, there were people who saw Him, some who recognized Him, those who misunderstood Him, and some people missed Him altogether.
The thought is so…. amazing.
Because it begs the question. What do I? Do I hear the sings of advent that are around me? Do I hear what heaven says, what a song of redemption it sings? Of Love come? Do I see the light that is shining so brightly in the darkness? Or is it all lost in the dull quiet of day or the monotony of just another endless night sky? Do I notice?
Do I hear His coming, do I honor His birth? Do I see this mystery, while a sleeping world looks the other way? Am I awake enough to know? That THIS is the life that changed everything. That Christ indeed was born. And that here, in the stable of my heart, in the manger of my mind, my whole life comes to stand before him. And then what? What does one do in response to that kind of love?
That’s entirely up to you. Wise men still search Shepherds still bow. Angels still sing. There are gifts to bring. The best gift is you.
Ever think about Joseph much? I have a lot lately. What it must have been like, to be the one not to carry the dream, but to help care for the one who does. Mary held the promised baby, but Joseph had a specific important role to play. It was a supporting role, but a very crucial one.
God let Joseph in on the plans, they were so good. But he must have doubted or questioned at times. (“What am I doing here?”). He must have worried. He must have heard what the people all said. The whispers, the stares, and probably flat out accusations.
And yet. He never let go. He never wavered from the path. He may have come close a time or two, wandering away for a night, troubled, wrestling, many a day. We don’t know.
But when it came time for the dream to come to life, Joseph was there. When it was time to travel to a new-old place, which probably didn’t make much sense to them at such a time. Yet it was predestined to be the ultimate destination for that moment, Joseph was there. Joseph was there as they traveled. Joseph was there as they couldn’t get a room. Joseph was there, by Mary’s side- it maybe a little ahead, or maybe even dragging his feet, though by this point I probably doubt it. He was guiding Mary to a safe place to have her baby, even as they both were being guided to the right exact place.
He was the one by her side as she labored, the one who wiped her brow, eased her worries, and tried not to be consumed by his own. Joseph, the carpenter not-quite-father, yet father, chosen. An unlikely doula. An ultimate dream catcher.
Ever thought about that? I think of my own husband by my side during labor. Being my side during a lot of things. Of his care and support. Priceless, important, of immeasurable value, at every turn. Though, I’m pretty sure he was glad to not be the only one in the room when our children were born. He was still the one that mattered most.
Joseph’s role is an unmistakably vital one.
There is a lot of life,- people, plans, dreams- that take a Mary to carry it. Every person, every promise, every dream needs a spiritual womb and a real heartbeat to bring it to life. When it comes to dreams, it is not always a physical gender that matters, but a spiritual element. There are just as many Josephs needed, to walk alongside in support. Joseph’s are ones who may not carry the “baby”, but they support the one who does. They carry hope, these Josephs, if not the promise itself. In carrying that hope, waiting for something that they know is going to come, the are helping bring it to life. In their belief, their position, they are guarding it. They are guarding that new life.
Josephs are guardians TO a promise-holder. And to a promise itself. They are a keepers of dreams. Sometimes, many dreams. You might be a Joseph to someones “be it unto me”, Mary moment.
Every dream is a baby coming to be. Every baby is a dream coming to be. Every dream needs to be born through a person. Every person in delivery needs real, true support.
Maybe you’re that kind of Joseph to someone else’s. To their dream, to new life. A bearer of Hope, yourself. Just by proximity and care. Don’t stop. The world needs you, the important part you have to play.
We all need more Joseph’s. We need a spirit of Joseph to flood the earth, with Hope. To protect the promises. To forget their own worries and help ease another’s. To wipe that brown, and breathe together through the pain. To be a doula through transition, someone who can advocate for Nary in her pain. Who stands beside her, behind her. With her. And someone who is there to catch, and receive, that promise. Who will look into the eyes of new life, and to welcome it with open hearts and arms.
Guardians of destinies and dreams. Protectors of Life. Fathers to all of God’s children, to every dream carried that’s about to come true. Josephs that stand by Mary’s side and enable her, in the best possible way, to give birth to new life. Guardian of God’s dreams. Doula to new life, To new promises- the ones no one knows or sees or understands yet. Carriers of covenant. Warriors for family. Firm in faith even in opposition. Unwavering. Builders. Of life.
Fear is a potential response to information. Lack of information, or ignorance, may seem to be more free from fear. Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t.
But might be that you’re fearing something else. Like maybe the boogeyman, your current bedfellow, or even the information itself. The thing is, Information requires or invites some kind of response.
One time, as the story goes, at our family’s cabin up in the woods, an unexpected visitor showed up on the front porch. While the women were in the kitchen having a nice leisurely morning coffee, a large black bear came knocking at the door. All who were wake screamed when they realized what it was looming in the doorway. I’m not sure if the latch was already locked beforehand, but it sure was then. Those bears are known for getting in cars, opening doors, walking into places and wreaking havoc -at least when it comes to finding food and making a grand, grand mess of things. No one really wants to stick around for that.
So yes, the women screamed. They were startled and surprised. But they did something. They didn’t need to only feel afraid and run to hide in a closet somewhere. They didn’t need to “relax, drink their coffee, there’s nothing to worry about”, either. They needed to make sure the door was shut and locked. That they had done their part to ensure a more positive result. It was a simple task that was required if them, but an important one.
Not knowing there’s a bear at your door doesn’t make one wiser, even if not afraid.
If there’s something going on, a nuisance or a menace knocking at your door, there’s something you can do to protect yourself and your family, you do it. You figure it out and you do it. You don’t close your ears and eyes, nor blindly run and hide.
Sometimes it’s helpful or you need to know what and who is there. That’s where information comes in. Is it a friend or a foe? Someone had to walk to the door to see what was going on. Did a neighbor come with cookies to deliver, or was it a bear looking for theirs? Sometimes it might be a wolf in sheep’s clothing. You need to find out, figure it out, and respond accordingly. You’ll need to get up from your bed, or your coffee, look around to see what’s around and what’s arrived. You’ll use your senses to asses the situation. The information you gather lets you know what’s going on. That’s what information does. It informs you of something. You don’t need to open up, or leave the door unlocked.
You can know what what something is without inviting it in.
Sometimes you can’t see what’s going on exactly. You can’t tell from inside. You might have to go out. That’s where you might need a little more research.
This summer we went on a night walk, looking for “monsters.” Of course we knew there weren’t any monsters. Not like our kids were thinking anyway. But as an adult, you know there are other kinds. We looked, we kept up our flashlight, we stuck together. We didn’t fear. And we enjoyed it. In our hearts, we weren’t really looking for monsters, we were looking for love. And we already found that, there together. We didn’t need monsters to confirm anything we didn’t already know. We were held, we were safe, we were loved. Our eyes were wide open, and we were not to be afraid.
You find more of what you’re looking for. Spend a lot more time looking for Love.
In seeking information, seek Truth, try to not be overwhelmed. You can search for truth and still find a lot of lies. And a lot of fear. Fear likes to try to come on the heels of information and make you loose heart, loose your mind.
There one more thing. The most important one.
✨✨Search for Jesus in the midst of everything.✨✨✨
When something bad is knocking at your door (or the door of your heart, most importantly)- be it any foe, bear, fear, or anything else of potential danger- you don’t need to open up. Especially to the door of your heart. You can know you’re surrounded. You sit and drink coffee in peace, knowing you have responded appropriately according to what you discerned. And what you have discerned most of all, is this Truth.
He’s the one beside you, the voice behind you. He’s the lock on the door of you heart. He is your strong tower, your firm foundation, the wall around you. Know that He’s got your back. Snuggle in to His side and get that warm embrace.
“I will not be afraid of the terror at night nor the arrow that flies by day.” Nothing ever takes Him by surprise, and you can trust Him. Even more than you trust yourself, your intuition, or even that lock that you placed on your door. Remember that.
Don’t close a blind eye, don’t be overwhelmed. See not just what “is” happening. But what is HE doing. Search WITH HIM. Search FOR HIM. Be a part of the change that HE in His goodness, wants to bring. Don’t be afraid of the dark.
Real Love doesn’t have fear. Real Truth doesn’t either. You’re out there with your Papa. Searching. With your strong tower. No matter what you find, you’re together. THAT makes all the difference,
The opposite of fear is not ignorance or bliss. It’s courage. You’re not out there, going it all alone. That makes all the difference.
The Old Testament and Psalms and prophets are full of what sounds like the booming voice of the Lord. Mountains tremble, waters roars, the ground shakes and swells. His voice booms over the waters. Yes, there is an impressive tone to many of the Psalms- a raging God, a humbled man. I actually love them. But sometimes we start to think He only will come with a mighty, thundering fist. I think He could and can and has and probably will again. Yet.
Then I think to when He did come, in a stable, quietly, as a baby. How he slipped in, like a whisper. When most people weren’t watching, while the whole world was looking the other way, and hardly anybody noticed that everything important had suddenly changed.
Sure- of course- Mary knew enough as she labored, and Joseph knew as he wiped her brow and tried not to worry himself. The shepherded knew when the angel came, bringing good news. (They and their sheep were subsequently treated to a feast for the senses, with more angels filling the sky and signing glory to God. )
But did anyone else know? Did they hear the thunder of change as God came down to earth, as Love was born a man? Who knew it? Who could know it? He came in less like thunder and more like a whisper.
How often does He come first to us like that, with a whisper? I think of Mary, for whom God had already come nine months earlier. When no one else was watching, an angel visited her and a royal invitation was extended, To be a part of something grand. Then God came to Joseph in a dream, to let him in on this wild plan. Often the first moments, He is gentle and private, speaking just to you and your heart. When no one else is watching or listening.
How many times has He come and invited us to something?
Have you been invited to come close to Him? You have. Have you been invited to come and sit with Him, to dine at His table? You have. Have you been invited to hold onto a promise, to hold some seed of Hope? You have. Have you been invited to your own destiny, to bring the hope of heaven to earth, His love to bear? You have.
While it was only a whisper, when you do hear it, it thunders in your heart. It moved the mountains that it found there, it swelled and stirred the waters of your very being. Your heart trembled And yet.
While it was only a whisper, Did you say yes? Did you believe?
Then, did you ever stop?
Waiting for the promise to come and be seen, it can take a very long time. You wonder if you misheard, if it was really true, what you thought you heard. Imagine Joseph, having to face the inquiries, having to travel, awaiting a birth of some baby he couldn’t probably understand. Imagine Mary, holding the blooming promise in her belly, and wondering what it even means. Even as she delivers it- delivers Him!- she couldn’t have grasped it all. Imagine the shepherds, after seeing the angels. Now, having to walk in order to see, having to trek across the dark, rugged hills, on sandaled feet. In the dark, trying find what they were looking for, what those angels were singing about. They might have wondered after the shining light subsided, after the curtain of heaven was pulled back and the miraculous images absorbed back into a dark night sky. They must have.
Because every promise that comes as a whisper must be walked out on the quiet road, in between ears that roar with questions. In a heart that blooms with hopeful anticipation, that beats rapidly in wonder. Every. Single. One.
Perhaps, maybe, the thundering of when God comes is the hammering of a heart beating wildly in your chest with faith and not yet understanding? Is it the sound of feet walking toward their destiny? Even while they look completely regular, like a normal, humble shepherd stumbling in the dark. Or a carpenter of a husband leading his wife to bring new life? Or the woman about to birth a baby who was a promise to the whole world?
Yes, in part at least it has to be, that the thundering is a heart who has heard. Who now walks, and carries a promise that is connected to His heartbeat. A heart that believes and sees with the eyes of faith, and who believes enough to go, and do something that was asked of them. Something that might seem insignificant, but will lead to something of greater importance than they yet even understand.
Yes, the thundering is our heart beating, our hearts beating with Love. For what we have seen and heard, echoing back to the Father’s heart. The Creator of this world, the Author of our hearts. Who has come, and who is coming, and who, inexplicably, has come up behind us, whispered in our soul’s ears, and invited us to something. Immanuel, God with us, who invited us to come alongside Him, and to be a part of what He’s doing. Who invited us to say yes. Who extended to us an invitation to be a part, humbly and amazedly, with what He’s doing now. Whatever that will look like. The mind can’t yet conceive it. But your heart can. And in that heart it can be brought to bear, born to life.
“Be it into me”, even when we don’t understand.
God, who uses the foolish things to confound the wise, uses our humbled, distracted lives, our limited understanding, our feeble minds and earthly bodies- to carry hope we could never quite fully understand. To carry Truth we can’t fully grasp. To declare what God has done, and what God is yet going to do.
My heart thunders “yes”. Does yours? Let that yes be your gift before Him now, oh, wise man. Let your thundering heart be His.
The path that’s away from the noise of the crowds, No popular places or spaces, or sounds. Brings quiet to thoughts, and space to your dreams Relieves the pressure of hearts ill at ease.
The path that is quiet; a mind, different and calm May be the one that was right all along.
Back to the nature of soul, friend and God. Walking away from the siren’s sick-song.
Love’s found in the spaces where culture refrains From oozing in every fiber and thread. Here the soul’s no longer filled up with dread. Here the soul can breathe, and be free again.
Come away from the noise, away from the crowd. Take the road higher, not the way down. Follow the road that is wise, my friend. Follow it- all the way to the end. A road that is different, a road that is pure. A road that’s no easy, but a road that is sure.
Come this way, Oh, soul that is wise. Come higher, come higher, Come higher and find- A way back to Love And the sun Where it shines.
Hey, I'm Courtney, a pretty ordinary girl who thinks we've all been called to an extraordinary life and love story with God. I'm passionate about family, faith, motherhood, and the adventure of every day. I write lots of words, mostly because I can’t help it- and I think it's one of the things I was born to do. I hope that something I write encourages you, to walk in your own unique purpose and calling, set free to love and give it away, starting wherever you are today. That's what Courting the Extraordinary is all about. Finding the good all around you, and giving it away. Finding, too, the God of all goodness who wants to walk with you.
I love quiet mornings, coffee, prayer and “work” before sunrise. Quality time with my family is my jam. I can be found grinning ear to ear when we're out on an adventure. Whether that's in our own backyard or exploring someplace new all-together, I’ll for sure note something beautiful about nature aloud-and maybe repeatedly, ha!. Life is a beautiful, precious gift, and an adventurous path to travel! We might as well learn how to love.
Hey, I'm Courtney, a pretty ordinary girl who thinks we've all been called to an extraordinary life and love story with God. I'm passionate about family, faith, motherhood, and the adventure of every day. I write lots of words, mostly because I can’t help it- and I think it's one of the things I was born to do. I hope that something I write encourages you, to walk in your own unique purpose and calling, set free to love and give it away, starting wherever you are today. That's what Courting the Extraordinary is all about. Finding the good all around you, and giving it away. Finding, too, the God of all goodness who wants to walk with you.
I love quiet mornings, coffee, prayer and “work” before sunrise. Quality time with my family is my jam. I can be found grinning ear to ear when we're out on an adventure. Whether that's in our own backyard or exploring someplace new all-together, I’ll for sure note something beautiful about nature aloud-and maybe repeatedly, ha!. Life is a beautiful, precious gift, and an adventurous path to travel! We might as well learn how to love.