After a long time of not posting for various reasons, I am posting a couple things at once. A dear friend of my Daddy's (and now mine) requested that I ramble some more on my blog soon :) And he also asked about the little blurbs I was writing for our church bulletin during the Christmas season. Therefore I thought I would blame him and grant both his requests at once :)

So, here they are...


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Week 1
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As you look around the foyer and auditorium this morning, you will see the recent holiday additions – the festive colors, the trees, the lights. But it is our prayer that a particular Message will be even more obvious than these – that you will see with not only your eyes, but your heart.
Gifts are on all of our minds at this time of year: shopping, buying, wrapping, and, of course, the UN-wrapping. What we often don’t realize – both in the hustle and bustle of this season as well as the everyday chaos that most of us call normal – is that gifts are not just related to Christmas. God has given each of us gifts of grace (not rewards that we earn) that He longs for us to accept and use for His glory. Gifts such as encouragement, discernment, leadership. Things that He gives to us in order to minister to others. Paul gives us a detailed description in 1 Corinthians 12 of how the Body of Christ is supposed to function – therefore to not use our gifts is to simply not truly function. We are paralyzing ourselves when this happens, and we are crippling others from functioning as they could.
In the coming weeks we want to focus on what it means to “unwrap” the gifts within. Those things that God has given us in His infinite wisdom and love – but that we often leave “unwrapped” in the closets of our hearts, for whatever reason, and thereby deprive ourselves and those around us from the joy to be had. We want to learn how to “unwrap” these gifts; and examine why we often don’t.
So as your gaze lingers on the decorative reminders in our meeting areas, we hope that the truth of this Message which God has put on our hearts, will stay in your hearts and minds long after you look away…

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Week 2
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Imagine with me for a moment…
It’s Christmas morning: Shopping is done, gifts are wrapped, and your excitement is building for your children to finally unwrap the fruits of your labors of love.
As soon as your son comes sleepily down the stairs, you hand him his first present with a smile. He looks at it, takes it and turns it over in his hands a few times, then gives it back to you. “No thanks,” he says.
Then your daughter walks in, waiting for her turn. You gladly hand her a gift, hoping for a more exciting response. She eagerly takes it, rips off the wrapping paper, but then sighs. It wasn’t what she wanted. Not what she was hoping for. She gives it back to you and says: “Thanks anyway; I just don’t really want to use this one.”

Now for some of us, this response on Christmas morning is hard to imagine – many of our children are the exact opposite, ready for any and all and as many presents as possible! But do we realize that as God’s children, this is often how we react towards the gifts He gives us? And, I would imagine, the way we make Him feel is similar to what our feelings would be if we received such ungrateful responses from our children. It’s a sobering thought.

The Bible says God wants to give “good gifts” to His children. So why are we hesitant to accept and use those good things He gives? The gifts that He gives us are things that require action. Think of gifts such as teaching, hospitality, encouragement, helps, service, administration – if nothing is done with them, what good are they? God’s gifts are not meant to be merely decorative. They are only truly received and used when they are put into action. Yes, it sometimes requires that we leave our “comfort zones” and step out in faith, believing that God is the one who gives us these gifts, therefore the strength and energy and results are completely in His hands.

Sometimes it is easy to let the Enemy convince us that we are being prideful by claiming to have a gift of some kind. He convinces us it is arrogant to acknowledge that we are useable by God, and that we should just sit quietly in our pews, feeling quite humble. But this is, of course, the opposite of what God desires for us. He gives us good gifts because He wants us to experience the joy and energizing that they bring! Because these gifts have nothing to do with us – they are FROM Him and to be used FOR others. We are simply experiencing blessings by Him allowing us to be the “middle man,” so to speak, in His plan. He wants us to fill this role – and I fear that when we don’t, we are missing out on more than we can imagine.

Let us pray to eagerly receive the gifts that He, in His loving sovereignty, gives. Let’s truly “unwrap” these gifts by using them for the purpose they were intended: to serve others. Let’s revel in and thank Him for the blessing of being used by Him. He could simply meet everyone’s needs Himself, using any method He chooses. But He chooses us. He chooses to let His children experience the beauty of His design of working together as one Body. Giving and receiving.

As we think about Jesus’ birth this season, let’s reflect a bit more on the Gift He is…and the gifts we have in Him.


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Week 3
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“But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” Galatians 5:22-23

We have been focusing on gifts of the Spirit the last few weeks –recognizing them, accepting them, using them. But we want to be sure not to confuse the gifts of the Spirit with the fruits of the spirit, as listed in Galatians 5. Yet I believe there is also a great and beautiful connection between the two that, when realized, paints a more full picture of how we as followers of Christ should operate.

Fruits of the Spirit are evidence that the Holy Spirit is thriving in the fertile soil of our hearts. They are seen in our character, attitudes, and lifestyles. Fruits are sometimes only visible by those closest to us, as they are often “quiet” but firm proof that our hearts and lives are being ruled by our Creator.

Therefore, does it not make sense that the gifts of the Spirit are the fruits of the Spirit being focused on service to others? They are the roots of the gifts, so to speak. Think of such relationships between “fruits” and “gifts” as:
Joy: Encouragement
Gentleness: Mercy
Kindness: Hospitality; Service.
Self-control: Giving; Celibacy.
Peace: Martrydom

These are just a few that seem to obviously relate to each other, but I believe the list in continuous. It points to the fact that in order for there to be authentic, heart-felt, long-term use of our gifts, they must begin in our hearts. With the work only God can do and that He has promised to complete. True encouragement, for instance, can only come from the joy that God gives us. And without the kindness He instills, how can we truly be hospitable or have a desire to serve others? And, though we don’t often think of it as a gift, many martyrs for Christ both today and in history, would not have been in the places they were or willing to make the ultimate sacrifice they did, if they had not known the peace that only comes from a deep relationship with the one they died serving.

Now we don’t all have the same gifting, but no matter what gift(s) God has given us at various times in our lives, we have the same source from which to draw: the Spirit that lives in us. We have been promised that He will provide these things we need; all we must do is ask. As a result, our excuses for not using our gifts are rather destroyed.

And just as our reasons for not using these gifts are probably similar, I’m guessing our answers to this question might be also: has there been a time in your life where someone used a gift God had given them in order to help/bless you? Where would you be without God having used that person? What if they had refused to give to you in whatever way they did? What if they had chosen comfort, convenience or security over you? Many of us do not want to imagine this, because for many, it would be a painful, lonely, bleak picture indeed.

But I encourage us all to use this as motivation. Cry out to the Lord for the desire – the passion – to minister to others. Remember how He has cared for us through others. Be sensitive to His promptings. Recognize that if the Spirit is living in us, then we have the reason, source and nourishment that we need to serve those around us in numerous ways. No excuses.
And, when we do this, He makes it so much fun.