Category Archives: Holidays

Happy New Year!

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Several years ago, a teacher in my Christian college shared a passage at the beginning of the year that continually comes back to my thoughts with each new year:

But the land, whither ye go to possess it, is a
land of hills and valleys, and drinketh water of the rain
of heaven: A land which the LORD thy God careth for:
the eyes of the LORD thy God are always upon it, from
the beginning of the year even unto the end of the year.

Deuteronomy 11:11-12

How wonderful that the eyes of the Lord our God
will be upon His children
throughout the hills and valleys of this coming year,
and no matter what happens,
He is with us and cares for us.

(Graphic courtesy of Anne’s Place)

Quotes for the new year

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There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed. Joshua 13:1

Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12

From Joy and Strength compiled by Mary Wilder Tileston:

Be strong and of good courage … fear not, nor be dismayed; for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; He will not fail thee, nor forsake thee. 1 Chronicles 28:20:

That we should serve in newness of spirit.. Romans 7:6:

Help us, O Lord! behold we enter
Upon another year today;
In Thee our hopes and thoughts now centre,
Renew our courage for the way;
New life, new strength, new happiness,
We ask of Thee; oh, hear, and bless!

— Johann Rist

The year begins; and all its pages are as blank… Let us begin it with high resolution; then let us take all its limitations, all its hindrances, its disappointments, its narrow and common-place conditions, and meet them as the Master did in Nazareth, with patience, with obedience, putting ourselves in cheerful subjection, serving our apprenticeship. Who knows what opportunity may come to us this year? Let us live in a great spirit, then we shall be ready for a great occasion.

— George Hodges

From Our Daily Walk by F. B. Meyer:

We can all start afresh! However far we have ascended, there is something higher; and however far we have fallen, it is always possible to make a fresh start. We need to take our place in the School of Christ and be taught by Him (Eph. 4:20-21). If the Holy Spirit be ungrieved, He will witness to our sonship. He will enthrone Christ as King of our life; He will keep the self-life in the place of death; He will give us a hunger for the things of God; He will give power in witness-bearing. In order to have a strong and blessed Christian experience, the one thing is to see that we do not grieve the Spirit. I do not think that we can grieve Him away, but we may greatly limit and restrain His gracious work by insincerity of speech, the nursing of an unforgiving spirit, any kind of over-reaching or fraudulent dealing, impurity of speech, or failure in love. We may be bound, so as not to move our arms, by a number of cotton threads, quite as tightly as by a strong rope…Let us take care not to grieve Him by such inconsistencies.

From Streams in the Desert by Mrs. Charles E. Cowman:

Today, dear friends, we stand upon the verge of the unknown. There lies before us the new year and we are going forth to possess it. Who can tell what we shall find? What new experiences, what changes will come, what new needs shall arise?
All our supply is to come from the Lord. Here are springs that shall never dry; here are fountains and streams that shall never be cut off. Here, anxious one, is the gracious pledge of the Heavenly Father. If He be the Source of our mercies they can never fail us. No heat, no draught can parch that river, “the streams whereof make glad the city of God.”
We cannot tell what loss and sorrow and trial are doing. Trust only. The Father comes near to take our hand and lead us on our way today. It shall be a good, a blessed new year!

From My Daily Meditation by John Henry Jowett:

He went out not knowing whither he went (Heb. 11:6-10). Abraham took “one step” and he did not “ask to see the distant scene.” And that is faith. Faith is not concerned with the entire chain; its devoted attention is fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral process; it is fidelity in a moral act. Faith leaves something to the Lord; it obeys His immediate commandment and leaves to Him direction and destiny.
And so faith is accompanied by serenity. “He that believeth shall not make haste ‘ — or, more literally, “shall not get into a fuss.” He shall not get into a panic, neither fetching fears from his yesterdays nor from his tomorrows. Concerning his yesterdays faith says, “Thou hast beset me behind.” Concerning his tomorrows faith says, “Thou hast laid Thine hand upon me.” That is enough, just to feel the pressure of the guiding hand.

Face the New Year with the Old Book.
Face the new needs with the old promises.
Face the new problems with the old Gospel.

–Author Unknown

(Graphic courtesy of Antique Clipart)

Daily Light for the last day of the year

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Love how today’s verses from Daily Light combine looking back on God’s provision in the past and looking ahead to His provision in the next year:

The LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place.

I BARE you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.–In his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.–As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the LORD alone did lead him.

Even to your old age I am he; and even to hoar hairs will I carry you: I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.–This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.

Cast thy burden upon the LORD, and he shall sustain thee.–Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on.–For your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

Hitherto hath the LORD helped us.

DEUT. 1. 31. Ex. 19. 4.–Is. 63. 9.–
De. 32. 11, 12. Is. 46. 4.–Ps. 48. 14.
Ps. 55. 22.–Mat. 6. 25, 32. 1 Sa. 7. 12.

Another year is dawning

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By Frances Ridley Havergal

Another year is dawning,
Dear Father, let it be
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee.

Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,
Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.

Another year of mercies,
Of faithfulness and grace,
Another year of gladness
In the shining of Thy face;

Another year of leaning
Upon Thy loving breast;
Another year of trusting,
Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of service,
Of witness for Thy love,
Another year of training
For holier work above.

Another year is dawning,
Dear Father, let it be
On earth, or else in Heaven,
Another year for Thee.

“The year we have now passed through…”

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The year we have now passed through,
His goodness with mercies has crowned;
Each morning his mercies are new,
Then let our thanksgivings abound.

Encompassed with dangers and snares,
Temptations, and fears, and complaints;
His ear he inclined to our prayers,
His hand opened wide to our wants.

We never besought him in vain,
When burdened with sorrow or sin.
He helped us again and again,
Or where, before now, had we been?

For so many mercies received,
Alas! What returns have we made?
His Spirit we often have grieved,
And evil for good have repaid.

How well it becomes us to cry,
“Oh, who is a God like to thee?
Who passeth iniquities by,
And plungeth them deep in the sea!”

“Assist us, we pray, to lament
The sins of the year that is passed.
And grant that the next may be spent
Far more to thy praise than the last.”

—John Newton, Olney Hymns

New Year’s Wishes for You

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This is not original with me: I received it in an email years ago, I forget from whom, and the author is unknown. But I thought the wishes and the writing were witty, and I do hope these things for you in the coming year:

New Year’s Greetings!

May you get a clean bill of health from your dentist, our cardiologist, your gastro-endocrinologist, your urologist, your proctologist, your podiatrist, your psychiatrist, your gynecologist, your plumber and the IRS.

May your hair, your teeth, your face-lift, your abs and your stocks not fall; and may your blood pressure, your triglycerides, your cholesterol, your white blood count and your mortgage interest not rise.

May you find a way to travel from anywhere to anywhere in the rush hour in less than an hour, and when you get there may you find a parking space.

May Sunday evening, December 31, find you seated around the dinner table, together with your beloved family and cherished friends, ushering in the new year ahead. You will find the food better, the environment quieter, the cost much cheaper, and the pleasure much
more fulfilling than anything else you might ordinarily do that night.

May you wake up on January 1st, finding that the world has not come to an end, the lights work, the water faucets flow, and the sky has not fallen.

May you ponder how did this ultramodern civilization of ours manage to get itself traumatized by a possible slip of a blip on a chip made out of sand.

May what you see in the mirror delight you, and what others see in you delight them.

May someone love you enough to forgive your faults, be blind to your blemishes, and tell the world about your virtues.

May the telemarketers wait to make their sales calls until you finish dinner, and may your check book and your budget balance and may they include generous amounts for charity.

May you remember to say “I love you” at least once a day to your spouse, your child, your parents, your friends; but not to your secretary, your nurse, your masseuse, your hairdresser or your tennis instructor.

May we live as God intended, in a world at peace and the awareness of His love in every sunset, every flower’s unfolding petals, every baby’s smile, every lover’s kiss, and every wonderful, astonishing, miraculous beat of our heart.

A Very Happy New Year to All!

(See also New Year’s quotes and two poems sitting for the new year, The Year We Have Now Passed Through and Another Year Is Dawning.)

Thursday Thirteen #18: New Year’s Resolutions for Dogs

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This list is not original with me — I received it in an e-mail years ago, author unknown.

New Year’s Resolutions for Dogs:

1. I will no longer be beholden to the sound of the can opener.

2. Understand the garbage collector is NOT stealing our stuff.

3. I do not need to suddenly stand straight up when I’m lying under the coffee table.

4. I will not roll my toys behind the fridge.

5. I must shake the rainwater out of my fur BEFORE entering the house.

6. I will stop trying to find the few remaining pieces of clean carpet in the house when I am about to throw up.

7. I will not throw up in the car.

8. I will not roll on dead seagulls, fish, crabs, etc.

9. I will not eat any more socks and then redeposit them in the backyard.

10. I will not chew my human’s toothbrush and not tell them.

11. When in the car, I will not insist on having the window rolled down when it’s raining outside.

12. We do not have a doorbell. I will not bark each time I hear one on TV.

13. I will not bite the officer’s hand when he reaches in for Mom’s driver’s license and car registration.

May your dog, if you have one, keep them all. 🙂

See more Thursday Thirteens here.

‘Twas the day after Christmas…

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…and all through the house there is still a bit of clutter and everyone’s puttering around with their new stuff.

Overall we had a nice Christmas. It was wet rather than white — according to the weather man, there is record of only 6 white Christmases here, the last one in 1947. Christmas Eve we had a regular Sun. night church service except it was an hour earlier and it was mostly special music. Beautiful! Then we got together with two of my sisters, my niece, and one sister’s boyfriend at a Mexican food restaurant…’cause nothing says Christmas Eve like Mexican food. 🙂 Actually it was one of the few restaurants open, but we all love Mexican food anyway. Those two sisters live only about 40 minutes away from us, but out schedules are so different we rarely see each other. It was good to catch up.

I had made my pumpkin pie Sun. afternoon but didn’t have time to make the apple one. I thought about doing it after we got home in the evening, but it was 9:00 then and I just wanted to rest. So I stretched out on the couch with a book and dozed off, then woke up later in the evening and my husband wrapped a couple of bigger gifts for under the tree and I filled stockings with candy, cards from grandparents, and a few other little goodies.

I woke up around 5 Christmas morning — that’s my usual wake-up time, but I had been sleeping in til 7 or so, so I was surprised I woke up. I went ahead and got up and got breakfast together. The kids don’t like to bother with breakfast but I have low blood sugar and need to eat something. So I compromise and make something that can sit on the counter and people can much on as desired. Usually it’s “Sister Schubert’s” cinnamon rolls and sausages in yeast rolls (my family in TX calls those kolaches), but I couldn’t find either of those this year. So I got the little smoked sausages and wrapped them in crescent rolls and got some Cinnabon frozen mini cinnamon rolls to microwave. I got everything ready to heat up and then had a few quiet moments for devotions. I was surprised everyone slept — usually they are all up by 6 on Christmas. One by one they straggled in, but we had to go in and wake up our youngest, which was even more unusual!

My husband read the Christmas story from Luke 2, we prayed, and then my youngest passed out a present for each person. We opened them one at a time and oohed, aahed, and told the stories behind them before going on to the next round.

I took a shower and got the ham in the oven, then called my step-dad. We had missed each other on our last 3 attempts to make contact. It turned out I called at just the right time, because they had just had breakfast and opened gifts and my one sister and her friend were leaving shortly, and my step-dad and youngest sister and her family were leaving in a while to go to his mom’s. I was able to talk to my one sister before she left and talk to my step-dad for a little while.

Then it was about time to make the au gratin potatoes (the boxed kind 🙂 ) and vegetable medley — fresh broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots chopped and cooked with minced onion, a little water, and chicken flavored bouillon. We had dinner, cleaned up the kitchen, and I peeled and chopped the apples and made apple pie. Once when I was cutting down on sugar, I substituted apple juice for the sugar called for in the recipe, and my husband liked it a lot better that way, especially made with tart rather than sweet apples. So I have made it that way ever since. While that was in the oven I curled up with a book again and dozed off. Some time in the afternoon different ones had different slices of pie, then in the early evening we each munched on various things — a ham sandwich or our Mexican food leftovers from the night before. We called my husband’s mom and sister in the evening.

All throughout yesterday and today we all puttered and played with various things. Jim got a small remote control helicopter which the guys all had fun with — by the afternoon Jim was getting better at controlling it. Jeremy put a bunch of CDs on his new Ipod. This morning Jason and Jim have been using Jeremy’s new tools (he’ll likely be moving out in the next year or two ( 😦 )and wanted to start his own collection of tools) to install some system for Jason to listen to his Ipod on his car speakers. Jason got speakers for his Ipod (among other Ipod accessories) that he set up in his room yesterday. Jesse finished his Lego Star Wars space ship and played his new video games. He and Jeremy played his Khet laser game. One of my favorite things that Jesse received was a shirt from ThinkGeek with a picture of the galaxy and a “You Are Here” sign. My husband got me a new NASB Bible and Boyd’s Bear figurine of a couple sitting on a log, because we got engaged sitting on a log. 🙂 Jeremy likes to get something not on everyone’s lists, and this year I was really touched by what he thought of. When we watched End of the Spear, I was filling in the story to my family with various things I had read over the years. At some point I mentioned that I would love to see the original Life Magazine that had the story of the 5 missionaries who were killed in 1956. Well, Jeremy searched and finally found one on Ebay bundled with some other magazines from 1956. (He’s going to try to sell the others back on Ebay — anyone have a need for a 1956 Life magazine? 🙂 )

There were other things that each of us got, but those are some of the highlights. I’ve been sewing this morning for the first time in a long time for an upcoming birthday present — I really do need to see about glasses besides my little Wal-Mart reading glasses! I need to get back at it, but was taking a few minutes off while eating lunch and thought I’d share a little about our Christmas. There were a few tears Christmas evening because that was when I would normally call my mother, after all the other events and visiting had calmed down. I’ve missed her a lot this year. I did make contact with all my immediate family except my brother, so I might try to get him some time before the week is out.

Everyone here is off from work and school all this week, so we have an extended time to just putter around. I don’t know when we’ll take the tree down — probably by the end of the week or New Year’s day. I was surprised to read how many of you take it all down today. We didn’t get ours up until I think the second week-end in Dec., so I like to savor it a bit before getting everything back to “normal.”

Hope you have a good day!

Nativity

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Iris asked fellow bloggers to post pictures of their Nativity sets. We don’t have a full-fledged set, but I love this little musical one that my mom gave me several years ago.

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For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. Luke 2:11

Infant holy, Infant lowly, for His bed a cattle stall;
Oxen lowing, little knowing, Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
Swift are winging angels singing, noels ringing, tidings bringing:
Christ the Babe is Lord of all.
 Christ the Babe is Lord of all.

Flocks were sleeping, shepherds keeping vigil till the morning new
Saw the glory, heard the story, tidings of a Gospel true.
Thus rejoicing, free from sorrow, praises voicing, greet the morrow:
Christ the Babe was born for you.
 Christ the Babe was born for you.

— Traditional Polish Carol

Merry Christmas!

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I was thinking of the announcements of that first Christmas some 2,000 years ago.

After Mary was told that she would bear the Christ child, she told her cousin Elizabeth, “My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour” (Luke 1: 46-47).

An angel of the Lord told Joseph, “Fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife: for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name JESUS: for he shall save his people from their sins” (Matthew 1:20b-21).

The angel told the shepherds in the field, “Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord” (Luke 2:10-11).

There is a common thread in those announcements: our great need of a Savior and God’s provision of the only One who could be that Savior.

I take Him at His word indeed;
“Christ died for sinners”—this I read;
For in my heart I find a need
Of Him to be my Savior!
— Dorothy Greenwell, 1873

My prayer for everyone I know is that, if you have not yet done so, you would “in your heart find a need of Him to be your Savior” and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as that Savior. And for those of us who do know Him, may we have some time of quiet reflection, thankfulness, and praise for His unspeakable gift! And may we, like the shepherd, return to our “ordinary lives” “glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them” (Luke 2:20).

Merry Christmas to you all! I’ve so enjoyed getting to know new friends though the blogosphere.

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(Christmas graphic in this and previous post from Anne’s Place.)