Showing posts with label wonder. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wonder. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 2, 2014

Advent Day 2 - The Fall - Genesis 3

To get you in the mood for day 2, I'd like to play you one of my favorite songs, The Fall by Gungor.


I love the words in this song:

"The fall, the fall, oh God the fall of man
The fruit is found in every eye and every hand
Nothing there is nothing yet in truest form
We walk like ghosts upon the earth
The ground it groans

How long, how long will you wait
How long, how long till you save us all, save us all

Turn your face to me..."


This is the low point of the story...but stick with me. It gets better. MUCH better.

All is Grace, 
Carie

Day 2  -  The Fall  -  Genesis 3

The Message (MSG)

3 The serpent was clever, more clever than any wild animal God had made. He spoke to the Woman: “Do I understand that God told you not to eat from any tree in the garden?”
2-3 The Woman said to the serpent, “Not at all. We can eat from the trees in the garden. It’s only about the tree in the middle of the garden that God said, ‘Don’t eat from it; don’t even touch it or you’ll die.’”
4-5 The serpent told the Woman, “You won’t die. God knows that the moment you eat from that tree, you’ll see what’s really going on. You’ll be just like God, knowing everything, ranging all the way from good to evil.”
6 When the Woman saw that the tree looked like good eating and realized what she would get out of it—she’d know everything!—she took and ate the fruit and then gave some to her husband, and he ate.
7 Immediately the two of them did “see what’s really going on”—saw themselves naked! They sewed fig leaves together as makeshift clothes for themselves.
8 When they heard the sound of God strolling in the garden in the evening breeze, the Man and his Wife hid in the trees of the garden, hid from God.
9 God called to the Man: “Where are you?”
10 He said, “I heard you in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked. And I hid.”
11 God said, “Who told you you were naked? Did you eat from that tree I told you not to eat from?”
12 The Man said, “The Woman you gave me as a companion, she gave me fruit from the tree, and, yes, I ate it.”
God said to the Woman, “What is this that you’ve done?”
13 “The serpent seduced me,” she said, “and I ate.”
14-15 God told the serpent:
“Because you’ve done this, you’re cursed,
    cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals,
Cursed to slink on your belly
    and eat dirt all your life.
I’m declaring war between you and the Woman,
    between your offspring and hers.
He’ll wound your head,
    you’ll wound his heel.”
16 He told the Woman:
“I’ll multiply your pains in childbirth;
    you’ll give birth to your babies in pain.
You’ll want to please your husband,
    but he’ll lord it over you.”
17-19 He told the Man:
“Because you listened to your wife
    and ate from the tree
That I commanded you not to eat from,
    ‘Don’t eat from this tree,’
The very ground is cursed because of you;
    getting food from the ground
Will be as painful as having babies is for your wife;
    you’ll be working in pain all your life long.
The ground will sprout thorns and weeds,
    you’ll get your food the hard way,
Planting and tilling and harvesting,
    sweating in the fields from dawn to dusk,
Until you return to that ground yourself, dead and buried;
    you started out as dirt, you’ll end up dirt.”
20 The Man, known as Adam, named his wife Eve because she was the mother of all the living.
21 God made leather clothing for Adam and his wife and dressed them.
22 God said, “The Man has become like one of us, capable of knowing everything, ranging from good to evil. What if he now should reach out and take fruit from the Tree-of-Life and eat, and live forever? Never—this cannot happen!”
23-24 So God expelled them from the Garden of Eden and sent them to work the ground, the same dirt out of which they’d been made. He threw them out of the garden and stationed angel-cherubim and a revolving sword of fire east of it, guarding the path to the Tree-of-Life.


Monday, December 1, 2014

Advent Day 1 - Creation - Genesis 1

  • ad·vent
  • [ ád vènt ]
  1. arrival: the arrival of something important or awaited

Advent is a season of expectant waiting. And while not everyone believes in the story of Jesus, I hypothesize that most people celebrate Advent, whether they realize it or not. Maybe not by anticipating the celebrated arrival of the God-child Jesus, but most anticipate something...Shopping for presents, the beauty of a decorated tree, arrival of missed loved ones, a long-awaited vacation. 

Anticipation is something that resonates within all of us to some degree. We were designed to look forward, to hope, to expect... And this month, I'd like to challenge you to deliberately anticipate the coming of the Christ child. Not just the presents, the lights or the time spent with family - which of course, are all good. But dig deeper, search His Word, and rediscover for yourself the wonder that Love came down at Christmas. For me. For YOU.

All is Grace,
Carie

Bubba anticipating his first Christmas cookie.
** DISCLAIMER **
If you are following Unwrapping the Greatest Gift or The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp for Advent, my posts will be in a slightly different order. I went off the little booklet that came with my set of Advent ornaments, and the two authors organize the days differently.

Day 1: Creation - Genesis 1

The Message (MSG)

1 1-2 First this: God created the Heavens and Earth—all you see, all you don’t see. Earth was a soup of nothingness, a bottomless emptiness, an inky blackness. God’s Spirit brooded like a bird above the watery abyss.
3-5 God spoke: “Light!”
        And light appeared.
    God saw that light was good
        and separated light from dark.
    God named the light Day,
        he named the dark Night.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day One.
6-8 God spoke: “Sky! In the middle of the waters;
        separate water from water!”
    God made sky.
    He separated the water under sky
        from the water above sky.
    And there it was:
        he named sky the Heavens;
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Two.
9-10 God spoke: “Separate!
        Water-beneath-Heaven, gather into one place;
    Land, appear!”
        And there it was.
    God named the land Earth.
        He named the pooled water Ocean.
    God saw that it was good.
11-13 God spoke: “Earth, green up! Grow all varieties
        of seed-bearing plants,
    Every sort of fruit-bearing tree.”
        And there it was.
    Earth produced green seed-bearing plants,
        all varieties,
    And fruit-bearing trees of all sorts.
        God saw that it was good.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Three.
14-15 God spoke: “Lights! Come out!
        Shine in Heaven’s sky!
    Separate Day from Night.
        Mark seasons and days and years,
    Lights in Heaven’s sky to give light to Earth.”
        And there it was.
16-19 God made two big lights, the larger
        to take charge of Day,
    The smaller to be in charge of Night;
        and he made the stars.
    God placed them in the heavenly sky
        to light up Earth
    And oversee Day and Night,
        to separate light and dark.
    God saw that it was good.
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Four.
20-23 God spoke: “Swarm, Ocean, with fish and all sea life!
        Birds, fly through the sky over Earth!”
    God created the huge whales,
        all the swarm of life in the waters,
    And every kind and species of flying birds.
        God saw that it was good.
    God blessed them: “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Ocean!
        Birds, reproduce on Earth!”
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Five.
24-25 God spoke: “Earth, generate life! Every sort and kind:
        cattle and reptiles and wild animals—all kinds.”
    And there it was:
        wild animals of every kind,
    Cattle of all kinds, every sort of reptile and bug.
        God saw that it was good.
26-28 God spoke: “Let us make human beings in our image, make them
        reflecting our nature
    So they can be responsible for the fish in the sea,
        the birds in the air, the cattle,
    And, yes, Earth itself,
        and every animal that moves on the face of Earth.”
    God created human beings;
        he created them godlike,
    Reflecting God’s nature.
        He created them male and female.
    God blessed them:
        “Prosper! Reproduce! Fill Earth! Take charge!
    Be responsible for fish in the sea and birds in the air,
        for every living thing that moves on the face of Earth.”
29-30 Then God said, “I’ve given you
        every sort of seed-bearing plant on Earth
    And every kind of fruit-bearing tree,
        given them to you for food.
    To all animals and all birds,
        everything that moves and breathes,
    I give whatever grows out of the ground for food.”
        And there it was.
31 God looked over everything he had made;
        it was so good, so very good!
    It was evening, it was morning—
    Day Six.

Saturday, November 22, 2014

A New Christmas Tradition - The Jesse Tree

Jesse Tree Advent Calendar from BabyWhatKnots
Available HERE
There are certain things you remember from your childhood, yearly traditions that bring a touch of nostalgia when your senses journey back with notes of a familiar melody, whiff of pine or bite of baked yumminess. Maybe its Grandma's cookies, or Bing Crosby singing "White Christmas", or maybe its just the simple joy of Christmas tree hunting - arriving home pink-nosed and chilly, but heart and arms full of the soft scent of pine and the anticipation of finding place after perfect place for treasured ornaments.



I can distinctly remember certain snapshots of holidays...

Mom patiently making tray after tray of Christmas cutout cookies,

begging to be the one who got to set up the old-fashioned nativity scene,

hushed holiness of a Christmas Eve candlelit ceremony

lying underneath the decorated boughs, just staring for collective hours up into the sparkled branches while I listened to Nat and Bing and Vince on the record player. Truth be told, I'd still lay with my head under the branches if I didn't think my family would send me directly to Looney-ville, or the ER because I finally poked my eye out like Mom always said I would.



As I became an adult, I started thinking about what traditions I would want to carry into my own family. For years I wanted to add an Advent element to the holiday festivities, but never remembered until we were in the thick of it all and then promptly forgot until the middle of the following December.

Thankfully, this year I was finally able to think ahead. I had read an article in Ann Voskamp's blog about a book she had just published called Unwrapping the Greatest Gift, a family advent devotional, and figured it would be a great addition to our Christmas book compilation. Plus, it was on sale on Amazon. Yay! (Still is, by the way.)

I had also been eyeing an adorable advent garland that my friend had made for her family and toyed with the idea of creating my own. But seeing as even the simplest sewing projects sometimes always end up at my mom's house for the finishing touches, I decided trying to assemble an intricate 25 piece garland was probably not the way mom wanted to start her holiday.

While there are companion printables to Unwrapping the Greatest Gift as well as a ceramic ornament set, the first would have been loved to pieces within a few years and the second was a little too fancy for my taste. I wanted something the kids could touch and enjoy decorating with, but that would hold up over the years, eventually becoming an heirloom my grandchildren could treasure. So I shopped around and ended up with this darling set from the Etsy shop BabyWhatKnots. After reading each day's devotional from Voskamp's advent book and corresponding passages of scripture, the kids will get to find that day's ornament and put it on their very own Jesse Tree.

Ann's book starts where most people wouldn't think the Christmas story began - at the creation of the world - and then follows the heart of God as he weaves the pages of history into a tapestry that foretells the coming of the Savior, ending on that glorious night when he became Immanuel, "God with us." 

I'm so very excited about this tradition, because while I grew up knowing Christmas was about Jesus, I don't think I consciously linked the stories of the Old Testament with the gift of the New. Not in this way. Not deliberately and with great thankfulness and expectancy. 

Those are the very things I realized I want my children to take away from this season. Expectancy, thankfulness...and not just a little bit of WONDER.

I hope you take this journey too. Maybe with a Jesse Tree of your own, or a walk through the pages of your family bible as you revisit the forethought and love of a Father who moved heaven and earth to be GOD WITH US.

And if you have never known the beauty of the true Christmas Story, it's ok. I will be posting each day's reading for you. So grab that dusty Bible off your shelf, head to your local bookstore or google the scripture readings...Meanwhile, I will be praying that the Light of the World reveals himself to you in a transforming way this holiday season. 

All is Grace, 
Carie

4 months pregnant with our little Bubba.

There will always be something magical about freshly blanketed Christmas lights.

Bubba's first taste of WONDER.