Open The Gates
The week between Christmas and New Year tends to be a quiet week for us. Life does tend to intrude… you can’t hide away from pain and tragedy. You can still your heart and focus on God. It’s been a time to take a breath – to “reset” from the hurtling months, slowing into the year’s change. It’s odd, really. Just another day. But tomorrow marks a fresh year, so somehow it seems significant.
I was listening to some songs this morning, and felt these spoke to the past year, and walking on into the future…
The gates of 2017 are about to open…
Let the King of Glory enter into your year!
While finding those, I also found this. It’s an old song, but still good! I love finding new songs, and have listened to some great ones over Christmas. Sometimes, the old favourites give a bit more comfort.
Lift up your head!
Tomorrow is a new day…
Hope Has Dawned (Again)
MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYBODY!!!
One of my favourite carols is “O Holy NIght”. There are variations on the lyrics, but here’s one version…
O Holy Night! The stars are brightly shining,
It is the night of our dear Saviour’s birth.
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Soul felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born;
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
O night, O Holy Night , O night divine!
Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
O’er the world a star is sweetly gleaming,
Now come the wise men from out of the Orient land.
The King of kings lay thus in lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friend.
He knows our need, our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains shall He break, for the slave is our brother.
And in his name all oppression shall cease.
Sweet hymns of joy in grateful chorus raise we,
Let all within us praise His holy name.
Christ is the Lord! Then ever, ever praise we,
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
His power and glory ever more proclaim!
Of course, there’s prophecies that speak of the coming Hope. Just the thing to meditate on if your year has been less than wonderful…
For to us a child is born,
to us a son is given,
and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
there will be no end.
He will reign on David’s throne
and over his kingdom,
establishing and upholding it
with justice and righteousness
from that time on and forever.
The zeal of the Lord Almighty
will accomplish this.
(Isaiah 9:6-7)
We may not feel that “thrill of hope”, certainly not every day… Hope still exists, and He is always available!
We have had a sweet, joyous Christmas Day so far 🙂 We still do the stocking presents on our bed first thing in the morning, even though we have two teenagers in the house now. They’re still excited… Then it’s breakfast time and the opening of the tree presents after.
My primary love language is gifts – so is Littlest Bean’s, I believe. That means we love receiving gifts 😉 , but also giving them. It’s just as much fun watching everyone else opening their gifts and seeing their reactions!
I had a bad day, health-wise, yesterday (had to miss the Christmas Eve service) and today was shaping up to be similar. Thankfully, I’ve been able to take it a bit easy. There’s something a bit decadent about reading in bed, with chocolate and coffee at my side!
I have many gifts – not just the tangible ones. I am truly blessed. Today is another opportunity to look again at where my blessing comes from, and meditate on Hope. ❤
The Lights Stay On
We had a sudden storm this afternoon, with horizontal rain and leaves and branches dropping everywhere. No hail, and it didn’t last long, but a bit of a mess after. The power went out a while after, though – a tree down somewhere. It stayed off for a couple of hours. This was our light inside for a bit (battery operated).
It was still light outside, although the evening was drawing in. The boys were not able to do anything with the computers, so we had a bit of time just chatting with them in our room… littlest Bean was telling us jokes from a book. We eventually went down stairs and sat outside, each with our own book. There was more light and it was a lot cooler. Here’s our feet, with a mosquito coil in the middle (rain and heat bring out the mozzies…)
I loved the fact that they still wanted to spend time with us. I’ve been feeling a bit sad lately, with them growing up, with different pastimes, often not including us… I’m happy they’re growing up, and enjoying seeing how they grow and change. I just get a bit nostalgic sometimes, especially remembering Christmases when they were little 🙂
We had to light the mozzie coil this afternoon, but the power came on fairly soon afterwards, and we all drifted off into our various pursuits. It was a lovely, cozy, family afternoon while it lasted!
Considering The Flowers
One week till Christmas! (Well, Christmas Eve…) After a week of illness, I’ve finally finished the assessments that I wanted to get done before Christmas – although there’s always more to do. I’ll definitely take the week off between Christmas and New Year.
Here’s a flower…
It’s a lone flower in a garden down the road. A bit like I feel… older than it used to be, a bit tattered round the edges, but still with its face toward the sun. At least the petals haven’t dropped off!
Here’s some more flowers I came across in our complex – small, but sweet. The white ones smell sweet, too. There’s always something beautiful to contemplate, even if its easy to miss.
Today we finally put our Christmas tree up. We didn’t think we’d get it done till next week, but Little Bean came back early from his week away, working at a friend’s farm. He seemed to come back a bit taller, tanner and with a deeper voice…
We had a lovely excited family time hanging the ornaments on the tree. I’m glad we still do it as a family, even though the boys are a lot older now.
Bring on Christmas!
Snippets
The days seem to be going fast… and summer is roaring in. It’s been hot and sticky lately. Probably good weather for the cute cacti I saw today! 🙂
Thankfully, we have a pool in the complex, which I’ve been taking advantage of.
(Was chatting to a little girl from one of the other units yesterday…
Little Girl -“Do you know what I like about my floaties?”
Me – “What’s that, then?”
LG – “They make me float!!!” *squeals* and abrupt demonstration…
I must admit – flotation was definitely evident. 😉 )
Today we went for a coffee.
Something called “Crack Pie” – oatmeal biscuit base with a sort of caramel filling.
My swan coffee (at least, I think that’s what it was…)
We made a good dent in Christmas shopping, and enjoyed it as well! It’s getting a bit more crowded… a bit more busy as the month goes on. Just about time for a song to remember the important things…
…And The Heavens Opened.
We’re just chilling at the moment, after driving through the storm a bit earlier in the afternoon…
Hubby and I were at South Bank for his graduation ceremony, for a short course he’s just finished. It was a pilot course to see how it would work, so they were all excited to have got through and done well. I’d post photos but I don’t have any yet. 🙂
We had a fun afternoon, but the skies had gone dark by the time we left, and the rain started as we drove into the darkness. Thankfully there was no hail, but it was hard to see at times and we hit patches of deeper water from time to time. We got home safely, but slowly… 🙂
Here’s a photo – the iPod doesn’t really show how black it was, though.
I filmed a bit when it was starting to die down, and put a song on as well…
(I also filmed during the worst of it, but it just sounds like really bad static.) This one starts off sounding like static, but hopefully it’s not too annoying…
