"I could do presents, or I could do decorations, but I couldn't do Both.", I heard myself tell my friend, who visited over the Holidays.
A decade ago, when the kids were small, I would've felt So humiliated at the lack of decorations, or decorations that were not as elaborate as the neighbors' or what was in "my Design studio in my mind". I would've expended So much emotional energy, and would've been so crestfallen and exhausted by the time guests came, that I couldn't enjoy my guests, couldn't be in the moment, and would have distanced my family, the very ones that I was slaving for, so as to enrich their Holiday experience. What a mess. What counter encouragement.
The pivotal truth, and the Encouragement that I Needed to help me to encourage others, was that just as "...the world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the Angels sing.", the Holiday Season is a time to connect to Eternity. It's a time to use the things that we can see and hear, to become connected to God and His Heaven, and His Gift of Eternal Life in the Birth of Jesus. It's a time when we realize that this world is a temporary ecosystem, a fleeting environment. An illusion, in so many ways. We can thrill to the glory of God in us, showing us that we are made for a more glorious world and existence. We must not give in to the fleeting sham illusion. We can draw strength from our Creator, The Father of Lights. If we give our lives to master and possess this world, we inherit and are mastered by a world that is corrupted and that will perish, destruction,. To give all that we have to be a "Master" of this world, is the ultimate Slavery and exploitation, of ourselves.
To be able to connect our children to Eternity is the Greatest Calling. To touch their hearts by making clean, lovely beds, and to make tasty meals, and to decorate (as much as time and budget allow!). To be honest about our weaknesses and mistakes and to ask them forgiveness, is to show them that our fallenness is real, and that only God is perfect. They can learn the truth that we can never be perfect, and we must and can go to Him for Salvation, to escape the coming destruction. And that we must go to Him, on a regular basis to receive mercy, grace, and Power to live and to carry out the destiny that He created us for.
Our use of our time, money, and resources, will help to put the Kingdom of God in our children's hearts, or help to block it. They have their own sin nature to deal with, as well as the world, the flesh, and the Devil; We want to make our time at home, as rich and loving as possible, with the budget that we have available, to encourage them to choose Eternity, to choose the Lover of their Souls.
Ana Maria Blevins
Dec. 30, 2013
ReviVaissance = Revival + Renaissance TM
Come Alive Again And Flourish, Flower!
A decade ago, when the kids were small, I would've felt So humiliated at the lack of decorations, or decorations that were not as elaborate as the neighbors' or what was in "my Design studio in my mind". I would've expended So much emotional energy, and would've been so crestfallen and exhausted by the time guests came, that I couldn't enjoy my guests, couldn't be in the moment, and would have distanced my family, the very ones that I was slaving for, so as to enrich their Holiday experience. What a mess. What counter encouragement.
The pivotal truth, and the Encouragement that I Needed to help me to encourage others, was that just as "...the world in solemn stillness lay, to hear the Angels sing.", the Holiday Season is a time to connect to Eternity. It's a time to use the things that we can see and hear, to become connected to God and His Heaven, and His Gift of Eternal Life in the Birth of Jesus. It's a time when we realize that this world is a temporary ecosystem, a fleeting environment. An illusion, in so many ways. We can thrill to the glory of God in us, showing us that we are made for a more glorious world and existence. We must not give in to the fleeting sham illusion. We can draw strength from our Creator, The Father of Lights. If we give our lives to master and possess this world, we inherit and are mastered by a world that is corrupted and that will perish, destruction,. To give all that we have to be a "Master" of this world, is the ultimate Slavery and exploitation, of ourselves.
To be able to connect our children to Eternity is the Greatest Calling. To touch their hearts by making clean, lovely beds, and to make tasty meals, and to decorate (as much as time and budget allow!). To be honest about our weaknesses and mistakes and to ask them forgiveness, is to show them that our fallenness is real, and that only God is perfect. They can learn the truth that we can never be perfect, and we must and can go to Him for Salvation, to escape the coming destruction. And that we must go to Him, on a regular basis to receive mercy, grace, and Power to live and to carry out the destiny that He created us for.
Our use of our time, money, and resources, will help to put the Kingdom of God in our children's hearts, or help to block it. They have their own sin nature to deal with, as well as the world, the flesh, and the Devil; We want to make our time at home, as rich and loving as possible, with the budget that we have available, to encourage them to choose Eternity, to choose the Lover of their Souls.
Ana Maria Blevins
Dec. 30, 2013
ReviVaissance = Revival + Renaissance TM
Come Alive Again And Flourish, Flower!
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