Merry Christmas (not "happy holidays")~from Brianna,
To run with the theme of snow and Christmas, I will follow up my sister's post with a similar one of my own. :)
In complete agreement, I have spent several of my teenage years drawing more and more towards the warmth and dryness of the house when that blanket of winter snow comes a falling. From my perspective, it has usually seemed much more enjoyable to watch Jack Frost paint our windows, and Suzie Snowflake dance in her snow white gown, from the comfort of the recliner under a blanket. In days past I would have rather been bitten by a bug while snug in a rug, than old Jack Frost chomping at my nose...
But... like my sister, my view this year is very much altered, and part of it has to do with that winter of 2005. It's needless to go over the details again, but now I'll add to the story. 2005 was a wondrous Christmas season that Narnia could not outdo for another couple million dollars. Sadly, Christmas of 2006 didn't follow up quite so breathtakingly.
In November of 2006 I became engaged to the young man I had been smitten with since I was fifteen. Our families had been friends for years, so almost everyone was in agreement that it was unimaginable that there could be a better match for either of us. We had been courting for six months, and I guess he saw that it high time to ask me to marry him. I said yes, and to me the coming Christmas meant the first of exciting, endearing and wonderful ones to come... However, the fanciful idea of combining both of our families for Christmas with joy brightening every one's spirits turned out to be quite... unlikely. When reality struck, I found the turmoil of two very different families colliding in a very unpretty sort of way. Instead of two families becoming one for Christmas, we were two families split in half. Celebrating and revering Jesus for His birth into this world sadly turned into stress, anxiety, and many, many hurt feelings. And to my regret, my Savior was somewhat forgotten by me-- at least put on the back burner... a place He should never, ever be.
Winter of 2006 compared to winter of 2005 couldn't hold a candle, and looked pathetically malnourished in comparison. Little did I know then that in four months there would be no wedding, that God would present me with a choice, and that the future groom would find that life of singleness and Bible camp was much better suited for him than marriage. But that is a story best saved for another day.
In a nutshell, it was never meant to be, and something that was seemingly sweet in the beginning turned very sour. The Lord mercifully intervened before two of His children could make one miserable life together. In the course of this year, I have gone through a season of brokenness, and finally-- now that winter has come full circle again--a season of healing. There is something restoring about finding that a year has swallowed up what could have been. I see the world through new eyes, as though I have shed the skin of who I used to be, and what used to look like a harsh, cold season only meant for making us love summer all the more, I find in winter a beautiful, pristine calm meant for restoring a year that I lost loving my Savior.
I am filled with a sweet, childlike delight as the trees grow bare, as the world wakes up covered in a garment of white, and I find as much wonder and mystery as winter of 2005, but doubled because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. His presence is purer and more magnificent than the delight one can find in any earthly source of happiness, and His majesty is more fulfilling than any gift of earthly love. I am looking so forward to this Christmas, and hope not just to remember but live through the precious gift the Heavenly Father sent us in offering His Son. There is nothing else that compares.
The winter of 2005 in our cabin tucked up in the woods on the hill, wrapped in an atmosphere that felt like it belonged to a different world... that was a holy and peaceful experience. The Lord really touched my heart then, and created a yearning in me that would stir even through the confusing and heartbreaking time of letting my fiance go. Winter of 2007... I want to say will be the very best yet, and top 2005 in ways that I could probably never shrink down to human words. And now, winter of 2007... the presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, seems to be sweeping through, and stirring every living thing to life. Even the trees, these dead branches covered in thick, glittering snow, and the shining stars above, they must be singing and crying out His majesty... for this is the season that we celebrate His birth, and what a magnificent birth it was!
I recently read in the book Fourth Dawn, by Brock and Bodie Thoene a fictional portrayal of Jesus and a healed blind man at a wedding; I love to believe it's true: "Yeshua threw His head back and laughed a huge laugh. Why did the stars not spin like tops at such a laugh? ...His laugh! Oh, such a laugh. Did the stars shine more brightly when Yeshua laughed?"
I believe this earth cannot help but worship the Lord; it obeys His command, and knows its Maker. And maybe that's why the stars sparkle like they do, and the wind blows hard as it does, and the snow dances to the ground, and the trees move, reaching towards Heaven. Many of us are waiting for the return of the King, and in the meantime I like to imagine maybe the earth resonates from a past day when it heard the laughter of Jesus... Maybe the stars did shine more brightly when Yeshua laughed.
Whoever is reading this, I wish you a very merry Christmas, and may the Messiah's presence come alive in your home this year as it never has before...
~In great love,
Brianna
To run with the theme of snow and Christmas, I will follow up my sister's post with a similar one of my own. :)
In complete agreement, I have spent several of my teenage years drawing more and more towards the warmth and dryness of the house when that blanket of winter snow comes a falling. From my perspective, it has usually seemed much more enjoyable to watch Jack Frost paint our windows, and Suzie Snowflake dance in her snow white gown, from the comfort of the recliner under a blanket. In days past I would have rather been bitten by a bug while snug in a rug, than old Jack Frost chomping at my nose...
But... like my sister, my view this year is very much altered, and part of it has to do with that winter of 2005. It's needless to go over the details again, but now I'll add to the story. 2005 was a wondrous Christmas season that Narnia could not outdo for another couple million dollars. Sadly, Christmas of 2006 didn't follow up quite so breathtakingly.
In November of 2006 I became engaged to the young man I had been smitten with since I was fifteen. Our families had been friends for years, so almost everyone was in agreement that it was unimaginable that there could be a better match for either of us. We had been courting for six months, and I guess he saw that it high time to ask me to marry him. I said yes, and to me the coming Christmas meant the first of exciting, endearing and wonderful ones to come... However, the fanciful idea of combining both of our families for Christmas with joy brightening every one's spirits turned out to be quite... unlikely. When reality struck, I found the turmoil of two very different families colliding in a very unpretty sort of way. Instead of two families becoming one for Christmas, we were two families split in half. Celebrating and revering Jesus for His birth into this world sadly turned into stress, anxiety, and many, many hurt feelings. And to my regret, my Savior was somewhat forgotten by me-- at least put on the back burner... a place He should never, ever be.
Winter of 2006 compared to winter of 2005 couldn't hold a candle, and looked pathetically malnourished in comparison. Little did I know then that in four months there would be no wedding, that God would present me with a choice, and that the future groom would find that life of singleness and Bible camp was much better suited for him than marriage. But that is a story best saved for another day.
In a nutshell, it was never meant to be, and something that was seemingly sweet in the beginning turned very sour. The Lord mercifully intervened before two of His children could make one miserable life together. In the course of this year, I have gone through a season of brokenness, and finally-- now that winter has come full circle again--a season of healing. There is something restoring about finding that a year has swallowed up what could have been. I see the world through new eyes, as though I have shed the skin of who I used to be, and what used to look like a harsh, cold season only meant for making us love summer all the more, I find in winter a beautiful, pristine calm meant for restoring a year that I lost loving my Savior.
I am filled with a sweet, childlike delight as the trees grow bare, as the world wakes up covered in a garment of white, and I find as much wonder and mystery as winter of 2005, but doubled because I have tasted and seen that the Lord is good. His presence is purer and more magnificent than the delight one can find in any earthly source of happiness, and His majesty is more fulfilling than any gift of earthly love. I am looking so forward to this Christmas, and hope not just to remember but live through the precious gift the Heavenly Father sent us in offering His Son. There is nothing else that compares.
The winter of 2005 in our cabin tucked up in the woods on the hill, wrapped in an atmosphere that felt like it belonged to a different world... that was a holy and peaceful experience. The Lord really touched my heart then, and created a yearning in me that would stir even through the confusing and heartbreaking time of letting my fiance go. Winter of 2007... I want to say will be the very best yet, and top 2005 in ways that I could probably never shrink down to human words. And now, winter of 2007... the presence of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, seems to be sweeping through, and stirring every living thing to life. Even the trees, these dead branches covered in thick, glittering snow, and the shining stars above, they must be singing and crying out His majesty... for this is the season that we celebrate His birth, and what a magnificent birth it was!
I recently read in the book Fourth Dawn, by Brock and Bodie Thoene a fictional portrayal of Jesus and a healed blind man at a wedding; I love to believe it's true: "Yeshua threw His head back and laughed a huge laugh. Why did the stars not spin like tops at such a laugh? ...His laugh! Oh, such a laugh. Did the stars shine more brightly when Yeshua laughed?"
I believe this earth cannot help but worship the Lord; it obeys His command, and knows its Maker. And maybe that's why the stars sparkle like they do, and the wind blows hard as it does, and the snow dances to the ground, and the trees move, reaching towards Heaven. Many of us are waiting for the return of the King, and in the meantime I like to imagine maybe the earth resonates from a past day when it heard the laughter of Jesus... Maybe the stars did shine more brightly when Yeshua laughed.
Whoever is reading this, I wish you a very merry Christmas, and may the Messiah's presence come alive in your home this year as it never has before...
~In great love,
Brianna
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