All Glory Be to Christ




I had a blog post all ready for this month as we trek through Hebrews, but woke up this morning with another message on my heart. 


Dear reader, I don’t know when you will read my blog post, most likely not today, as I’m actually typing this on Christmas morning.  As I post this, many people will be getting kids out of pajamas and heading off to something or another with friends and family and more food before we all start ourselves in January. 


It’s a different Christmas for me, as my 21 year old is still asleep in bed and my daughter is hours away.  It’s the first year we can’t all be together, which may be making me a little maudlin but I’m a mom so I get to get to be a little sappy.  I’m here with tea, the dim glow of the tree and time to reflect. 


This year my husband and I are not exchanging gifts.  I guess that we’ve reached that point in our life’s where we have everything we need and what we value has changed a bit.  Don’t worry-we’ve still spoiled our kids yet again and got small little stocking stuffers just for fun.  Mine is usually filled with lotto tickets and craft root beer, which I’m excited to indulge in later today but for now let me share a little bit more about gifting.  


Like many of you, last night I spent time at my church’s Christmas Eve service.  It’s something we do every year.  My husband is on staff at our local church so for him that means a full day; for me that means figuring out which service to attend and coordinating with my adult child who made it home this year.  


We arrived a little than I wanted and pulled in right at the start of service.  The room was packed and chairs brought in at the end of every aisle.  I had been worried about where to sit but the hubs told me via text there was a spot for us by “the friends, you’ll see.”  I didn’t understand until we came in as the foyer doors were closing that in a packed room there was a place for me, saved in standing room only as the opening chords of O Come All Ye Faithful reverberated through the sanctuary. 


The magic of that moment was that I had a place to sit, but not just anywhere, by those people.  People at the top of my text thread and who dominate my camera roll.  The person who introduced me to my husband, behind a boy I’ve known since he was born who I can’t believe just got his drivers license, by someone who takes us on adventures, with girls I have  prayed with and cried with and laughed with because I do life with, by new friends who have entered into our growing connection with vulnerability, and their children who have danced and acted in the Christmas programs I’ve gotten to attend this year.  My soul delighted in the way they have all brought beauty into my world. Make new friends but keep the old.  One is silver and the other gold—precious metals like the gift given by the magi to earth’s true and infant King. 


Yes, I loved the children’s nativity, seeing the preschooler with the donkey ears sneeze on baby Jesus, but sitting in a room with my faith-family as the pastor talked about the gifts given to Jesus was one of joyful contentment.  At Christmas, we celebrate the gift of Jesus given to all of us lonely, despondent, confused, and struggling people.  We all need Jesus, we all need His atonement, purpose, and hope.  But the amazing thing about God is our blessings don’t end at salvation.  He continues to love us to heaven by creating moments of clarity and thankfulness when we need it most. 


My husband and I aren’t giving gifts this year because what we want can’t be purchased at a store, it can only be received.  Last night, was one of the gifts He has given me.  My story contains the ups and downs of relationships as I recover from codependency, my drug of choice in the aftermath of a childhood tainted by alcoholism.  The people in the room have all helped me heal and grow and will continue to.  


You will unwrap presents today but nothing compares to the gift of Christ everyday.  And we have to lean into it and open it with hearts.  Some days it’s admittedly hard to access but the Holy Spirit inside you will draw you to Him when you most need His presence.  My wish for you is in the midst of the busy you will have a moment like I had this morning waking up to the simple yet astounding thing friendship is.  May He open your eyes to the gifts He has put in your life and continue to unwrap them for you in the coming year.  


I wept through the closing modern hymn written by Dustin Kensrue to the tune of Auld Lang Syne. I can’t think of a better way to end a post of the gifts of Christmas than in exalting the One who gave His all. 


Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.  James 1:17


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20eBoDj5i-8


All Glory Be to Christ


Verse 1

Should nothing of our efforts stand, 

No legacy survive,

Unless the Lord does raise the house, 

In vain its builders strive.

To you who boast tomorrow’s gain, 

Tell me, what is your life?

A mist, it vanishes at dawn, 

All glory be to Christ!


Chorus 

All glory be to Christ our King,

All glory be to Christ.

His rule and reign we'll ever sing,

All glory be to Christ!


Verse 2

His will be done, His kingdom come, 

On earth as is above.

Who is Himself our daily bread, 

Praise Him the Lord of love.

Let living waters satisfy 

The thirsty without price.

Come eat of Him, our Living Bread, 

All glory be to Christ!


Chorus 

All glory be to Christ our King,

All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign we'll ever sing,

All glory be to Christ.


Verse 3

When on the day, the great I Am, 

The Faithful and the True,

The Lamb who was for sinner’s slain, 

Is making all things new.

Behold our God shall live with us, 

And be our Steadfast Light,

And we shall e’er His people be, 

All glory be to Christ!


Chorus 

All glory be to Christ our King,

All glory be to Christ!

His rule and reign we'll ever sing,

All glory be to Christ!


All glory be to Christ our King,

All glory be to Christ.

His rule and reign we'll ever sing,

All glory be to Christ.


For notifications of new posts, video devotionals, scripture images or to message me,  follow me on Instagram @House_Youre_Building! 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Devotional: Balance

This should be your ambition: to live a quiet life -1 Thess 4:11 I thought I’d mix things up and share something I’ve been learning a lot about lately: balance.   This verse above has been in my head quite a lot as I’ve been feeling different demands start to pull on me.   All of us have so many different responsibilities and interests that take our time; from family life and work, to hobbies and social events.   It seems like the calendar in my house is often running the show.   In this chapter Paul is writing about how Christians should live.   The word ambition means to be fond of honor, strive to bring something to pass and make a certain state your aim.   Then a few words later Paul then describes the tone of our day-to-day life as quiet.   This doesn’t mean you should be shy or a doormat, but to rest, cease from labor, not to be running around, to say nothing and hold one’s peace (this is my constant need!).   A friend once shared that you ...
Read more

Devotion: Barren

Image
This morning my son needed a sick day, so instead of worshiping the Lord at church, I am here with you in my thoughts at my laptop, worshipping the Lord through this amazing passage of scripture.   This is my favorite story of motherhood in the Bible.   In part because it reminds me of two dear friends who struggled with conceiving who now have experienced the gift of life through the Lord’s blessing.   And also because this woman had a deep soul-need and found satisfaction in the Life Giver alone.   Hannah was a woman with a rival.   Her husband’s second wife bore many children.   Yet she had none.   Barren.   This stigma was especially piercing in her day because women didn’t have many other opportunities or status.   She was a faithful and godly wife, loved greatly by her husband, yet her soul ached to have a child.   What did she do?   She brought everything she had to God and weeped before Him.   Poured out her desires ...
Read more

Study Introduction: Developing a Ministry of Reconciliation

Image
My husband and I finished a four-year process of home building this last February.   Throughout the process we had paperwork, permits, receipts, product manuals, samples of materials, and even some tools and parts left by the sub-contractors that looked important.   So we kept them all.   We put them in a box.   People that know me well know that I love efficiency and organization.   But for this I just needed a box.   A place to put all this stuff that I know I’m supposed to have but don’t have time to deal with.   Stuff that is probably important, but thrown in none-the-less.   It gives me comfort to know at any time I can dig around in this box and find what I need when I need it. Today it occurred to me that my faith is like this box.   One of the fun things about building (and there really isn’t a lot of “fun” involved so you hang on to the joys no matter how small) is getting to customize many things.   One of the things we chose a...
Read more