girltalk Blog
Here’s a Christmas Friday Funny I got from a friend. Be sure to read the caption underneath!
We’ve got more (serious) Christmas stuff for you next week.
Kristin for the girls
“Good news is that I truly out did myself this year with my Christmas decorations. The bad news is that I had to take him down after two days. I had more people come screaming up to my house than ever. Great stories. But two things made me take it down. First, the cops advised me that it would cause traffic accidents as they almost wrecked when they drove by.
Second, a 55 year old lady grabbed the 75 pound ladder almost killed herself putting it against my house and didn’t realize that it was fake until she climbed to the top (she was not happy). By the way, she was one of the many people who attempted to do that. My yard couldn’t take it either. I have more than a few tire tracks where people literally drove up my yard.”
I’ve never outgrown my love for a good Christmas story. Problem is, good Christmas stories for adults are much harder to find.
But this year, we can happily recommend a new book for your personal Christmas story time. The Unfinished Gift is a new novel by author Dan Walsh—who also happens to be a Sovereign Grace Ministries pastor in Daytona Beach, FL.
Despite the author’s balmy writing weather, this book has the authentic feel of a bitterly cold winter in 1943. Patrick, the seven-year-old main character, faces sudden grief and an uncertain future with his crotchety grandfather (who, most notably to me, never keeps the house warm enough!).
Old judgments and bitterness linger long in this family, and the evil of prejudice still infects the community. But the brave charity of strangers comes to Patrick’s rescue. And the kindness, long-suffering, and forgiveness of two women who loved their family bring restoration, long after they are gone.
This book’s redemptive and godly themes stand out against the cynical and raunchy holiday fare peddled for adults. Not only can you read this book without feeling yucky or depressed, you’ll find hope that springs eternal, grace in unexpected kindness, and a harvest of righteousness for peacemakers who sow in peace.
So, treat yourself to The Unfinished Gift this Christmas season. I dare you to read it through without crying
When we were little, my mom read us Christmas stories she’d ripped out of Christian magazines, or borrowed from the library. These story times remain some of my most vivid and cherished Christmas memories.
So this year, I’m carrying on that tradition with my own kids. Instead of just telling them that “it really is better to give than receive” and “Christ is the reason for the season” I’m reading them stories that I hope will capture their imagination and affections.
Each night, by the light of the advent candle, we read a story.
One of my favorites so far doesn’t even have any pictures! It’s a story John Piper wrote for the children of his church. “A Kind of Christmas Tale” is about a man named Job and his daughter Jemimah. It was a tad above my children’s comprehension level (well, more than a tad above Tori’s!); but the story is encapsulated in two short rhymes, which, when repeated often, will remind my children and me to trust God’s plan and to obey Him always. Here’s the first one:
“When things don’t go the way they should
God always makes them work for good.”
To learn the second one, you’ll have to read the story.
Well, the shopping trip is over. It was a blast! In between stores we managed to stuff in plenty of laughter and conversation, which is really what the shopping trip is all about anyways. But we’re so happy to be back with our husbands and children and grateful to our men for holding down the fort while we were gone.
See you back here, tomorrow!
Today was day two of our shopping trip. Here are a few fuzzy pics from our camera phones.
Nicole enjoying her cranberry juice at our pre-shopping breakfast
Heading to the store…
Shopping success….
My friend sent me this cute story from her house:
“I made coupon books for the kids this year…all but the baby. At breakfast, my five-year-old son said enthusiastically: “Mom, you SHOULD have made a coupon for the baby that says—‘Good for nursing for 2 hours!’”
So if you make coupon books for your family next Thanksgiving—make sure not to leave out the baby!
We’ll be back on Monday,
Kristin
for my mom and sisters
This Christmas, why not give the gift of “sitting and listening” to a mother, sister, grandmother, aunt, or friend? (Attention husbands who read girltalk but are too manly to admit it: if your wife has small children, we recommend this gift come with the promise of a few hours of alone time.)
Here’s our “Five Days of Sitting Out Christmas” gift list. Choose one from each category. Tie with a pretty ribbon. Slip in a babysitting coupon or a Starbucks card. Give the “one thing” they need the most this year.
On the fifth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me…
FIVE GOOD BOOKS
1. “Preaching the Gospel to Yourself”
The Gospel Primer
by Milton Vincent
2. Commentaries
Esther and Ruth
by Iain Duguid
Proverbs
by John Kitchen
Basics for Believers
by D.A. Carson
3. Prayer
Praying the Lord’s Prayer
by JI Packer
The Valley of Vision
by Arthur Bennet
4. Short Daliy Readings
I Exalt You O God
by Jerry Bridges
Pierced by the Word
by John Piper
Beside Still Waters
by Charles Spurgeon
5. Bible Survey
The Message of the Old Testament
by Mark Dever
The Message of the New Testament
by Mark Dever
FOUR CD’s
1. Hope Rising by Fee
2. Sons & Daughters by Sovereign Grace Music
3. We Shall Not Be Shaken by Matt Redman
4. Glorious by Paul Baloche
THREE JOURNALS
1. Magnet Black
2. Small Purple Flowers
3. Vetro Stamped Brown
TWO PRETTY PENS
1. Parker Pen
2. Retro Pen
AND ONE VERY LOVELY BIBLE
ESV Thinline Sky Blue
“And she went up to him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’” Luke 10:40
According to Martha, Mary picked the wrong time to sit and listen to Jesus’ teaching.
“C’mon Mary”—you can almost hear her say—“after dinner, when the crockery is put away and the floors swept, then you can sit and listen to Jesus to your heart’s content. But right now there’s work to do!”
Sounds reasonable to us. But Jesus disagreed. He thought Mary’s timing was perfect.
Let’s take our cues from Mary. We shouldn’t wait until things settle down after the holidays. We shouldn’t postpone listening to Jesus until January 1. We must choose to sit and listen to the Lord’s teaching today: right in the middle of the Christmas crazyness. And we must strive to do so every day after.
We can’t afford not to. “Man does not live by bread alone,” God declares in Deuteronomy 8:3, “but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Just as we can’t survive without physical food, neither can we thrive without spiritual food. We cannot live without God’s Word. As our bodies require daily physical nourishment, so our souls need daily spiritual nourishment.
Our morning bowl of cereal won’t sustain us for three weeks. Neither can our souls subsist on one dose of God’s Word. As D.L Moody explains:
“A man can no more take in a supply of grace for the future than he can eat enough for the next six months, or take sufficient air into his lungs at one time to sustain life for a week. We must draw upon God’s boundless store of grace from day to day as we need it.”
We can’t truly live unless we sit and listen. So let’s daily “take in a supply of grace” through God’s Word and prayer.
“Mary…sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.” Luke 10:39
We’re still “Sitting Out the Holidays.”
What are we sitting and listening to? Jesus’ teaching. It is the one thing, the only thing, that is necessary.
The next question is where: Where should we sit and listen?
Mary chose the floor. She literally sat at Jesus’ feet. Now obviously we don’t have to sit on the floor to have our devotions—not unless we want to!
Mary’s choice to sit at Jesus’ feet revealed the location of her heart.
It displayed her eagerness to listen to His teaching. It revealed her zeal to learn and grow. She wanted to hear every word, absorb every word, and submit to every word that came from her Lord’s mouth.
The floor was simply the best spot for that to happen.
Sitting at the Lord’s feet doesn’t imply what position our body should be in; it represents what position our heart should be in. Where we sit has nothing to do with body posture and everything to do with the posture of our heart.
Mary approached her Lord with a posture of humility. She sat before her Lord as a hungry learner, an eager student. We should come to God’s Word in the same way.
So where’s your heart this holiday season? Is it running frantically through the mall? Is it gazing longingly at an unwrapped present? Is it mingling with guests at a holiday party?
It’s not enough just to sit. There’s a special place we must sit. We must sit at the Lord’s feet. We must come to God’s Word with a humble heart: eager to learn, ready to receive, and determined to obey.
I’ve barely recovered from my Turkey Bowl injuries (Kristin covered me so ferociously that Dad—permanent quarterback and referee—called her for unnecessary roughness.) But today I’ll drag my aching body up to the attic to dig out the advent calendar.
Mom bought it for us a few years ago, and my children love to open a new door each day to find a piece of candy and a Scripture about the Christmas story. Steve reads the verses aloud while the kids listen attentively, their mouths full of chocolate and nougat.
In the past, I’ve used this simple Christmas countdown and references. This year, now that Jack’s older, I’m adapting this schedule of longer readings that begin with the Old Testament prophecies. As the days march toward Christmas, I want him to connect, in some small way, to the centuries of longing for the Messiah.
I’ve also pulled Nancy Guthrie’s Come Thou Long Expected Jesus off the bookshelf and placed it in my basket of quiet time stuff. I didn’t mark it up, as I do most of my books, so I can enjoy the daily readings afresh each year.
For my children, and for myself, I don’t want “the busyness of [the Christmas season]…to crowd out a quiet anticipation of the wonder of incarnation.” I want the glories of God become man to illuminate and outshine all our Christmas joys.
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