It's Christmas Day 2007.
How on earth did this year go by SO fast?
My mind still hasn't wrapped itself around the fact that the Christmas festivities are already a thing of the past, not to mention that 2007 is pretty much a done deal.
Yesterday morning, as Jim and I had our family Christmas with the kids, I realized how good it is to have days of celebration. I love the significance of Christmas being the celebration of Christ's coming, of course, but, beyond that, it's good just to CELEBRATE - to set aside routine, to set aside the press of everyday, and to just make MERRY with one another. I thought about the festivals and celebrations that God insisted upon for the Old Testament Israelites. These were important times of sacrifice, remembrance and focus, but often they involved gatherings, feasting and much rejoicing, too. Maybe now I understand a little better why this was important on so many levels.
We've had a good Christmas - a really MERRY Christmas. Our day together as a family was fun and pleasant, then the gatherings with Jim's and my families were good times to reconnect, enjoy holiday traditions and laugh and make new memories together. I know that in some families, gatherings AREN'T met with eager anticipation, so we consider ourselves VERY fortunate to be able to look forward to these times.
Cami and I were talking the other day about how much will be changing in our family in the next decade. It's a very exciting era ahead for the Clay family as our kids discover themselves more, go into and out of high school and maybe college, enter the workforce, explore their faith, etc.
A lot of life is going to happen in the next 365 days (or one-tenth of that decade I just mentioned), and before we know it, Christmas 2008 will be upon us. What's ahead excites me - and I know that's the Lord working in me. I'm excited to enjoy my family and tackle the challenges, to make merry whenever the opportunity arises and to rejoice in the salvation of the One we celebrate at Christmas-time.
To you and yours, from me and mine:
Here's to a very MERRY Christmas and coming year.
Tuesday, December 25, 2007
Thursday, December 20, 2007
The Word Became Flesh
More musing on the Incarnation.
The Word Became Flesh
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling among men like us:
The hurried, the harried, the complacent, the oblivious.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling in a place like ours:
Needy, desperate even, and with so few expecting redemption.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling a thing of perfection:
The mundane and miraculous infused with holiness.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling accessible:
He was seen, heard, touched - watched, listened to, embraced.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling consummately human:
He wept real tears, felt real anger and compassion, was bound with real restraints and nailed to a very real cross.
The Word became flesh
so that blood could be spilled -
the blood without which there would be no reconcile.
The Word became flesh
to SHOW us life.
The Word became flesh
to GIVE us life.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling among us.
We beheld His glory,
the glory of the One and Only,
Who came from the Father
full of grace and truth.
MLC 12-20-07
John 1:14
The Word Became Flesh
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling among men like us:
The hurried, the harried, the complacent, the oblivious.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling in a place like ours:
Needy, desperate even, and with so few expecting redemption.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling a thing of perfection:
The mundane and miraculous infused with holiness.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling accessible:
He was seen, heard, touched - watched, listened to, embraced.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling consummately human:
He wept real tears, felt real anger and compassion, was bound with real restraints and nailed to a very real cross.
The Word became flesh
so that blood could be spilled -
the blood without which there would be no reconcile.
The Word became flesh
to SHOW us life.
The Word became flesh
to GIVE us life.
The Word became flesh
and made His dwelling among us.
We beheld His glory,
the glory of the One and Only,
Who came from the Father
full of grace and truth.
MLC 12-20-07
John 1:14
Sixteen
My firstborn turned 16 last Saturday.
My 6 lb. 4 oz. teeny-tiny newborn of 16 years, 5 days and 6 hours ago has become a bright, beautiful, vivacious young woman. She is compassionate, fun-loving and outgoing, and has a joie de vivre that shines unmistakably. She is a communicator, observer and verbal processor. Her circle of friends and acquaintances is wide and varied and delightful. The Lord has stretched her introverted mother (me) extensively through her fundamental bent of "the more the merrier". :) This sixteen-year-old of mine is a thinker: she wants to know what she stands for and why, and then, to walk the talk. She's not one to back down from worthwhile challenges and tackles the things she knows she must or that which will improve her skills. She loves to drive. She has a song for every occasion. She's a good listener. She's strong without seeming like she has something to prove; confident without being cocky. She loves road trips and football, hanging out with friends, talking and texting on her cell phone, eating out, dancing, playing Guitar Hero, listening to music, writing, taking pictures, analyzing stuff of all kinds, and getting gorgeous and girlie for formals. She is perceptive, insightful, a hard worker and a delight.
Cami, you are a bright light in our lives. I've learned so much from you about loving.
Besties, right?
Love you, Mom
My 6 lb. 4 oz. teeny-tiny newborn of 16 years, 5 days and 6 hours ago has become a bright, beautiful, vivacious young woman. She is compassionate, fun-loving and outgoing, and has a joie de vivre that shines unmistakably. She is a communicator, observer and verbal processor. Her circle of friends and acquaintances is wide and varied and delightful. The Lord has stretched her introverted mother (me) extensively through her fundamental bent of "the more the merrier". :) This sixteen-year-old of mine is a thinker: she wants to know what she stands for and why, and then, to walk the talk. She's not one to back down from worthwhile challenges and tackles the things she knows she must or that which will improve her skills. She loves to drive. She has a song for every occasion. She's a good listener. She's strong without seeming like she has something to prove; confident without being cocky. She loves road trips and football, hanging out with friends, talking and texting on her cell phone, eating out, dancing, playing Guitar Hero, listening to music, writing, taking pictures, analyzing stuff of all kinds, and getting gorgeous and girlie for formals. She is perceptive, insightful, a hard worker and a delight.
Cami, you are a bright light in our lives. I've learned so much from you about loving.
Besties, right?
Love you, Mom
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Twelve
My baby turned twelve today.
My sleepy 7 lb. 3 oz. newborn of 12 years and 12 hours ago has grown into a 5 foot 7 inch (and growing) pre-teen. At this moment, he's sitting on the other side of the room playing a new computer game he got for his birthday. The kid knows about a hundred times as much about computers as I do. His hands and feet indicate that he's going to be a six-footer, at least. He plays trombone in the school band and has a fantastic anatomical anomaly with his hands that allows him to do a trick that has Cami's high school friends jealous. He hugged every member of the family this morning when we surrounded him for gift-opening at 6:20 AM. He keeps us all laughing with his wittiness and can crack his knuckles and put away pizza like no one I've ever seen. He reads books, draws comics, goes cheerfully to school, helps me bake, and has irrepressible joy for anything he delights in. He cheered on the Cougar football team in the middle of the crowd at Qwest Field in September, performed with the school band onstage in December, maneuvers through the crowd of 250+ 6th graders at school every day, and went on all manner of rides at Disney World in May. He's learning to play electric and bass guitars, talks to people at church and orders his own food at restaurants. He wore a Santa hat to school today and his Cougars shirt on "Rivalry Day" despite being in the huge minority to those in Husky garb. He signed up for chess club, all on his own, and goes every Monday after school. His best non-family friend is Logan, and they hang out together at school every day. He's trying to decide whether to take jazz band or woodshop next year in 7th grade. Yeah, he's talking about next year...at school...no hesitation, no complaints.
Nate, you've taught me so much about living. I love, love, love you.
You've come a long way, baby.
My sleepy 7 lb. 3 oz. newborn of 12 years and 12 hours ago has grown into a 5 foot 7 inch (and growing) pre-teen. At this moment, he's sitting on the other side of the room playing a new computer game he got for his birthday. The kid knows about a hundred times as much about computers as I do. His hands and feet indicate that he's going to be a six-footer, at least. He plays trombone in the school band and has a fantastic anatomical anomaly with his hands that allows him to do a trick that has Cami's high school friends jealous. He hugged every member of the family this morning when we surrounded him for gift-opening at 6:20 AM. He keeps us all laughing with his wittiness and can crack his knuckles and put away pizza like no one I've ever seen. He reads books, draws comics, goes cheerfully to school, helps me bake, and has irrepressible joy for anything he delights in. He cheered on the Cougar football team in the middle of the crowd at Qwest Field in September, performed with the school band onstage in December, maneuvers through the crowd of 250+ 6th graders at school every day, and went on all manner of rides at Disney World in May. He's learning to play electric and bass guitars, talks to people at church and orders his own food at restaurants. He wore a Santa hat to school today and his Cougars shirt on "Rivalry Day" despite being in the huge minority to those in Husky garb. He signed up for chess club, all on his own, and goes every Monday after school. His best non-family friend is Logan, and they hang out together at school every day. He's trying to decide whether to take jazz band or woodshop next year in 7th grade. Yeah, he's talking about next year...at school...no hesitation, no complaints.
Nate, you've taught me so much about living. I love, love, love you.
You've come a long way, baby.
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
He Came
My apologies for failing to keep you posted on "30 Days of Gratefulness". Suffice it to say, it was a fruitful time for our church and for me, personally. I hope your Thanksgiving season was colored with many remembrances of God's gracious hand.
With Thanksgiving now past, I couldn't help but take a sneak peek at one of my favorite Christmas Scriptures - John 1:1-18 ("In the beginning was the Word..."). It got me thinking about the phenomenal nature of the Incarnation; not just Christ's ability to become flesh and blood, but His willingness to do so. I thought for some time about what it must have been like to leave heaven's glory for the life (and death) Christ would experience on earth.
I thought, and then I wrote.
He Came
He came
To dust and sweat,
To anger, tears, and unspeakable pain.
He came
To calluses,
Aching feet,
And blazing sun,
To the filth of a stable and of sinful souls,
To chaos
And clamor,
To a world devoid of hope.
He came
To HIS creation.
He came
To HIS people.
He came
To that which was HIS OWN,
Yet they did not –
Would not –
Receive Him.
He came
To discomfort,
To rude shelters and rhythms,
To humanness.
To ornery,
Self-centered,
Unknowingly desperate people.
He came
From His Father’s side,
From unspeakable glory,
From light,
From praise,
From prostrated hosts
Of brothers and sisters;
The generations of His inheritance
And His fellow heirs:
Those not deserving glory
But having gained it
Through Him.
He came
Not to condemn
But to save,
Not to throw away the keys
But to loose the shackles
And free sin’s prisoners.
To redeem a traitorous, rebellious race
And to make them His family,
His ambassadors,
His friends.
He came
Willingly
And without complaint;
Without argument,
Without reticence,
Without regret,
Without looking back,
While keeping His eyes firmly fixed on His Father.
He came
TO sinners.
He came
FOR sinners.
He endured
The indignities,
The injustice,
The inconvenience,
The sacrifice.
He came
So that I might LIVE,
Truly live.
I hope you'll take some time this Christmas to consider Christ, who came to earth, and to consider why He did. May this be another blessed season of remembrance for you and your household.
Blessings,
Megan
With Thanksgiving now past, I couldn't help but take a sneak peek at one of my favorite Christmas Scriptures - John 1:1-18 ("In the beginning was the Word..."). It got me thinking about the phenomenal nature of the Incarnation; not just Christ's ability to become flesh and blood, but His willingness to do so. I thought for some time about what it must have been like to leave heaven's glory for the life (and death) Christ would experience on earth.
I thought, and then I wrote.
He Came
He came
To dust and sweat,
To anger, tears, and unspeakable pain.
He came
To calluses,
Aching feet,
And blazing sun,
To the filth of a stable and of sinful souls,
To chaos
And clamor,
To a world devoid of hope.
He came
To HIS creation.
He came
To HIS people.
He came
To that which was HIS OWN,
Yet they did not –
Would not –
Receive Him.
He came
To discomfort,
To rude shelters and rhythms,
To humanness.
To ornery,
Self-centered,
Unknowingly desperate people.
He came
From His Father’s side,
From unspeakable glory,
From light,
From praise,
From prostrated hosts
Of brothers and sisters;
The generations of His inheritance
And His fellow heirs:
Those not deserving glory
But having gained it
Through Him.
He came
Not to condemn
But to save,
Not to throw away the keys
But to loose the shackles
And free sin’s prisoners.
To redeem a traitorous, rebellious race
And to make them His family,
His ambassadors,
His friends.
He came
Willingly
And without complaint;
Without argument,
Without reticence,
Without regret,
Without looking back,
While keeping His eyes firmly fixed on His Father.
He came
TO sinners.
He came
FOR sinners.
He endured
The indignities,
The injustice,
The inconvenience,
The sacrifice.
He came
So that I might LIVE,
Truly live.
I hope you'll take some time this Christmas to consider Christ, who came to earth, and to consider why He did. May this be another blessed season of remembrance for you and your household.
Blessings,
Megan
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