by jphilo | Dec 10, 2012 | Reflections on the Past
Hiram and I had a hard time getting excited about decorating the Christmas tree. Maybe it’s because we don’t have kids at home to turn the chore into a magical event. But this year, if we hadn’t been hosting our extended family’s holiday gathering, we might not have put it up.
Call us Scrooge and Scroogette.
We had to divide and conquer to get the job done. I unpacked and placed other decorations in their traditional spots around the house while Hiram put up the tree and strung the lights and garland. Once he was done, I hung the ornaments.
Call me a perfectionist.
I hung the straw angel, given to us by my closest college friend on our first married Christmas, and the calico ornaments I made that year for our Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Then came the satin ball from our first grown up workplace, the now defunct Sky Ranch for Boys. Next came treasures our kids made when they were young: paper cup bells, construction paper wreaths, wooden frames around kindergarten pictures of Allen and Anne.
Call me sentimental.
After that were ornaments from former students, souvenirs from our visit to Alaska when the kids were 12 and 6, the funky retro Old Navy ornaments Anne and I found on clearance when she was in high school, and gifts from co-workers at Bryant School, the elementary building that was torn down a few years ago.
Call me blessed and thankful.
Finally, I opened the old shoebox and unwrapped the antique ornaments Mom divided amongst the sibs and me when she gave up housekeeping. Fragile glass balls she and Dad bought in the early 1950s. Even more fragile baubles she inherited from Dad’s parents about the same time. Trinkets I placed high on this year’s tree to keep them safe. Treasures that brought to mind the stories Mom told about their owner, the grandmother who died before I was born, as we decorated the Christmas tree each year of my childhood. Gifts that led to a change in my attitude and my name for Christmas trees.
I call them memory trees.
by jphilo | Dec 3, 2012 | Church Newsletter Columns
And Joseph arose from his sleep, and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took her as his wife.
Matthew 1:24
And Mary said, “Behold, the bondslave of the Lord;
be it done to me according to your word.”
Luke 1:38
Parenthood is a risky business. Author Elizabeth Stone nailed it when she said, “Making the decision to have a child is momentous. It is to decide forever to have your heart go walking around outside your body.”
The approaching Christmas season makes me wonder, did Joseph understand the vulnerability of parenthood when the unnamed angel appeared to him in a dream? Did Mary understand when Gabriel informed her of the upcoming virgin birth of Jesus? Most likely they did not. What first time parents comprehend the profound and lasting love they will feel for their child?
If Joseph and Mary had completely understood the weight of parenthood, would they have obeyed God so willingly? Would they have accepted the prophecies about Jesus and agreed to parent God’s son? Would they have risked living forever with their hearts walking around outside their bodies?
A search of God’s Word for answers reveals the truth: My questions about parenthood were the wrong ones. The question to ask is not whether Joseph and Mary understood the repercussions of parenthood. The better question to ask is whether they understood the nature of God and trusted him to act according to his nature.
Scripture records how well they understood who God was. The verses preceding Joseph’s decision to obey the angel’s command show the first time dad believed God could conceive a baby through the power of the Holy Spirit, thus fulfilling the century-old prophecy in Isaiah.
Mary’s words to her cousin Elizabeth in Like 1:46-55 clearly shows the future mother’s grasp of God’s character. Not only does she recognize God’s ability to work miraculously in her life, she also recognizes his hand as he works through the lives of people and the history of nations to fulfill his promise to Abraham’s offspring.
Joseph and Mary didn’t need to understand the profound changes parenthood would bring to their lives. Rather, they needed to know God was who he declared himself to be. They needed to know who he was so they could trust him with their son’s life, even before he was born. So they could trust him with their vulnerable parent hearts, which once they laid eyes on their baby in a dark and dingy manger, walked forever outside their bodies.
Likewise, we need to know God as Joseph and Mary did because, not just parenthood, but all of life is risky business. It’s too risky to face without sure knowledge of a God who loved the world so much he sent his only begotten Son. A baby born in in a manger. Immanuel. God with us. Only then, in the face of uncertainty and risk, can we echo Mary’s words:
My soul exalts the Lord,
And my spirit has rejoiced in God my Savior…
For the Mighty One has done great things for me;
And holy is his name.
by jphilo | Apr 2, 2012 | Church Newsletter Columns
For who has despised the day of small things?
Zechariah 4:10a
As a young child, I day dreamed about becoming big things kind of girl. I had big plans for a career as either a television star or a princess. Therefore, I focused on the big things like dramatic poses and tiaras rather than little things like learning to tie my shoes. Or telling time. Or making letters like b and d point the right way. Or memorizing math facts. Eventually, my parents and teachers made life miserable until I learned convinced me to pay attention to little things.
But I remained a big things kind of girl at heart for many years. Even after I became a Christian and started reading the Bible. I preferred the big, showy stories – Moses parting the Red Sea, Daniel in the lion’s den, and Jesus feeding the five thousand – to hidden, quiet events like Moses in the bull rushes, Ruth gleaning grain, or the long drudgery of rebuilding the temple in Zechariah’s day.
I remained a sucker for bright lights and big things until two babies entered our home six years apart. When they arrived, life became a river of small things. Tiny fingernails to clip. Itty bitty diapers. Minuscule onesies. Little bodies asleep in my arms. The first tiny hints of toothless smiles.
Slowly, my attitude about material things began to change. The arrivals of these little people made the sacrifices – buying a minivan, sleepless nights, spit up stains ruining expensive clothes, fun money diverted for college savings accounts and day care providers – worthwhile.
My spiritual attitude began changing, too. When I bathed our babies, I imagined Mary bathing her son. Wiping his nose. Drying his tears. Hugging his small body, holding him close, caring for her little boy. I imagined Jesus, God’s Son, beginning his life as the smallest and most inconsequential of small things. A baby born in a barn. Yet that baby grew up to do big things. He lived a perfect life. He healed hurting people. He fed the five thousand. He died on a cross, rose from the dead, and ascended into heaven. All to reconcile small and petty sinners to the eternal, omnipotent God.
My children are grown. I haven’t bathed a baby in years. But as the shadow of the cross grows large in the days before Easter, my thoughts turn to the babe in the manger. The hope of a fallen world contained in a small package. The baby who guides sinners to the foot of the cross.
My God works through small things. He uses the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong. He uses small things like us to demonstrate our need for the great gift of His Son. At the foot of the cross, kneeling before the manger, I am finally content with small things.
by jphilo | Mar 14, 2012 | Recipes
A few weeks ago, I claimed to be done sharing new recipes we tried when the kids were all home for Christmas. But I forgot about this simple breakfast recipe – with oatmeal as its main ingredient – that was a big hit.
Again, it’s a recipe from the internet, chosen because:
- It made the right amount.
- It used evaporated milk, and there was a 1/2 can of the stuff in the fridge waiting to be used.
- It looked easy.
Without further ado, here’s the recipe whose main ingredient is oatmeal, the grain that deserves a food group all its own…
Old-Fashioned Oatmeal
2 1/2 cups water
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 cups dry, old-fashioned rolled oats
2 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 5 ounce can evaporated milk ( or slightly more than 1/2 cup)
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar, to taste
Bring the water to a boil in a medium sauce pan. Add salt.
Stir constantly while gradually adding oatmeal. Continue stirring while adding cinnamon and first 2 tablespoons sugar. Cook for one minute, then add evaporated milk. Continue stirring until mixture returns to a boil.
Pour into bowls. Top with butter and brown sugar to taste.
by jphilo | Feb 22, 2012 | Recipes
Well, it took until February 15 to reach the last of the new recipes used during our family Christmas celebration. It may take longer than that to lose the weight gained from sampling all those new dishes.
But let’s not go there.
Today’s recipe came about by accident. We didn’t celebrate Christmas with the kids until New Year’s Weekend, so a few days before they arrived, I made a Wal-Mart run to see if any post-Christmas bargains remained. I hit the motherlode in the aisle where the Christmas baking items had been marked down by 50% – including Bakers Unsweetened Chocolate Baking Squares and Ghirardelli chocolate baking chunks which the local grocery stores were selling at full price.
Score!
I picked up bags of everything and used them for stocking stuffers, which our foodie kids absolutely loved. However, they weren’t sure what to do with the Bakers unsweetened baking squares. But I remembered how my mom occasionally used the unsweetened squares to make hot chocolate. So I found a recipe for rich ‘n thick hot chocolate online. The recipe sounded so rich and thick, I doubled the amount of milk and halved the sugar.
And guess what?
It was still plenty rich, thick, and sweet. It was also as delicious as Mom’s used to be. Now, without further ado, here is the recipe…which is much shorter than the introduction to it.
Plenty Rich ‘N Thick Hot Chocolate
1 cup water
2 ounces Bakers unsweetened baking chocolate
1/4 cup sugar
6 cups milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
Place water and chocolate in cereal bowl. Microwave for 1 minute. Pour into heavy medium saucepan and continue cooking over medium heat. Whisk until mixture is well-blended. Add sugar. Mix well.
Bring to a boil on medium-high heat. Boil 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Gradually add milk, stirring with wire whisk until well-blended. Stir in vanilla. Reduce heat to medium.
Cook until mixture is heated through, stirring occasionally. Serve hot.
