Making Room~

Tuesday Greetings~

Luke 2:7 “And Mary gave birth to her firstborn son; and she wrapped Him in cloths, and laid Him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.”

A couple of years ago New York City was in a frenzy over the visit of the future King and Queen of England.  They are two of the most famous people on earth, and I can only imagine the bragging rights any establishment they did business with will have from now on.  Duchess Kate reportedly had a pizza party, and it wouldn’t surprise me to eventually see a headline that reads, “The future Queen of England loves our pepperoni!” 

And it is precisely because of their fame and significance that E-V-E-R-Y  S-I-N-G-L-E  attention to detail was checked, rechecked, and then checked again.  Which is why I can not imagine the royal couple trying to check into their hotel only to be told there is no room for them.

Yet, this is exactly what happened to the King of kings, Lord of Lords, Prince of Peace, Bread of Life, and Light of the World.  To be fair, maybe the innkeeper had no clue Who he was turning away.  And in the grand scheme of things, Jesus was born under the exact conditions that God fore-ordained.  

But…

We all know better and therefore must be diligent in making sure there is always room for Jesus in every area of our life.  I want Him to bless and guide every single aspect of my existence.  There is nothing off limits.  

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We can scarcely imagine the scene where Mary and Joseph were told there was no room for them.  How could anyone turn You away?  Maybe the innkeeper did not know, but we know Who You are, and we welcome the overflow and abundance of goodness You bring into our lives.  Therefore, we are making room right now to receive You  -  today and everyday.  In Your name, AMEN~    

Surprise!

Mark 7:37 "People were overwhelmed with amazement. 'He has done everything well,' they said. 'He even makes the deaf hear and the mute speak.'"

Last night Rayray called me at 8 PM and asked me where I was.  I was about to take a bath because somehow - I totally blame myself - I thought the dinner she had invited me to was for tonight not last night.  I threw on my favorite t-shirt, put a whimpering Hershey Pie in his cage, hurried out the door with Jorge, and arrived 45 minutes late! 

To be honest, I sort of had a clue that we were invited in honor of our 30th wedding anniversary, which is today. And I was kind of relieved that the dinner was last night because what kind of child asks their parents to dinner on the actual day?  But it was still a night of surprises!

When we arrived, Hormone and his lovely wife, Lis, were there.  Shiny helium number 30 balloons were strung up. The girls, with full support of their husbands, had prepared our favorite foods, presented us with our favorite dessert, gifted us a family tree complete with pictures of each one of them and my granddogs, and even had a Q&A game for me and Jorge to play. When asked what my super power would be I replied, "I want to squish people." In retrospect, I should have said something better, but I was overwhelmed and feeling grateful and nostalgic, and then I started a teary-eyed speech about how much I love every one and they poo-pooed it saying I was too dramatic... Jorge's epic advice of the night was, "Pray and laugh every day." 

Nonetheless, surprises can be wonderful, and the Bible is full of them.

Surprise, Hannah,  you're finally having a baby!

Surprise, King Darius, Daniel is still alive even though you threw him in the Lion's den!

Surprise, Pharoah's daughter, there's a baby in this basket you just found in the river,  and he will grow up to deliver the Israelites!

Surprise, Mary, you are going to have  a baby, and He will be the Savior of the world!

Surprise, all you onlookers, Jesus makes the deaf hear and the mute speak!

Surprise, Peter, Jesus Christ, the King of kings and Lord of lords, is going to wash your feet!

Surprise, all you judgmental people, Jesus hangs out with sinners and protects adulterous women!

God always does the unexpected, but whatever it is, the Bible verse above tells us that He does everything well!  So as we pray today and every day,  let's embrace God's awesome unpredictability.  He will answer our prayers above and beyond our wildest dreams (see Ephesians 3:20),  and we should all live in holy anticipation of God doing something wonderful in our lives!

PRAYER: Dear Lord, Thank You that You surprise us in miraculous, wonderful ways.  We open our lives up to You today to receive more blessings than we ever imagined.  Many of us our praying about our families, jobs, health, emotional well-being, which direction to take, and relationships.  Whatever our need may be, surprise us with Your power, love, and might as You answer us.  Thank You that we can trust You to do everything well in our lives. In Jesus name, AMEN!

RSVP

Tuesday greetings from sunny and beautiful South Florida!

It's been four years since I was busy preparing for Hormone's wedding, and three since Rachel's. (How can this be? Time has flown by!) And one of the details that I stressed over more than others were the RSVPs, which is an acronym for the lovely French phrase: Répondez S'il Vous Plaît - Reply, If You Please. In order to have the right amount of food, decorations, table settings, etc...it was important to know how many guests were attending.  

Including an RSVP is an elegant way of asking someone to either accept or decline your invitation, and in my case all I asked for was a simple email reply. Our Lord also has an RSVP - it's the Bible.

Verse after verse after verse is an invitation to secure eternal life, have peace, enjoy life, find guidance, be filled with joy, overflow with hope and healing... EVERYTHING we could possibly ever need or want has been provided graciously and abundantly by Christ.  The only thing left for us to do is respond.  Will we?

Will we say, "YES!" to the King of Kings and Lord of lords?  

I could not force anyone to attend my kids' weddings; they had to come of their own free will.  We must do the same with Christ.  The invitation has been issued for whoever wants it; we just have to RSVP.

PRAYER: Dear Lord, We respond to Your goodness today and accept You into our lives.  We thank You for doing so much for us because we need You every single day.  We are grateful for your generosity and love.  Today we especially respond to Your invitation to provide peace. You said that when we pray Your peace would guard our hearts.  We receive it! In Jesus' name, AMEN.