"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"

The first post I wrote on this blog was a hymn, so I wanted to close the current year of 2005 with another hymn. The first and last verses of this hymn by the Englishman, Isaac Watts, speak of time past and time to come. What fitting thoughts as we reflect on the year just completed, and enter into a new year full of the unknown, and full of promise. You can listen to the hymn and read about Isaac Watts.



"O God, Our Help in Ages Past"

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Our shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Still may we dwell secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood,
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

Time, like an ever rolling stream,
Bears all its sons away;
They fly, forgotten, as a dream
Dies at the opening day.

O God, our help in ages past,
Our hope for years to come,
Be Thou our guide while life shall last,
And our eternal home.

Simple Pleasures

We're enjoying this quiet time after Christmas. I love everything about Christmas. The anticipation, the carols, rereading the Christmas story in the gospels, the Christmas trees, unwrapping the ornaments and remembering events and people, sending and receiving Christmas cards, the baking (this year our 9 year old daughter baked some bars and some cookies all by herself--she had a ball!), the Christmas Eve service, seeing the kids' reactions on Christmas morning when they see all the presents under the tree (it always surprises me with how bountiful it looks), the Christmas dinner, seeing family and friends, talking to far-away family on Christmas, driving around and looking at lights on houses...and on and on.

But I also like this time afterwards, when things are quieter. The magic of the sacred side of Christmas lingers. The hustle and bustle of the secular side of Christmas is diminishing and we're enjoying the fruits of our labors. The trees sparkle, the cards have been mailed out and we read of others' lives, the gifts have been wrapped and given, delight has been seen in our children's eyes, the big Christmas Day dinner has been prepared, and its leftovers enjoyed. We continue to listen to wonderful Christmas music, and move the Wise Men closer to the manger scene in our three creches.


Yesterday afternoon I took the kids over to a lake that's about a 15 minute walk from our house. Our daughter fed the ducks and our son tried fishing for a few minutes. We saw a beautiful new duck we've never before seen in Colorado. But the most amazing thing was the ice on the lake. The edges of the lake are frozen and there are millions of tiny chunks of ice along the line where the water meets the ice. The afternoon sun shone on these bits of ice and made the perimeter of the lake look like fine crystal. As the water lapped against the ice, there was a delicate sound like distant gentle windchimes tinkling. It was most unusual. Very pretty to look at and oh, so beautiful to listen to. Only God can continue to amaze and show such beauty and wonder in simple things such as this. Obviously not as important as the One Gift He gave us on the first Christmas, but another beautiful gift to enjoy nonetheless. One of the simple pleasures of living in a cold climate at Christmastime.

"Silent Night, Holy Night"

Although this hymn is traditionally sung at the conclusion of many Christmas Eve services, it so much more suited for Christmas night. It is, of course, a beautiful lullaby about a newborn Baby, the Son of God. First sung in the Austrian Alps on December 24, 1818, this beloved Christmas hymn is now sung all over the world in many different languages. For a good children's book about the hymn and its history, go here.


"Silent Night, Holy Night"
Silent night, holy night, All is calm, all is bright.
Round yon virgin mother and child. Holy infant so tender and mild,
Sleep in heavenly peace, Sleep in heavenly peace.

Silent night, holy night, Shepherds quake at the sight.
Glories stream from heaven afar, Heavenly hosts sing alleluia;
Christ the Savior, is born! Christ, the Savior, is born!

Silent night, holy night, Son of God, love's pure light.
Radiant beams from Thy holy face, With the dawn of redeeming grace,
Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth, Jesus, Lord, at Thy birth.

Christmas Eve

It was exactly 11 years ago this evening that our son spent his first service in an American church. He had just arrived from Korea on Monday evening, and Saturday was December 24. So, off to the Christmas Eve service we went; a new family of three. Finally three, after fourteen Christmases as a family of two.

I still remember holding him at the service with wonder, happiness, and a healthy dose of trepidation. He held on to the edge of our hymnal as we sang the carols, and we thought he was precious. Tonight, at the Christmas Eve service, he held his own hymnal and sang the hymns with us. Some from memory. He's only 11, but can it be that his voice is getting a little lower? He's so tall and sturdy that he practically knocks me down with his hugs. We look at him sitting between us, right next to his little sister, and we nod knowingly. We are still filled with wonder, happiness, and a healthy dose of trepidation. And yes, he's still precious.

Thank you, God, for Your Son. What wonder, happiness, and trepidation You must have brought to Mary and Joseph. And what must You have felt? Knowing you had sent Your only Son to a fallen world. Knowing what He would endure. And yet loving us so much that You did it anyway!


On the way home from church this evening, our nine-year-old daughter mused, "I wonder if Jesus is celebrating His birthday in heaven?"

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

"Once in Royal David's City"

The Fourth Sunday of Advent

This is another of my favorite Christmas hymns. It is usually the first hymn sung at the Festival of Nine Lessons and Carols, which originated in Cambridge, England, in 1918. Traditionally, the first verse is sung by a boy soprano, and then other voices are added in subsequent verses. If you have never heard this sung, try to get a copy of a King's College Choir recording, or listen to the service on a radio station. The classical music station in Denver, KVOD, will broadcast this year's Lessons and Carols (from Cambridge) at 8 a.m. on December 24. It's well worth adding this to one of your Christmas traditions!

"Once in Royal David's City"

Once in royal David's city, Stood a lowly cattle shed,
Where a mother laid her baby, In a manger for His bed;
Mary was that mother mild, Jesus Christ her little child.

He came down to earth from heaven, Who is God and Lord of all,
And His shelter was a stable, And His cradle was a stall;
With the poor, and mean, and lowly, Lived on earth our Savior holy.

And thro' all His wondrous childhood, He would honor and obey,
Love, and watch the lowly maiden, In whose gentle arms He lay;
Christian children all must be, Mild, Obedient, good as He.

For He is our childhood's pattern; Day by day like us He grew;
He was little, weak, and helpless, Tears and smiles like us He knew;
And He feeleth for our sadness, And He shareth in our gladness.

And our eyes at last shall see Him, through His own redeeming love;
For that child so dear and gentle, Is our Lord in heaven above;
And He leads His children on, To the place where He is gone.

How Then Shall We Teach?

"These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up." Deuteronomy 6:6-7

I'm going through The Divine Conspiracy by Dallas Willard. What I read today paralleled the recent blog discussions regarding turning our children's hearts towards God vs. having children who can spout all of the correct Christian verbiage. Willard states that how teachers and learners operated in Jesus' day was so different from how we attempt to teach and learn today. In order to understand what Jesus is teaching in the Beatitudes, we must first understand how He taught.

"...[T]he aim of the popular teacher in Jesus' time was not to impart information, but to make a significant change in the lives of the hearers... The teacher in Jesus' time--and especially the religious teacher--taught in such a way that he would impact the life flow of the hearer, leaving a lasting impression without benefit of notes, recorders, or even memorization. Whatever did not make a difference in that way just made no difference."

Willard then recalls where he was when he learned that President Kennedy had been shot, in order to prove his point with the following. "We automatically remember what makes a real difference in our life. The secret of the great teacher is to speak words, to foster experiences, that impact the active flow of the hearer's life. That is what Jesus did by the way He taught. He tied His teachings to concrete events that make up the hearers' lives. He aimed His sayings at their hearts and habits as these were revealed in their daily lives."

The parables that we have learned from reading the Bible will "sit in our minds and go off like the 'tiny time capsules' of popular medications. The Master teacher has done His work, or rather, keeps on doing His work."

"Now, Jesus not only taught in this manner; He also taught us, His students to the kingdom, to teach in the same way. He taught about teaching in the kingdom of the heavens--using, of course, a parable. 'So every Bible scholar who is trained in the kingdom of the heavens is like someone over a household that shows from his treasures things new and things old' (Matt. 13:52 REV). By showing to others the presence of the kingdom in the concrete details of our shared existence, we impact the lives and hearts of our hearers, not just their heads."

I don't take this to mean that we don't have our children memorize or write in our home schools. But I think it reinforces the thinking that we need to focus on the hearts of our children. For example, this doesn't mean that we don't memorize scripture, but in addition to memorizing, we teach, and watch for evidence of, hearts that are turned towards God.

The Thongs of Whose Sandals...

And this was [John's] message: "After me will come one more powerful than I, the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie."
Mark 1:7

I love it when God takes seemingly unrelated events and/or things I read, and puts them together to show me His truth. Last week I was perusing a couple of blogs concerning the Borden/Ludwig murder case in Pennsylvania. Three blogs in particular and their subsequent comments were quite insightful: Choosing Home, The Common Room, and Spunky Homeschool.

In the middle of a swirl of thoughts concerning the Pennsylvania teens, I read from Mark 1:7, "...the thongs of whose sandals I am not worthy to stoop down and untie." I was shocked. I was humbled. I was convicted.

I was struck by how John's humility was an important message to those of us who have the blessing of parenting. Here was John the Baptist, the cousin of Jesus, the messenger, the "voice of one calling in the wilderness," the one who would baptize our Lord. John, whom God created "to prepare the way for the Lord," stating that he was unworthy to untie Jesus's sandals! The dusty roads of John's time would certainly make for quite dirty feet; but compound this with the fact that the duty of untying sandals was usually performed by non-Jewish slaves.

The discussion of the Pennsylvania case has been very clear about the importance of knowing your children's hearts and the false sense of security that things such as having a church-going family, Christian parents, home schooling, etc. can possibly bring. John the Baptist is certainly physically capable of removing Jesus's sandals, but he intimates he is unworthy to perform the duty of a non-Jewish slave. If he felt this way, how can we ever take our parenting responsibilities lightly? We are accountable for the eternal souls of the little ones we bring into our families! If John does not feel fit to undo the strap of Jesus's sandals, should we not then be continually on our knees regarding our children?!?

Today in My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers commented on Luke 18:1, "They should always pray and not give up." He wrote, "You cannot intercede if you do not believe in the reality of the Redemption; you will turn intercession into futile sympathy with human beings which will only increase their submissive content to being out of touch with God...Our work lies in coming into definite contact with God about everything, and we shirk it by becoming active workers. We do the things that can be tabulated but we will not intercede."

God, forgive us our complacency and spur us "further up and further in" towards more Godly parenting of, and prayer for, the precious ones You have placed in our care!

"Of the Father's Love Begotten"

The Third Sunday of Advent

I love the words and harmonies of this 13th century plainsong hymn.

"Of the Father's Love Begotten"

Of the Father's love begotten, Ere the worlds began to be,
He is Alpha and Omega, He the source, the ending He,
Of the things that are, that have been,
And that future years shall see, Evermore and evermore!

O ye heights of heaven adore Him; Angel hosts, His praises sing,
Powers, dominions, bow before Him, And extol our God and King.
Let no tongue on earth be silent,
Every voice in concert ring, Evermore and evermore!

Christ, to Thee with God the Father, And, O Holy Ghost, to Thee,
Hymn and chant and high thanksgiving, And unwearied praises be.
Honor, glory, and dominion,
And eternal victory, Evermore and evermore!

A Different Kind of Son

Kim, at Mother-Lode, directed me to a wonderful blog written by Peter Leithart. His Advent studies include some thoughts about Joseph, the adoptive father of Jesus. This caused me to be reminded of a recent conversation with my son.

My husband and I were blessed to be able to adopt both of our children. They have always known they were adopted, and the full meaning of this gradually becomes more clear to them as they grow older. A few weeks ago, our son (age 11) asked me a question about why he was so tall for his age, and the answer required a little foray into the role that genetics play in determining physical characteristics. I took out his adoption notebook full of the plethora of documents one must fill out and acquire during the adoption process. It seemed appropriate to share with him some of the information we have concerning his birth parents. When he learned that his birth father was tall and big, he smiled and said, "That's why I'm so tall!" He wanted to know more, and when I shared that the adoption agency papers described his birth mother as an introvert, and his birth father as an extrovert, he had another "light-bulb moment" and said, "That's just like me. I'm a little bit of both."

I am so thankful that we home school, and that I could answer these questions during our day, right when our son needed to know. But, I also see that God was able to teach me something from this exchange. As I ponder Joseph's role in the upbringing of Jesus, his adopted Son, I am struck with a powerful contrast. In OUR family, it is my husband and I who gradually unfold the history of our children's past for them. (This is not to negate the part that God plays in this. Just bear with me...) In Jesus's earthly family, it was HE who gradually unfolded the story of His FUTURE, His purpose for living here on earth, to Joseph and Mary. This is what Jesus always does. He takes what WE do, and turns it upside down and inside out to show Who He Is. It is His humanity that helps us to see similarities to our lives, but it is His deity that always surprises us and stretches our thinking.

And to think that I learned this because my son is tall for his age. Only God can do such wonders!

"Hark! the Glad Sound"

The Second Sunday of Advent

There are so many wonderful hymns celebrating our Lord's birth. How can I ever narrow it down? Here's one with which many of you are probably not familiar. The melody comes from the Ravenscroft's Psalter of 1621.

This week, as we prepare our houses for Christmas, let's remember to prepare Him a throne in our hearts. And as we purchase, make, wrap, and send gifts; let's ponder anew the greatest gifts ever given: His life, His forgiveness, His grace.

"Hark! the Glad Sound"

Hark! the glad sound! The Saviour comes,
The Saviour promised long;
Let every heart prepare a throne,
And every voice a song.

He comes, the pris'ners to release,
In Satan's bondage held;
The gates of brass before Him burst,
The iron fetters yield.

He comes, the broken heart to bind,
The bleeding soul to cure;
And with the treasures of His grace
To enrich the humble poor.

Our glad hosannas, Prince of Peace,
Thy welcome shall proclaim;
And heav'n's eternal arches ring
With Thy beloved Name.

Happy Holidays?

Everywhere you go, it's "Happy Holidays" these days. The brightly lit signs on the city buildings all say it. The stores all say it. The very stores who try diligently to get the vast majority of us who celebrate Christmas in some way, to buy much more than we need. They'll take our money for Christmas stuff, but they can't quite bring themselves to say, "Merry Christmas." Company policy, you know. Don't want to offend anyone. Separation of church and Target.

So it is with some reluctance that I change our calendars over from November to December today. What a blessing it is to have Thanksgiving right before Christmas. Just a week ago I was preparing the stuffing to go in the turkey, planning how I was going to arrange the candles, pumpkins, and Indian corn on the table, and thinking of my many blessings. I placed five kernels of corn on everyone's plate, reminding us of the bleak second winter the Pilgrims had in the New World. Five kernels of corn. Per person. Per day! And, yet, they STILL praised God!

While we are in the midst of the frenzy that our society now refers to as "The Holidays," ponder these words written by Governor Bradford of Plymouth Plantation:

[The people of Plymouth Plantation] cherished a great hope and inward zeal of laying good foundations, or at least making some ways toward it, for the propagation and advancement of the gospel of the kingdom of Christ in the remote parts of the world, even though they should be but stepping stones to others in the performance of so great a work.
Thus out of small beginnings greater things have been produced by His hand that made all things of nothing, and gives being to all things that are; and, as one small candle may light a thousand, so the light here kindled hath shone unto many, yea in some sort to our whole nation; let the glorious name of Jehovah have all the praise.

The next time someone tells you, "Happy Holidays," at least reply with, "Merry Christmas!" If the Pilgrims could suffer so much to lay a good foundation for the advancement of God's kingdom, it's the least we can do. And if we're really bold, perhaps we can come up with something more profound and worthy of the sacrifices of our Pilgrim brethren. Something more profound and worthy of the sacrifice of our Lord and King!