christmas

A Christmas Prayer

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

Dear Heavenly Father,

We thank You for being Emmanuel, the Lord is with us this Holy day.

For sending your One and Only Son, Jesus, to become a sacrifice for our sins

For becoming the bridge between You and us.

Through Salvation in Jesus, You wipe our slate of sins clean and fill us with Your Holy Spirit, so that we can enter into a relationship with You.

We acknowledge Jesus’ birth is the Greatest Gift ever given, out of Your love for the people You created. All other gifts which are bestowed on us this Christmas season are a reflection of Your love and goodness.

As we reflect on those who are no longer with us, we acknowledge our lack of understanding. Our human minds cannot make sense of tragedy and loss.

But You, O God, are the Author of life. Our times are in Your hands.

You have promised to work in all things for the good of those who love You. (See Romans 8:28)

You are a faithful Heavenly Father. You have promised to never leave us nor forsake us. (See Hebrews 13:5)

And You have promised everlasting life to those who believe in You and call on Jesus’ name.

Now on this Blessed Christmas Day, we offer our hearts to you in worship.

Fill us with:

Love so that we might love ourselves and others;

Joy so that we might enjoy the good things in life;

Peace so that we might be sure of our Salvation and also to bring harmony between us and others;

and Hope for the Return of Jesus who will gather us all to our Eternal Home.

Now we lift our hands toward heaven in praise and also reach out toward others with kindness and goodwill.

We thank you for Your Gifts:

for the Redemption from our sins;

for Comfort in our solitude;

and for Freedom to worship You.

Amen.

From the Archives:  Finding Joy Again

/ Carol Underhill / 2 Comments

Having an Advent wreath in my home is something that I didn’t start until a year or two after my husband passed away. At the time, I was looking for a way to make Christmas more meaningful to my son, who was in elementary school at the time. So I bought an Advent wreath. It was plain with brackets for the candles, so I made it more festive with fake greenery I had on hand.

I purchased the candles as a set. I bought a long lighter and a candle snuffer so my son could participate in the lighting of the candles. (His favorite part being “unlighting” them.)

For a few years, we did this together, then he reached his teens and no longer cared to participate.

I continued setting up my Advent wreath at Christmastime and lighting the candles each year. (I always have to dig out the little pamphlet that tells what each candle means, but that’s okay.)

I’m not always a frugal person, but in this instance, I was. Year after year I used the same candles until they were melted down about halfway.

This year I decided it was time for new candles. I ordered some online.

When they arrived I was disappointed that one had cracks in it. And they didn’t quite fit my wreath.

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As you can see from the picture above, they are leaning a little.

This year it was hard for me to think about lighting the candle for Joy. We’ve experienced loss in our extended family and a very dear friend also began her journey with grief. I didn’t really feel the joy of the season, so I didn’t light the candle.

Now it was nearly the close of the third week of Advent. And I still had not lit my candles.

Today, as I went about my day, the words of the song, “Through all of It” by Colton Dixon kept coming to me.

(I’ll post the link to the YouTube video below).

The lyrics that were running through mind are:

“I have Won, I have Lost, I got it right but sometimes I have not. Life’s been a journey, I’ve seen joy, I’ve seen regret, but You have been my God through all of it.”


I played the song on my music app. I read the lyrics as I listened. 
After listening to the whole song, I was inspired to light my Advent candles.
I lit the candles for Hope, Peace, and yes, I even lit the candle for Joy (The pink one).

The words of the song are so true. My life has been a journey. There’s been times of both joy and pain, it seems, and oh so many regrets.

As you can see in the photo, my candles are leaning a little. My Joy candle is not very strong in its position.

Sort of like my emotions this year.

My Joy is faltering a little. It isn’t very strong.

But I was still able to light it, and while leaning, the candle is secure in its brass holder. (Like we are in God’s love.)

It was only lit for a minute or two, while I played through the song, “Through all of It.”

By taking this moment in my day to focus on the reason for this season, I felt hope that there will again be joyous celebrations ahead.

As promised, here is a link to the Lyrics video on YouTube, “Through all of It” by Colton Dixon.

Cat Tails: Christmas Nuisance

/ Carol Underhill / Leave a comment

This is our Christmas tree. I think it turned out very pretty, but you might ask, where are all the ornaments?

Since we put our tree up on Christmas Eve, I only put a dozen or so ornaments on it.

Why did we wait so late to set it up?

Technically, we set it up a couple of weeks before Christmas.

Then this happened:

My sister asked if we were decorating for Halloween:

As we set up the tree the first time, we realized why all of the lights on the prelit tree weren’t working.

The cats had apparently chewed through the cords last year or while it was in storage.

It only took 6 hours for the two cats to knock the tree down (still undecorated).

After they brought it to the floor, we considered not having a tree this year. Then we decided to put it up at the last moment possible. I bought a couple of strands of lights and we added garland that I had saved in the Christmas decorations. I put a few of my favorite ornaments on it, nothing that would break if the tree “happened” to fall.

The decorated tree might have intimidated the cats, or maybe they’d lost interest by then. For whatever reason, they left it alone, and we had a pretty tree to put our presents under.

Cats-what a nuisance. lol.

We like them, anyway.