Easter: Who are we really dressing up for?

For as long as I can remember, Easter was a time of getting all dressed up in your best Sunday clothes, going to church with your family, followed by lunch and/or Easter egg hunting with the cousins.  Growing up, I knew that Easter was not really about getting gigantic Easter baskets filled with candy and hunting eggs for prizes.  Even now, I do these things with my own children.  But I have always been taught and teach my own children, that Easter is about celebrating the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus.

This last week, I was thinking about all the running around I needed to do before Easter (get Drew a nice shirt or vest outfit, get Lauren a new dress which is usually followed by new shoes, get myself something new that fits and that I haven't worn every Easter for the last 3 years...).  But then I began thinking, if I spend all my days leading up to Easter running around like a crazy woman to make sure we all look picture perfect (because there will inevitably be pictures) and spend too much money on things that will be given away within a year, I've missed the point of Easter.

I wonder if we, as regular church-goers, end up turning people away from attending our church because they look at us and think, "Oh, that's the rich church" or "Oh, I'm not fancy enough to attend that church".  I wonder if we become so consumed by appearance and material things that we miss what's right in front of us...people!

I think this quote from the book titled Seven, by Jen Hatmaker, explains what I mean, "There is something noble about an assembly of believers in simple clothes, where they lobby isn't filled with people saying, 'You look pretty' to one another.  Maybe looking pretty isn't the catalyst for the Spirit's movement.  Perhaps an obsessive occupation with dresses and hair and shoes detracts us from the point of the gathering; a fixation on Jesus. When the jars of clay remember they are jars of clay, the treasure within gets all the glory, which seems somehow more fitting."

Don't misunderstand, I'm not saying this is an excuse to pull out the scrubs.  I am saying that for me, I spend entirely too much time every Sunday morning stressing about what to wear.  How much time do I spend clothing my heart and my spirit with God's love and peace and understanding and wisdom?  I'm sure I will wake up this Easter Sunday morning, get everyone looking picture perfect, like I always do, but this year, I'll make sure it's not the priority and I'll make sure I dress up for Jesus from the inside out.

Who is Christ to You?

December 1st, the beginning of the Christmas season.  The beginning of shopping till you drop, baking till you promise you will never eat another cookie again and the beginning of traditions.  So many times, myself included, we get so caught up in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, that we take for granted the reason we have this holiday in the first place, which is to celebrate Christ's birth.  The birth of a God that was fully man, the birth of a Savior, the birth of a miracle worker, the birth of a man that hung out with the diseased, the unpopular, the untouchables and the children.  

So often we miss opportunities to bless those who need to see God in their lives.  What if Christ put those people in that exact place, at that exact moment when He knew our paths would cross?  What if we took some time to slow down and just be still and listen to God?  What if we looked at the world through His eyes?

There have been examples in my life where I have seen God's people miss opportunities and where I have been strongly convicted by such instances.  I remember during a business meeting at a church I attended, a discussion arose about a certain family that had been attending our services.  They were not clean and not well-mannered.  Apparently that caused a disturbance to some.  It broke my heart during that meeting as I sat there with tears falling from my face, thinking about how unloving this whole situation was.  I left the meeting and went to the restroom to bawl in silence.  I know, with all that is in me, that this family is one that would have been at Christ's side and one that would even have been invited to dine with Him.  

So the question came to my mind these past few weeks, "Who is Christ to me?".  Yes, we can give Sunday School answers such as, King, Savior, friend, father, healer, etc.  And those are all true.  But, to me, Christ is also this; He is the person that takes a family that is dirty, poor and ill-mannered to lunch after church, He is the person who takes in orphans, He is the person who visits the elderly and adopts them as their own, He is the family that feeds the hungry, He is the child who gives bags of clothes and toys to the poor, He is the man that leaves his own family to help those involved in disasters, He is willing to be uncool and selfless and risk everything to save even one.  That is who Christ is to me and that is who we are to be to this world.  

I know that works is not what saves me.  Christ on the cross saved me.  But, it is quite selfish for me to keep all that to myself.  When I think about all He has done for me, I feel like shouting from the rooftop and singing praises to Him.  (And now that I work from home, I do!)  When we can remember and truly take hold of the fact that we are free in Christ, it becomes natural to want others to experience the same thing. 

So, during this Christmas season, try to remember who Christ is to you.  Try to bless those around you during the craziness and busyness and traveling and eating.  Be aware of your surroundings and have an open heart to those whose path you cross.  It just might be someone Christ planted in your path, just for you to have the opportunity to bless them.  Do you have traditions of blessing others during the Christmas season?  Tell me what you do as a family to help those during this season and tell me...

Who is Christ to you?

I have recently deactivated my Facebook account.  It was becoming unhealthy for me to run to my phone every time it buzzed and to spend so much time comparing myself to others (what they had that I didn't, why they always looked so cute after having babies and I don't, how they always seemed to have time for date night, etc.).  I dug deep down in my soul and remembered all those little things my mom always told me (and that I always rolled my eyes about).  Things like, happiness is a choice; just because it's the right thing to do doesn't make it easy; just pray, don't worry about it, just pray.  I decided that my worth as a person is not to be determined by earthly measures.  Only Christ can satisfy me and only He decides what  I'm worth.

There is a new song on the Passion:  White Flag cd called You Revive Me.  It has been my song of the day for several weeks now.  The lyrics follow:

Lord I have seen Your goodness

And I know the way You are

Give me eyes to see You in the dark

And Your face shines a glory

That I only know in part

And there is still a longing

A longing in my heart

You revive me

You revive me Lord

And all my deserts are rivers of joy

You are the treasure I could not afford

So I'll spend myself till I'm empty and poor

All for You

You revive me Lord

My soul is thirsty

Only You can satisfy

You are the well that never will run dry

And I'll praise You for the blessing

For calling me your friend

And in Your name I'm lifting

I'm lifting up my hands

I'm alive

I'm alive

You breath on me

You revive me

You can listen to the song here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GsVd2LexR88

This song has become my focus song of each day.  I have (out of nowhere) had this enormous desire to see Revival in America.  God's people have to realize this world is not our home.  We have become entirely too comfortable living the life of the world instead of emptying ourselves for Christ daily and learning the true meaning of sacrifice, passion and love.  When we, as the body of Christ, can remember to pray for our enemies, give our lives away and stand for Christ, America can turn back to God and shout, "I'm alive, I'm alive!"  

So, during those days when I felt so discouraged because my life was not like all my "friends" on Facebook's was, I can take comfort in knowing that they all have the same problems I do (marriage, kids, faith, weight/fitness, money).  The problem is no one talks about it.  Why?  Because we know we'll be judged for it or we feel embarrassed.  Well, I'm taking a stand and taking back my life to live for Christ.  I'm laying it all out there because I don't want someone to feel embarrassed to talk to me about their problems and feel that they have nowhere to go when a crisis has come in their life.  I'm being honest and taking off the mask of having it all together.  I so do NOT have it all together!  

I'm a full-time working mom of two and a wife who is desperately trying to grow hedges around my marriage to keep Satan and the world away from us.  I struggle BIG TIME with parenting issues.  I have the most awesome daughter ever, but we are way too much alike and we butt heads constantly.  I have a little boy who will charm the socks off anyone, but is so ornery that I'm scared of what's to come.  I'm on a diet one day and losing weight and the next I'm doing Insanity and gaining weight.  I'm preoccupied with being perfect and failing miserably.  So, this blog is just a way for me to get those things off my chest that I hold on to so tightly and hoping I can touch lives along the way.  This is just me, doing me.  Going about this whole "life" thing from a  different perspective (an eternal one).