Advent: Day 18

Lego Calendar:

Activity: Deliver cookies and ornaments to the neighbors.


I guess if we want a white Christmas we need to plan our cookie delivery day close to Christmas Day.  We had 8 inches of snow on the ground but it all melted.  We woke up this morning to a skiff of snow and a cold wind. Similar weather to what we had last year for our cookie delivery day.

what we delivered to the neighbors

As Christmas approaches and our weekends are busy with parties, programs, recitals, and the call of the slopes {for Lance and the kids, not for me} with new fallen snow, I have been trying to keep our activities simple but still meaningful. I did think today's activity might have been too simplistic.  I kept wondering if I should have planned something else today as well.  I knew our neighbors would be thankful for the treats but I wanted it to be a little more meaningful to them then just dropping something at the door and wishing them a Merry Christmas.

Our first stop was an older couple that lives a few houses down. The husband is not well but the wife is quite a spunky lady.  She delights in visiting with my children and watching them play.  As soon as we came to the door she welcomed us into her home for a visit. She remembers anything the kids or I tell her about our lives and will ask about it the next time we see her.  She is grateful and gracious.  She loved having us sit down and visit with her for a few minutes.  The kids and I realized today that she is lonely.  She is at home taking care of her sick husband most days. My boys shovel their driveway and we send treats down sometimes when we bake but we don't spend enough time talking and visiting with her.  I think our simple activity turned into a lesson on being more intentional in our relationships with our neighbors, reaching out to them, and helping take care of them.  It was a lesson in what it means to be part of a community.  Something we take fore granted far too often as we are caught up in the busyness of life.

Bible Verses: Isaiah 61:1-3, 10-11
 The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me,
   because the LORD has anointed me
   to proclaim good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted,
   to proclaim freedom for the captives
   and release from darkness for the prisoners,
 to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor
   and the day of vengeance of our God,
to comfort all who mourn,
 and provide for those who grieve in Zion—
to bestow on them a crown of beauty
   instead of ashes,
the oil of joy
   instead of mourning,
and a garment of praise
   instead of a spirit of despair.
They will be called oaks of righteousness,
   a planting of the LORD
   for the display of his splendor. {1-3}
 I delight greatly in the LORD;
   my soul rejoices in my God.
For he has clothed me with garments of salvation
   and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness,
as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest,
   and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
For as the soil makes the sprout come up
   and a garden causes seeds to grow,
so the Sovereign LORD will make righteousness
   and praise spring up before all nations.{10-11}


1 Corinthians 13:8-13

Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. For we know in part and we prophesy in part, but when completeness comes, what is in part disappears.  When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me.  For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.