Advent Challenge Day 11

-
Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God John 1:12



OK.  Today I've officially hit the wall.  I have too many things to do in a short amount of time, very little energy and very little motivation.  My pantry has a fruit fly plague, my kitchen has that icky feeling of not having been cleaned properly for a while.  Kids are grumpy and annoying me and each other.  I haven't got my Christmas shopping done yet and I'm starting to not care (which is dangerous because come Christmas Day someone will miss out and then I'll feel bad).

My children's bedrooms are also a mess but who has time to worry about that at the moment?!  The good news is that despite having a messy room and not being particularly pleasant (because they're tired after too many events and late nights), my kids are still my kids.  Their status hasn't changed because of their ineptitude with housework.

The reminder that today's verse gives us, is that even if we're a mess and our lives aren't great, once we trust in Jesus, we're in God's family.  We're his children.

Tim Chester writes 'Our new birth is what makes us God's children - not our efforts.  Relating to God is not complicated or hard.  It is as simple as a child relating to her father.  So our job is to trust in God as our Father: to see his smile, to welcome his embrace, to enjoy his love'.


Catch up on the rest of the Advent series here


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Going grey at 40

-
Image
I have written about this before , but after broaching the subject on facebook a few weeks ago I've been thinking a lot about the whole colouring your hair deal.  On facebook I asked when having natural coloured hair was going to become trendy like other old fashioned things like quilting and growing your veges?  I am quite tired of how time consuming colouring my hair is and how expensive it is. A very interesting conversation resulted with a huge variety of opinions.  Many of the women said they would be going natural, but of course they aren't gray now (and are my age) so I don't think that really counts.  Until you ACTUALLY start going seriously gray/white you can't see how it impacts on the way you look.  I think it is different to be almost white (like myself) at age 40 and agreeing in principle to going natural when it happens to you in the future (when you will be a lot older than I am now!). Just quietly, I'll believe it when I see it (let me throw d
Read more

Confessions of an earl grey addict

-
Image
I have to confess in this public forum that I'm addicted to earl grey tea. I used to like the expensive stuff (Twinings) but because I drink so much of it, over the years I've had to buy the home brand version because I couldn't afford to sustain my habit. On Monday mornings I'd go to playgroup and have a cup of tea.  But one wasn't enough.  I'd have to go back for another. I'd visit a friend and enjoy the first cuppa.  But start to wonder if it too rude to ask for another, an hour into our visit. I don't have milk or sugar with it.  That just wrecks the purity of the experience.  I would branch out sometimes and enjoy Lady Grey or French Earl Grey for a treat.  But for everyday purposes my friend was the 'Earl'. But two weeks ago I went cold turkey.  I just decided that it was time to break the habit.  I have entered the world of herbal teas with all its strange flavours.  Peppermint (toothpaste dissolved in hot water).  Camomile (wee
Read more

Christmas memory creating

-
Image
This is OK I'm sure I've written about this before but every year I struggle with the pressure to be an uber mum and have some kind of Christmas craft decorating the house.  Instead I end up with a leaning Christmas tree that the kids have decorated themselves (certainly not going to make the cut for a Myer catalogue), with lights that drove the husband to distraction to untangle. There's a trend (especially in Christian circles) to create family traditions.  And I'm a total believer.  Good, healthy childhood memories and traditions have been shown to be very significant in developing high levels of security and resilience. But over time the memories/tradition trend seems to have developed into some kind of Pinterest Christmas competition.  No longer is the knitted nativity scene that Aunty Pip bought for us from the Mother's Union stall in 2003 enough.  It needs to be done by me.  And this is how my family will unite, bond and be functional. The problem i
Read more