God is Not Dead

About the time of my Introduction Post, when I was in the throes of depression over the future of our country, these words kept running through my head: “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep". I knew they were from a hymn but couldn't remember which one. So I "googled" it. When it came up with the answer and it was part of a Christmas carol I decided to wait until now to write about it. Now I wish I could make the music play automatically when you click on my blog, but I do not know how. Other people do that and, honestly, I hate being subjected to their musical choices, but it seems to me like it would be appropriate here. On the other hand, what if I could never get it off again? That would be annoying! So, if you want to listen to the music and/or see all of the words, here is the link:

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

By now I must admit I don't remember what it was I wanted to say about it. I do know this has never been anywhere close to my favorite Christmas song, but I like the words in this stanza:

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
“God is not dead, nor doth He sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail
With peace on earth, good will to men.”

GOD IS NOT DEAD, NOR DOTH HE SLEEP! THE WRONG SHALL FAIL, THE
RIGHT PREVAIL! Those words helped me get past my feelings about Obama.
I still feel the same about Obama, I just don't care anymore. No matter what Obama does GOD IS NOT DEAD, NOR DOTH HE SLEEP! THE WRONG SHALL FAIL, THE RIGHT PREVAIL! Amen.

Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Galations 6:7

Silent Night

I was laying in bed, unable to sleep, thinking about the fact that I have not "blogged" for so long. And I was thinking about the fact that the stated purpose of this blog is to share what God has been teaching me, because there had been so much. And so, I thought, if I haven't written, does that mean that God has been silent?

No, God has not been silent. But I have not been taking the time to listen. I am busy with "the season" as most everyone is. There has been one small jewel in the midst of my busy-ness.

As I said earlier, I have been thinking a lot about "the Rapture". That thinking includes talking some about it with my kids. So one day recently Anna told me that she thinks Jesus is going to come back on Christmas. At the time she said it it struck me in many ways - among them the fact that a 7 year old is thinking about the return of her Jesus, the fact that she "gets it". But for whatever reason I didn't have time to really THINK about it much when she said it. It was filed in my brain, thankfully not in the basket labelled "get to it eventually" but in the basket labelled something like "take care of this soon". The thought continually makes its way to the front of my brain and I think about it, but only for extremely short bits of time.

A few days ago the thought resurfaced, followed by something like this:

"What if Jesus really was going to come back on Christmas? What would I be doing differently?
How ironic that I am wondering what I would do differently if I knew Jesus was coming back on Christmas because, in fact, he DID come on Christmas but I don't see any reverence for that fact in my actions."

That's all. I have to admit I am still caught up in things I want to get done before Christmas. I want to take time to follow that thought out, to meditate on it, to get right before God. Perhaps now is the time, seeing as it's 1:30 a.m. and I am awake.

"Silent Night. Holy Night. Son of God. Loves pure light." God is not silent. But I think maybe He wants ME to be silent for awhile.

A Personal Note...

...and a request for advice.

Two days before Thanksgiving, while picking Ethan up from preschool, it dawned on me that the family of one his classmates might be alone for the holiday. They only have 1 child, so it would be just the 3 of them. I asked and, sure enough, they had planned for a quiet holiday. I apologized for not thinking of them sooner and asked the mother if they would like to join us. She said she would talk to her husband about it. When I called the next day she said they were going to go ahead with their dinner at home (she had already thawed the turkey) but suggested they come over to visit after dinner. I agreed that that would be great, gave her directions to our house, and we agreed that we would talk the next day after our dinners.

She called me on Thanksgiving just as we were sitting down to dinner. I SHOULD have suggested they come over in an hour but for some reason I said I would call her back when we were finished. Well, dinner came and went; so did dessert, conversation and games. Guests left and Eric and I went to the kitchen to clean up about 8:30. It hit me then: I had completely forgotten to call her back. I called immediately, but what could I really say? I had forgotten them and that is all I could say. I apologized profusely. I could tell from her voice that they were really hurt. I don't blame them one bit for being hurt. Their 4 year old daughter had been looking forward to playing with her friend from school. What could they have told her?

I called her again on Sunday to see if they might want to come over. (That had been discussed before as a possibility.) I was told they were busy. I rather expected that.

Ethan went back to preschool yesterday. I debated whether or not to tell him about the mess I had made but decided not to. I don't think he could process the information correctly and I was afraid he might make the mess worse. When I picked him up from school he said "Ellen booed me today." I immediately told him what I had done and explained that Ellen had her feelings hurt by me. Today when we picked him up Anna asked "Did Ellen boo you again?" and he said "Yes." I suggested that he should tell Ellen that his Mom forgot to call and that we are really, really sorry. I don't think he will do that, although I can never be sure.

Does anyone have any suggestions of something I could do to make up for the mess I've made? I've been thinking and thinking about it but I am pretty much coming up blank. How would I feel if the roles were reversed? Pretty awful, and not in the mood to do anything with the offender. If nothing ever gets fixed I guess it won't be the end of the world - after the year of preschool is done we won't ever have to see Ellen or her family again. But 6 months seems like a long time for a little girl to be reminded of how she and her family were hurt, and a long time for my son to endure being "booed" by the girl who was his best friend in class.