And above all these things put on love,
Which binds everything together
In perfect harmony.
Colossians 3:14 ESV
Hanging on our bedroom wall is our advent calendar. Tucked in pockets are beautiful words of God’s love. The first folded paper has a quote from Robert Browning. “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” I was referring to God’s love for me as well as the love I have for my husband. On the following days underneath the scriptures I’ve selected, is my love song of words written to my husband.
Perhaps it was the challenge of COVID or the peace that descended upon us as we spent months seeking God in prayer, but our advent focus has changed to thanksgiving and praise, not anticipation. God has already redeemed our broken lives into something fit for His use—the ultimate gift. Isaiah 9:2 says it well: “The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light; those who dwelt in a land of deep darkness, on them has light shone” (ESV). Now we anticipate heaven and being in His presence of light and love forever in a more profound way.
God, who protected us during our bout with COVID-19, who provided for our care as we learned to breathe in pain and to wait, has also given us a peace that confounds our understanding. We continue to wait, pray, and lift up His name with gratitude.
God revealed His love for us throughout Scripture, in the lives of people, in His songs of praise written by men, and in His promise of ransom from our slavery to sin. Advent had been anticipated throughout the ages before the birth of Christ. In the cobblestones of His actions, our Lord paved the way for the coming of Christ.
In the fullness of time, a child was born.
“To us a son is given; and the government shall be upon His shoulders, and His name shall be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”
– Isaiah 9:6
What does this Scripture mean to me in this season of uncertainty, turmoil, pestilence, and grief? This has not been a comfortable year, but do I seek comfort instead of service? For what purpose was I bought with the highest price in the universe?
Do thoughts press me like the congestion on the crowded streets of Bethlehem assaulted Joseph? Do they nag like angry wasps and disturb my peace? This season, after this past year, I long to enter into the quiet of a hiding place. Perhaps my retreat would be a stable where the lowing of cows is a peaceable lullaby. Can I focus on the promise of God or would the scents, the sounds, and winter’s cold assail my senses and rivet my eyes back to me? Can I find Him when I’m uncomfortable?
Mary did. Andrew, Paul, Augustine, and all those who have had their world disrupted by the truth of the Gospel have chosen the rock-hard path of discipleship wrapped in love. Their love transcends time and echoes in lives today because they shared the gospel with those around them.
“No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and His love is made complete in us” (John 4:12 ESV). And, the world sees Him in us as it did in Paul, James, and John.
“How do I love thee?” the poet asks. I want to alter his words to, how do we love? We love, because He first loved us and filled us with His Spirit.
“Have bags will travel” should be Jeanette-Marie Mirich’s life’s theme. She moved twenty-two times before settling in her first home. An Oregonian by birth who graduated with a B.S. degree in education from Portland State University, Jeanette has swum in the Ligurian Sea and collected shells and sea glass along the Indian Ocean, Pacific, Atlantic, Caribbean Oceans, Straits of Malacca, Gulf of Mexico and the Andaman Sea. Her peripatetic lifestyle is courtesy of the U.S. Air Force and her husband’s medical training.
I shouldn’t have made the promise when Harry was dying, but…
You know how it is. You want to please when the person you’ve always loved is hooked up to plastic tubing looking peaky.
Delilah Morgan, a woman of honor, is unable to ignore her promise to her husband, Harry, which leads to trouble, with a capital T. The beautiful, unassuming Delilah plans to mourn in private after Harry passed, but he had other ideas—specifically, leaving his wife in good hands and protected from the elite of their small Kentucky town. However, he neglects to include his wife in his plans.
Harry has selected local judge, Lyle Henderson, the heart-throb of most of the women in town, to court his widow. The judge acquiesces to Harry’s wishes until Henderson’s life spins into a maelstrom after the discovery of bodies in his long absent wife’s car. The police and FBI begin to suspect him of murdering his wife and her apparent lover.
Determined to clear the judge of murder, Delilah resolves to hunt down the true story in an adventure that nearly costs them their lives.
