A Taste of Love

I thought it appropriate to take the time to remember the most significant Love ever offered.

Following is a re-post from last Valentines Day. It's intended to be a children's devotional, but it's a good reminder to all of us.

And if you're looking for another unique Valentine treat, drop by Exemplify Online and check out Love Notes.

I hope your weekend is filled with Love.

The Best Valentine of All

(Note for parents: The "Wordless Book" is a great way to share the gospel story with children. You could have your kids help you make an easy version by cutting hearts from black, red, white, green and gold paper, then explain what it means with the following:)

Valentine's Day is all about showing love to the people around us. Cards, candy, flowers...little tokens to say "I love you" to someone special.

When I was young, I received a small heart-shaped pendant as an award in a Sunday School contest. It had five tiny heart-shaped pages: black, red, white, green and gold. Although the pages weren't all pink or red or lacy or funny like most of our Valentine's, they represented the greatest love of all. A love that's even bigger than my mom or dad's love for me. Those little hearts told the story of God's love.

The black page was a reminder of our sin-filled hearts; red represents the blood of Christ that washes our hearts "white as snow," the white page is our pure hearts, green represents spiritual growth as we read scripture and pray, and the gold is a symbol of our eternal life in heaven.

There's a song that explains it: (here's a link to the music)

My heart was black with sin,

Until the Savior came in.

His Precious Blood I know,

Will wash me whiter than snow.

And in God's Word I'm told

I'll walk the streets of gold.

I'll read my Bible and pray,

And Grow in Him every day!

by Frances J. Roberts

The Bible tells us that God loves us so much that he sent his son to take the punishment for everything we've ever done or ever will do wrong so that we can live forever with God.

"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only son. That whoever would believe in Him would have everlasting life." John 3:16

There is no better Valentine than that!

Meringue Hearts with Raspberry Sauce

This dessert reminds me of the message of that 'wordless book;" the snowy white of the meringue a symbol of our hearts washed clean, the deep red of the sauce a picture of the blood spilled as Christ's heart broke for the world He died to save. (This is an easy recipe for children to help with.)

2 to 4 large egg whites, room temp.
1 to 2 cups extra-fine granulated sugar (about 1/2 cup sugar per egg white)

Raspberry Sauce
12 ounces fresh or frozen (thawed) raspberries
3 tbsp sugar
1 lemon

Preheat oven to 200 degrees. In a clean glass or copper bowl (not plastic), beat egg whites with a wire whisk or an electric mixer on medium speed until soft peaks form. Gently add sugar and beat until stiff and glossy.

To form hearts, use a heart-shaped cookie cutter to make imprints on a piece of foil cut to line baking sheets. Using a metal spoon or pastry tube filled with meringue, draw heart shapes about 1/2 inch thick.

Place baking sheet into oven, allowing about 90 minutes for meringues to dry out. Be sure that they do not start to brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before handling.

Sauce: Mix raspberries and sugar until sugar is dissolved. Press through fine mesh strainer or sieve to remove seeds. Squeeze lemon and strain the juice into raspberry sauce. Just before serving, fill well in center of plate with sauce, place meringue heart on top. Top with whipped cream, if desired.

Note: You could do this same devotion with a chocolate heart-shaped sugar cookie (to represent a heart dark with sin) a layer of raspberry or strawberry jam to represent being covered with the blood of Christ and topped with white icing or marshmallow cream as a symbol of being made clean.

Recipe originally printed in Tea and Inspiration, Mary Pielenz Hampton, 1995

5 Minutes for Faith--Know it all

"I know that!"

I hear that often from my 4 year old. If, in the course of a conversation, I happen to share a tidbit of knowledge that he's heard before, I get a teen-sounding, eye-rolling, "I KNOW that!" Frankly, after the first time (where it was surprising and amusing), I find it more than a little annoying.

They say we're most annoyed by traits in others that we also possess. I'm sure that over the course of my life various people have considered me a 'know-it-all.' They might not have said it out loud, but considering my own motives at various times, it must have been thought.

Please follow me to 5 Minutes for Faith for 'the rest of the story.'

Oh Me of Little Faith

You'd think I'd know better by now. I mean, I've seen God's provision up close and personal since I was in high school. I'm sure he was on the job before then, but my awareness of it kicked in around my junior year.

My parents left full time, regular employment to go into full time ministry. Not nice, neat church jobs. No, they went into full-time Rescue Mission work. Not glamorous. And definitely not well-paying.

And while we certainly went through our periods of insecurity, in reality we never lacked for food or shelter or anything else important. I even have lots of stories of God's specific provision--for big things, like houses, or little things, like the onion my mom prayed for that came in a bag of groceries delivered by some college girls from church.

It used to be easy to believe in that kind of provision. I went into full time ministry myself and followed His lead to new towns for new opportunities. Things weren't always easy, but I never felt alone or doubted that I'd be taken care of.

Philippians 4:19 could have been a theme verse for that period of my life: "And my God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus."

But for some reason, now that I have a family and things aren't as we expected them to be, at times I find myself more dependent on my circumstances and the things I can see rather than relying on the Great Provider and trusting in what I can't see.

There are big uncertainties looming as we reach the end of the expected resources without new jobs or alternatives lined up.

And yet, when I stop looking for the 'big picture' (because it's a pointless exercise as I absolutely can't see it at the moment) and look at what's right in front of me today, I see God's provision, the same as it's always been there for me.

It's come from unexpected places--the proverbial 'check in the mail' that we've never experienced before. The gift of several months anonymously paid at a facility the whole family uses a great deal but is the kind of thing that's often the first to go during times of belt-tightening. The gifts themselves are so appreciated, but the affirmation they express and the confirmation of God's faithfulness that they communicate are even more significant to us.

There's a passage of scripture that tells us that those who are faithful in the little things can be trusted with greater things. I know that passage is meant to remind us to be faithful with everything God entrusts to us--big or small. But it keeps coming back to me in a different way; because I can see God looking after us in small ways, I know can trust Him with the big stuff too.

How about you? Do you find it easy to trust in little things or big things? What are you trusting Him for today?

The Key to Everything--5 Minutes for Faith

This morning I shared the waiting room with a chatty elderly couple. I politely pretended not to hear their conversation, but soon it became more than time-passing rambling.

"Everything would be different if he hadn't fallen," she said. Her husband nodded in silent agreement.

"And Eleanor. If only she hadn't tried to put on her pants standing on one leg." The conversation continued, listing the various people she could name who would still be in good health (or still be around at all) if they hadn't fallen...

I'm blogging at 5 Minutes for Faith today...stop by to see what I learned...

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New--One Day at a Time

I know. I haven't blogged since before Christmas. Sure, it's been a busy time. But there's more to it than that.

After Christmas, everyone's thoughts turn to New Years. New resolve, new goals, new habits...and I just haven't been able to go there.

It's not that I don't want any of those things. I do. But even though it's proven that most New Years Resolutions are broken by mid-February, there's something in the making of them that takes into account the whole year.

And that's where I've gotten stuck.

I can't see much past the end of the month. We have far more unanswered questions about the future than we have answers. And somehow, I can't make decisions that are supposed to impact my whole year when I can barely see past tomorrow. So I can't make plans that I intend to carry me through to December.

I've learned that I'm a visual planner. Even if the vision is only in my mind's eye. I can plan how to rearrange a room because I can visualize where how everything fits before it moves an inch. And when it comes to my whole life, my minds eye just can't see much at the moment.

Even so, there are things I want to do differently/better this year.

• Eat more vegetables
• Exercise more
• Complete a couple writing projects
• Watch less TV
• Play more games with my boys

I don't know whether I'll be eating those vegetables in California or Connecticut. I don't know whether I'll be occupied as a ministry wife or a corporate recruiter.

I do know I'll be a wife, a mom, a writer, a friend, a daughter, a sister...

And I finally figured out that I can do these things the same way I've been getting through this whole transition. By doing the best I can with what is right in front of me today. One day at a time. And really, isn't that the only way to accomplish anything?

Where do you stand on the whole "New Years Resolution" thing? Do you try? Do you ignore the whole concept? When you do realize you want to make life-changes, how do you go about it?

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What do you do with Santa?

When I was ten, I was already old enough to have stopped believing in Santa. Maybe because in the two years since my parent's separation and subsequent divorce, he'd never given me the only thing I really wanted--to have my dad in our lives.

So when I was hospitalized with pneumonia that Christmas, I wasn't expecting him to find me. But sometime in the middle of the night, I awoke to Santa and someone else next to my bed. I closed my eyes as quick as I could because I knew that Santa wouldn't leave you anything if you saw him.

When morning broke, there on the little table next to the bed was a stack of gifts that I knew wasn't from my family; they hadn't been to the hospital yet. (Somewhere I still have the heart-shaped tiger-eye necklace that was with those gifts.) For most of the rest of that day, I was happy to entertain the idea that maybe Santa really was real.

My family came to visit. I think I liked the attention from everyone and I definitely liked getting more (and better) presents than ever before.

Later, alone in my room again, I saw a nurse open the closet across the hall from my room. The closet held all kinds of toys, including a doll just like the one at my bedside that morning. I realized that Santa hadn't brought my gifts; they came from that closet.

I was a little sad to have my illusion evaporate, but it didn't ruin my life or make me question all the adults who went to such lengths to perpetrate the fairy tale upon innocent, trusting minds.

So when it comes to my own children, I'm ambivalent about the white-haired guy. We do a lot to make sure the kids understand what Christmas is really about. We've never told them about Santa, but culturally it's out there, so they can't really miss it.

Along with our Nativity focused stories, I have read them a book about Saint Nicolaus so they understand that even Santa gave gifts because he loved Jesus.

I don't want to be the mom with "those kids" who ruin holidays for their friends, so I haven't made a big deal about Santa being a story, but my replies to their questions and conversations tend to be very neutral.

Santa's never been to our house. Bug is nearly seven, but he's never been a fan. Boo is recently 4; when he saw Santa's House was opening the day after Thanksgiving, he put in his request for a visit. That was a first.

So this year, for the first time, "Santa" will be making an appearance at our house. The gifts the boys asked him for will be beneath the tree on Christmas morning. I won't say they're from Santa, but I'll let them believe for now if they want to. Their "Santa gift" will be topped with a Christmas ornament that shows Santa kneeling before Christ. One comes with this poem. (Scroll down to read poem.)

It's hard sometimes, finding a balance between telling our children the truth and letting them enjoy the fleeting days of childhood magic.

But I don't believe my faith was harmed any by those young days of tooth fairies and Easter bunnies (my grandfather faithfully nibbled on the carrots we left out) and Santa.

And this year, I'm going to let their imaginations ponder the possibilities while I present the Nativity and the wonder that it brings.


What do you do with Santa? I'd love to hear.