Tag Archives: Jesus Christ

The Ugly Parent-The 17th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 17th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a face to change my reality (Isaiah 52:14).

Sometimes Sundays make me sad. When I should be continually rejoicing because I get to go to church, worship with the saints and potentially hear a great word (depending on how my 1 year old is acting) I get sad and sometimes feel I just want to stay home. I don’t want to get washed and dressed, get three children washed and dressed, prepare food and feed us, pack diaper bags with diapers, wipes, drinks and snacks, get bibles, coats, gloves and hats, drive to church, unpack the children, take off our coats, take the oldest two to their classes and wait with bated breath until I have to go to the Cry Room to listen to a word from the babies. And all of this, most times, without a made-up face. That’s right, no makeup to cover up eyes that earlier cut across rooms to remind the boys to hurry up and a mouth mentioning that we will be late. I think I would just be better, feel better, if I had a made-up face, but I go plain, often, because taking care of my boys doesn’t allow time for a made-up face.

Just as there were many who were appalled at him—his appearance was so disfigured beyond that of any man and his form marred beyond human likeness—(Isaiah 52:14).

Then this comes to mind, a description of what the greatest parent ever, Jesus Christ, would endure: heavy hands from hollowed hearts, cruelty unimaginable that made Him unimaginable (Philippians 2:7-11). Jesus willingly received a face He didn’t want or choose but accepted so we could have a chance at life, a beauty beyond makeup basics with everlasting implications. His face was made up in a different way, beaten and bruised beyond recognition, suffering cruelty and being ugly for you and for me.

For now on Sundays may make me sad but I hope more with the sullen reality of my selfish desire for a face that will never be life-changing.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

My Beloved-The 18th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
1

On the 18th day of Christmas my true love gave to me a love that would ever be true (Song of Solomon 7:10).

God loves us deeply. In the Old Testament the children of Israel were called His bride and so is the body of Christ in the New Testament. Song of Solomon illustrates this deep love, sometimes only fathomable between two lovers. In it we see God’s love for the Israelites and His love to come for the church. This just made me think of how Jesus loves me, personally, and I wanted to share with you a glimpse of our love affair:

My Beloved
You came to me in my whirlwind
Life messed up, thinking I had my stuff together.
But my stuff was spinning, flying high, making me sick when it hit
Chaos taking me in its mix
Tossing me, turning me, preventing me from sitting still to just hear.
You came to me in the whirlwind
Changed it in an instant with your call
Told me I didn’t need to know all about you
That you would show me more about you
If I just trusted you.
And I did
In my bedroom on the side of the bed on the pink bedspread and room with the grey wallpaper.
You heard my doubt but took me out and took me in knowing that you would show me where to begin and YOU.
You, the one who made me and gave me purpose before time began.
The one who commanded light to shine to distinguish day from day’s end
My friend, my beloved, who can melt the earth He made and bring it back together again
YOU
Know
See
Hear
Feel
Carry
Sustain
Love
ME, messy ME
fiercely
deeply
tenderly (and toughly sometimes)
always beckoning me
Come.
I did.
And when I do
I feel beautiful
Wooly locked hair
Light brassy bronze skin
Dark almond-shaped eyes
Within a head you made to house eclectic thoughts
And a boxy frame short and not big enough to contain all your love loving on your lovely me.
There’s a glory in your love that shines in and through my heart.
I can never part from that love, my love, from you, my Jesus, my beloved, my Savior, my Lord, my lover, my friend.

By Rhonda J. Smith
Copyright November 12, 2010

Heart’s Desire-The 19th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

Eternity is in every man’s heart, a beating desire for the things of this world, placed there from the start so we would start looking for the author of all things beautiful (Ecclesiastes 3:11). Even in the thick of worldly pursuits, our hearts told us and keep reminding us there’s more to life than what we see, someone behind the life that we see. In Ecclesiastes, Solomon knew this person was God, “the one shepherd,” he called him, pointing us to Jesus Christ, who is the Good Shepherd, able to keep those who are His and giving us a better eternity, one with Him.

The words of the wise are like goads, and like nails firmly fixed are the collected sayings; they are given by one Shepherd (Ecclesiastes 12:11).

Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day (John 6:54).

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

In this life of high pursuits with diminishing pleasure and more pain that we can stand sometimes, I’m glad of the Shepherd who keeps us slow sheep when we stray. “And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any [man] pluck them out of my hand” (John 10:28). Solomon knew that this world was full of emptiness, a longing for the wrong things, and he gave us the remedy for this.

“Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man” (Ecclesiastes 12:13). God put in us a desire to pursue Him and I thank Him for the power to turn from our ways and to Him so life can be divinely what it should be.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

The Key to Life-The 20th Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 20th day of Christmas my true love gave to me, wisdom, the key to all life (Proverbs 8:35).

“Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not” (Proverbs 8:33). I think we have all violated that command. We hear someone telling us the right thing to do, but we have unwisely chosen to ignore the instruction and find ourselves with a big mess. Some of us try to clean up the mess with more foolish notions, causing us to get deeper in. Then others of us wise up quick, taking the initial instruction and seeking more wisdom so we won’t travel the old foolish road. I think many times when we make unwise decisions we forget that Wisdom Himself resides within us, waiting to guide all our choices.

Blessed [is] the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD. But he that sinneth against me wrongeth his own soul: all they that hate me love death (Proverbs 8:34-36).

This is wisdom personified and points us to the person of Jesus Christ. When Jesus came to earth, He “became for us wisdom from God” (1 Corinthians 1:30), and this Wisdom dictates that we choose Him so we have all we need to live this life according to God’s will (John 14:6; 2 Peter 1:3; Philippians 2:13). All “treasures of wisdom and knowledge” are hidden in Jesus (Colossians 2:3). If we want those riches we must first accept Him as Savior and Lord and then seek Him for the treasure He wants us to have to make wise decisions. As verse 34 states, seeking God is a daily process with the guarantee of finding Jesus—finding life—and obtaining God’s favor.

Make sure to read all of Proverbs 8 and meditate on the following scriptures to help you seek God daily for wisdom: Proverbs 3:13-18; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; and James 3:13-18.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith

The Impossible Made Possible-The 21st Day of Christmas

Posted on by
Reply

On the 21st day of Christmas my true love gave to me a prophecy of a savior who would die for me (Psalms 22).

I started to take a picture of what seemed virtually impossible to have happened, but a picture would not have revealed the intricacy of my entanglement. One of my locks got tripled knotted in the tie of my apron. It was so tight and looked so intentional, I couldn’t get it unlatched; the entanglement looked like it belonged. I immediately knew that the only way I could get free from the apron would be to cut my lock so that’s exactly what I did, right at the root of the latticed arrangement.

Of course there was a larger lesson for me—for us—when I may be involved in something that is really weighing me down, keeping me from getting to where I should be. That weight could be a person, a habit, or an attitude that gets mixed up in our normal affairs and keeps us from operating naturally and supernaturally. This day the apron represented my attitude, and I knew I had to cut my hair from it so I could perform my normal day. But the even greater lesson for me was that God could allow my lock to be triple-knotted in my apron tie to teach me just what I needed—the seemingly impossible made possible, something that could only happen with God. This reminded me of the Psalms and how only God could produce the messianic ones and they come to pass just like He said.

For dogs have compassed me: the assembly of the wicked have inclosed me: they pierced my hands and my feet. They part my garments among them, and cast lots upon my vesture.—Psalm 22:16 & 18.

These were the words of King David talking about his experience and points to what will become true of Jesus Christ. These very verses in Psalms come to pass in John 20:25 & 27 and Matthew 27:35-36. But these aren’t the only ones. Check out others that reveal the presence of Christ and show that our powerful God could use disparate times and incidents and make them connect, pointing us to our Savior.

Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith