*A note before you read this. After doing an audit of my blog in 2022, I have decided to leave content that speaks to the Christian I was at the time this was written. I no longer identify as Christian (and haven’t for a very long time.) I chose to leave these posts because it is who I was then and it is important to me to be honest and true with every iteration and evolution of self that I experience. I may decide to add comments to the end of posts like this as well
I’m sick 🙁
I haven’t been sick since 2009. That’s a long run and I hate that it’s broken. I’ve been doubling up on my water kefir intake as well as vitamin C, echinacea, and zinc. I’ve been drinking a lemon, ginger, and honey tea for days. I’ve been sleeping way more than normal and when not sleeping watching LOST on Netflix.
I know I’m not as sick as most have been. This is a case of the sniffles with a headache. But it’s more than I’ve had in a long, long time. (and I’m getting better!)
And while on the topic of today’s Advent devotion (nurturing the body) I need to say how grateful I am for visits with friends who nurture me.
One came to me and brought me gorgeous flowers as well as beautiful company. We spent the day painting and talking and sharing.
I drove to the other’s home, where my soul is nourished like nowhere else and my body is nurtured because we eat the same way. And then she came to visit, too, and man…my heart is full! I wish I lived much closer to these two.
Just a few more days until Christmas and I haven’t shopped, baked, or anything at all. It doesn’t feel like Christmastime. This is the first year I’ve ever been like this. I don’t get it.
Maybe it’s the move? I don’t know.
Speaking of the move. We’ve received a little news (not much and not enough.) There are no positions in our region available, so now Phil must internally apply for open positions across the country. We won’t know anything at all until after January 7th. So now we apply and wait (again.)
The sun is shining today. Phil’s done with training and we’re ready to know where we’re going. I’m having issues with the waiting and trusting. I know God already knows where we’re going, but it’s hard, y’know? Really hard.
These girls waited for Phil to come home every night for the past 3 weeks. It’s been hard with him out of town, but he’s home now. I feel like we’ve made it to the other side of something…
I don’t know what yet.
Saturday, the third week of Advent
“Consequently, when Christ came into the world, he said, ‘Sacrifices and offerings you have not desired, but a body you have prepared for me; in burnt offerings and sin offerings you have taken no pleasure.” Hebrews 10:5 (NRSV)
I seldom take the time to consider all the planning the Incarnation took, all the promises made and waited for by the faithful before Christ finally put on the body prepared for him. What amazing humility it took for the Creator who formed humans in their mother’s wombs, to submit himself to being formed. The embodied God was a living sacrifice. What’s more, he calls us who are made in his image and likeness “to be living sacrifices, dedicated and acceptable to God. That is the kind of worship for you, as sensible people,” we are told in Romans 12:1. As we move into the final days before the Nativity of Christ, let us consider the role our bodies plays in the greatest story every told. And let us try with all our might, to yield these bodies, to the will of God.
Today, nurture the body you incarnate, any way you choose.
Word made flesh,
It’s hard to believe that I am a temple, your tabernacle and dwelling place. Even more incredible is the truth that I am made in your image and likeness. I haven’t respected my body as I should, nor honored it as I would any church building that I’d walk into. As I prepare for your coming, help me to see my body as what it is: a living sacrifice. And Jesus, help me to obey your word, and not model my behavior by the world’s standards, but be transformed by the renewing of my mind, so that I can discern what your will is: what is good, acceptable, and mature. I need you, body and soul.
Come, Lord Jesus.
Almost there, y’all!