grace, weekly // 9

 

i. beginning to look a lot like Christmas.

ii. fluffy orange kitties that like to sleep in my lap.

iii. a whole seven weeks at home, unbroken—the longest stretch since before I moved to Florida in August 2012.

iv. learning 1:1 macro photography.

v. Oma.

I might have met her two or three times, but only actually talked to her once—almost eighteen months ago. The July sun baked the bricks of her house the color of rust, and her flowers craned their necks toward the blue sky. Pork chops, the best I’ve ever tasted, we consumed in embarrassing quantities; butter, blocks and blocks of it, we saw stacked in towers inside her fridge. There were loaves of thick-crusted bread, and napkins folded fancy at each setting. Pictures on the walls invited a glimpse into another time, and knickknacks on the shelves hid tantalizing stories of her visits to foreign lands. I could have listened to her thick German accent for hours.

I went to her memorial service this weekend. I could not mourn her death, because I knew how thrilled she was to go to Jesus after 91 years on this earth. But I did mourn that I had known her so little—that unlike her grandchildren and the kids that grew up in her neighborhood, I had missed a whole childhood, a whole lifetime, of knowing Oma.

vi. words:

This is usually my favorite method of healing.

vii. music:

I know I already posted the Piano Guys’ version of this song… but it’s my number-one favorite Christmas carol, especially on piano and strings.

viii. Bible:

In the beginning was the Word,
and the Word was with God,
and the Word was God.
He was in the beginning with God.
All things came into being through Him,
and apart from Him nothing came into being
that has come into being.
In Him was life,
and the life was the Light of men.
The Light shines in the darkness,
and the darkness did not comprehend it. . . .
There was the true Light which,
coming into the world,
enlightens every man.
He was in the world,
and the world was made through Him,
and the world did not know Him.
He came to His own,
and those who were His own did not receive Him.
But as many as received Him,
to them He gave the right to become children of God,
even to those who believe in His name,
who were born, not of blood
nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man,
but of God.
And the Word became flesh,
and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory,
glory as of the only begotten from the Father,
full of grace and truth.

John 1:1-5, 9-14

Jesus. Eternal, pre-existing the entire physical and metaphysical worlds. Jesus. Equal to and one with (yet separate from) the God of Israel. Jesus. Creator of everything that exists. Jesus. The source of life. Jesus. A light of truth that penetrates into the darkness of sin. Jesus. The only Savior of His people Israel, yet rejected by them. Jesus. The one who welcomes with open arms anyone who chooses to follow Him. Jesus. The pathway to the Father. Jesus. Our brother who has agreed to share His inheritance with us, though we did nothing to earn it. Jesus. Fully man. Jesus. Fully God. Jesus. To Him be the glory.

Do not forget: Jesus is not just a baby that gives us the excuse to eat a lot of cookies and open a lot of presents. Jesus is truth embodied in the form of a man—grace captured in one selfless heart. Jesus was born, certainly. But Jesus also lived, died, and rose again. Don’t forget the rest of the story. (Hint: you can find it in the book of John.)