The Year In Review - 2020 Edition

Hindsight is 2020. With that sentiment in mind, reflection for growth, I've decided to do this post. 

On New Years Day 2020, I had friends over for an old-fashioned get-together. Remember those? They are my favorite form of hanging out. The beauty of this day was seeing our children, all at varying stages,  playing with board games and talking with each other. The TV was off, and it was not missed. It felt like a scene from another time, and I thought this may be the start of a new tradition. Well, that won't be happening this year, thanks to Corona, but I'm not mad. 

Because as Corona reared its ugly head, I remember being asked what's one word that comes to mind as you navigate this new reality; I replied fortification. At the time, I felt I was being

Ezra Bible Study - Unified: As One Man

I am struck by the unity expressed in Ezra 3:1, in particular how it reads in the KJV.

And when the seventh month came, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Ezra 3:1 KJV

They lived in separate villages, but now it was time to be unified in their purpose to rebuild the temple. There was a period before they started building, seven months which served as preparation. Once prepared, they were united.

Do You Have a Divine Appointment?

In our day to day lives oftentimes we have to make an appointment to be seen. If we're ill or there's a question about our health we make an appointment to see the doctor. If we need to get our hair done, we make an appointment. Nowadays we can even make appointments with DMV so that our time there is best used.

We make appointments because they're in our best interest to do so - we can manage our time and hopefully the person we made the appointment with, is aware that we are coming. They can be prepared for us and cut straight to the chase.

When you make an appointment you have made a determination or a decision.

God has made an appointment concerning us also - he's always available and he wants to do something for you:

To appoint unto them that mourn in Zion, to give unto them beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness; that they might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the Lord, that he might be glorified. Isaiah 61:3

He wants to replace your ashes with beauty.

He wants to replace your mourning with joy.

He wants to replace your depression, your spirit of heaviness with praise.

In Hebrew, this is rendered as replacing epher - ashes, with pheer - beauty. It's a play on words, shifting the placement of one letter makes it go from pain to joy or from pain to gain.

I love when I leave the doctor's office and I feel that a weight has been removed. It's not that I'm healed it's that I now have the knowledge to deal with what I have. Better yet, I love the feeling of lightness, of newness, of prettiness when I leave the hairdresser because of the attention and the care she took in doing my hair. I have felt like a new woman after leaving the salon and my hair is done and I try to maximize this feeling for as long as possible.

God is like the doctor and hairdresser all wrapped in one. Isaiah said he will give you beauty for ashes. God knew you would be burnt by life’s experiences. But he also knew he could replace that burnt out mess with something beautiful. He gives you the knowledge and the freedom because he replaces the old with the new; your sadness with joy. And it's so that you can have a purpose; the purpose that was determined from the time you were born but you just didn't know; circumstances clouded your purpose; you fought against it, but when you come full circle where he cleans you up and your dignity and honor are restored - you begin to know your purpose. You become as steady as a tree that has been divinely watered. When others who knew you before, ask "What changed?" You can sincerely say, "I kept a divine appointment, and I'm the better for it."

I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10

He's seeking you out and ready to manage your time wisely and turn things around for you, but are you seeking him? God has already determined that you are important to him. Have you determined his importance to you?

--Nylse

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Marinating in Family History

This weekend I went home to attend my uncle's funeral. His wife passed during the summer and on Thanksgiving Day he went to heaven to meet her. He had a debilitating strain of Alzheimers and it was often uncomfortable to see his demise.

At this stage of the game, funerals and weddings are the only times we get together and of late it seems to be more funerals than anything else.  I told my younger cousins that it's time for some weddings and baby showers - hopefully they get the hint.

I learned a lot about my uncle this weekend; I learned that:

• He was a bodybuilder in his youth
• He was a  dapper dresser
• He eloped with his wife of 56 years
• He had a secret thanksgiving recipe for stuffing
• He had a bike that he treated like a Cadillac
• He really loved the Lord and took his Christian walk seriously
• He sometimes preached at his church

During the burial, I had a chance to sit in my mother's house and think about my life and the people I came from.

A picture of my brother for whom this blog is named

My parents on their wedding day

Our 1st Photo shoot (yours truly is somewhere in there) - that's a picture of my brother and the three girls.

The family photo circa 1983

My brother had recently taken a photography course and had all of his equipment.  I remember him putting the camera on the tripod, telling us all to smile and rushing back over so we would all be in the picture.  We were all excited about his new hobby!

Writing this and thinking about him makes me sad. We were a large loud family, and looking back the good times outweigh the bad.

Ending on a happier note, Saturday evening my sister and I went in to Manhattan to see the Christmas Tree in Rockefeller Plaza.

As a Christian, though I'm sad at the passing of family, if they were believers I know that one day I will be reunited with them in Heaven.

Believers Who Have Died

 ¹³ Brothers and sisters, we do not want you to be uninformed about those who sleep in death, so that you do not grieve like the rest of mankind, who have no hope. ¹⁴ For we believe that Jesus died and rose again, and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. ¹⁵ According to the Lord’s word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. ¹⁶ For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. ¹⁷ After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. ¹⁸ Therefore encourage one another with these words. 1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18

Are you missing someone this Christmas? Are you cherishing the family you do have, imperfections and all?