The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer...

Many of you may have seen the movie Elf in which Will Ferrell plays a human who is raised by elves at the North Pole. He makes the trek from the North Pole (passing through the seven levels of the candy cane forest, through the sea of wurly, twirly gumdrops, and through the Lincoln tunnel) to search for his real father, who is on the naughty list. This is one of my favorite holiday movies. One of his classic sayings is, "The best way to spread Christmas cheer, is singing loud for all to hear." I can totally relate to this one. For those of you who don't know me well, I love music and I love to sing. I often have soundtracks playing in my head that I will sing along to, out loud. I think this is a genetic trait I inherited from my grandma, and she is what this story is really about.

My grandma started developing early signs of dementia a few years ago. In fact, she told her friends that when she traveled down to Nashville for my college graduation, she was going for my wedding. I hope she wasn't disappointed by my ugly black dress. The summer after my graduation, she fell and broke her hip.  After that, her and my grandpa moved from assisted living into a nursing home as his health was also declining. Through the grace of God, they were able to get a room together. My grandma would give us a tour of her one room house every time we would visit for the next couple years. She would often comment that it was small, but she knew her mansion was waiting for her in heaven.

I was fortunate in that, during physical therapy school, one of our internships was working at a nursing home down the street from where my grandparents lived.  I was able to pop over for a lunch visit every so often. Every time I came, my grandparents would think I was someone else.  One time I was my mom, one time I was my grandma's second cousin, and one time I was staff.  Although in all fairness, I was wearing the classic PT uniform of a polo, khakis and my name tag. No matter who she thought I was, whether it be family or a random stranger coming for a visit, she would make me feel welcome and without fail provide some type of serenade. She always sang, to everyone and anyone. If there was no one around she would hum pleasantly to herself. It was beautiful.

When my grandma was younger, she studied music and was an accomplished pianist. For years, she served as the piano accompanist at church. She taught me how to play Hot Cross Buns, Mary Had a Little Lamb, and Heart and Soul on the piano in her condo. Heart and Soul was my favorite because it was a duet and she would do cool embellishments when we would play together so it would sound so pretty. When my grandparents moved from their assisted living apartment into the nursing home, they gave my parents the piano. One recent Christmas, my grandparents were able to come to my parents house for a few hours to celebrate with the entire family. My grandma didn't remember everyone's name but she remembered how to play the piano. We all stood around the piano singing Christmas carols while she played, her arthritic fingers moving gracefully to hit each note with precision. It was an experience I will never forget.

My grandma passed away in August and this will be the first Christmas we celebrate without her.  Even though she is not here to sing her favorite Christmas songs, she lives on in the carols we sing at church, the piano at my parents house, and the decorated Christmas cookies that she could never pass up. God sends people into our lives to shape us into the people we are to become. Even though my grandma had a hard time keeping track of who we were most of the time, she never lost her sweet nature or her song. Her unconditional joy and the music she loved to share was a constant reminder of the great God we serve. This year, she gets to spend Christmas with her savior, in the mansion he prepared for her.  I know he'll love her serenades as much as I did.

As we near Christmas, take a moment to honor and remember the people God has placed in your life. If they're still around, tell them how much you love them. If they aren't, treasure the moments you shared and let God use that memory to show you how much he loves you.

Have a fantastic day!

Happily ever after...

Since I was a little girl I loved to read.  I used to take books up in to the tree in my front yard or find a comfy chair and sit for hours reading anything I could get my hands on. I loved adventure stories like the Chronicles of Narnia, epic love stories like the Anne of Green Gables, and other series like the Boxcar Children and the Babysitters’ Club. My someday dream is to have a library filled with wall to wall books, complete with a window seat where I could curl up with hot cocoa and get lost in a different world. The stories found in books are a way to transport us to a different place and look at the world through someone else’s eyes, learning from their experiences in a fun and entertaining way.

I share my love of books with you to help explain why I look for God in the stories that happen in real life. Whenever Jesus taught he used parables or stories to illustrate what he was teaching. Only those who were willing to truly listen were able to glean the message Christ was teaching.  God speaks to us the same way today. The message of his hope and love are found in books, movies, and the stories we share with friends over coffee. 

I recently watched a cheesy Lifetime Christmas movie as a way to get in the Christmas mood while cleaning my room. The story was about a girl who left her fiance at the alter 12 years earlier to pursue a career in New York City. She was now a lonely corporate success spending Christmas alone in her penthouse, wishing on a Christmas star that she could go back and make things right. I won't ruin the movie for you by giving everything away, but I could see God's message of love and redemption woven throughout the tale and I want to share with you some of what I saw.

The main character ran away from her love in pursuit of something she thought would make her happy. So often we do the same thing when it comes to God. His love is constant and unconditional, but we see it as restricting or difficult to understand, so we chase after something that we think is better.  And at first, it may be. But the more we chase after things that aren't God, the more empty we feel. God's love is the only thing that truly sets us free and fulfills the longing in our hearts.

Our heroine was given a second chance at what she lost by a Christmas angel, allowing her to go back in time to the week before she left her fiance at the altar. I've personally never gone back in time or been able to take back the mistakes I've made in my life.  But what I felt God telling me through this storyline, was that he gives us second chances.  In real life, we can never go back to change our decisions or the consequences of our actions, but because Christ died for us, we are redeemed from our sin. His grace covers over our mistakes, giving us a second chance to make the right decision the next time we are faced with a similar circumstance. He also gives us the strength to make things right with those we've hurt by our poor choices. He gives us the courage we need to face our sin and the consequences of it so that we can live a life that is free and redeemed.

As with every romantic comedy known to man, there is of course a happy ending. I believe there is an innate desire within us  that everything work out right in the end. We want this in our books and movies as well as in our real lives. However, we live in a fallen world and its been my experience that one imperfect person plus another imperfect person does not equal a perfect relationship whether it be romantic, platonic, or family. We all make mistakes that affect the people around us and threaten our happily ever after. But here's the good news.  We already have a happily ever after.  When Christ died for our sins on the cross, he wrote the ending so that everyone who believes in Him will not perish, but will have everlasting life (according to John 3:16).  And 2 Corinthians 4:17,18 says: "For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen.  For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." If we step back and look through an eternal perspective, we have our happy ending through Christ, everything else is just part of the story line, filled with trials and conflict and heartache and pain that leads up to that happy ending. 


As Christmas approaches, I would encourage you to look around at the everyday occurrences through an eternal perspective. We already know the end, but what can we learn along the journey? How can we share our journey with others so that they too may know the love and hope in Jesus Christ? What is God trying to say through the stories of everyday life? Are you listening?


I hope you have a wonderful day!

Into Africa...

            In January of last year, I had an incredible opportunity to travel to Niger, Africa with some people from my physical therapy program at the University of Minnesota.  During this trip, I learned a lot about the faithfulness of God and his work around the world.  It was also there that I had my first blog experience, writing with my classmates about our experiences. There are many stories about God’s faithfulness that stem from this trip that I would like to share in the days to come but I think its best to start at the very beginning, because how God lead me to Niger is a story in itself.

            Part of the reason I chose to go to the University of Minnesota’s physical therapy program was because of their international opportunities during the internship year. Because I played soccer in college, I wasn’t able to spend time studying abroad and thought PT school would be the perfect opportunity to experience life outside of the US. As the application date for the international internships drew closer, I had my heart set on one internship in particular: Tanzania.  It was a 3-month experience working with kids in a local hospital.  I knew that when I graduated from PT school, I would be working with kids in some capacity, so this internship was perfect. I met with one of the missionaries from church who happened to live in Tanzania but was back in the US for a family get-together, to learn all I could about the country and the work she was doing there. I was so excited and just knew that I would love this trip.

            When it came time to sit down and fill out the application, I had to put a first choice and second choice.  My first choice was Tanzania but I had a hard time deciding what my second choice would be.  The choices were Niger or Ecuador.  I was a Spanish minor in college and Ecuador required that you be fluent in Spanish. I was not fluent in Spanish despite my minor, but thought that if I needed to I could do some refresher courses and brush up on my vocabulary. Secretly, I wanted to put down Ecuador in the hopes that they didn’t think I was fluent enough and I would get Tanzania by default.  All I knew about the trip to Niger was that it involved wound care, which did not interest me at all. I prayed over my application and suddenly felt panicked that what if I didn’t get any at all because I had put Ecuador without being completely fluent in Spanish and someone else was more qualified for Tanzania. In addition, I was hesitant to change my preference from Ecuador to Niger because I had never heard of Niger before coming to PT school so how in the world could I say I would travel there? God lead me to read Joshua 1 before I made my final decision. Verse 9 was particularly helpful:

“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be terrified, do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” ~Joshua 1:9

             With that, I felt a peace about putting Niger as my second choice instead of Ecuador, even though it was scary and unknown. I don’t think this was an accident, I truly believe that God chose me to go to Niger.  When we found out the international placements and I was chosen for Niger instead of Tanzania I was really disappointed. But in the months leading up to the trip, my time in Niger, and the time since I’ve returned, God has shown me so much about who He is, what He is capable of doing, and how He is willing to use His children when they step out in faith. 

           

If you’d like to read about our trip, we’ve got pictures, videos, and stories on a blog we created for use during our time in Niger. You should check it out: http://umnniger2011.blogspot.com/

Have a fantastic day!!