Spying the Marvelous

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I shouldn’t be surprised that my thirdborn is honing my vision and inviting me to spy Jesus in the ordinary moments of our days. God began using Hannah to adjust my eyes even when she was still tucked in the safety of my womb.  Hannah was the first of my last three holiday babies. Though Hannah arrived just in time for Thanksgiving, she felt like a Christmas baby, nonetheless. I’d been rather compulsive about having my Christmas to-dos done before she’d arrived, so sadly, I was near holidayed out before we even carved the turkey that year.

Thankfully, the Lord intervened, and in the final weeks of my third pregnancy, He invited me to glimpse the sacred season through His eyes. I’d love to take the rest of the week to share with you what I learned from a bulging belly and two excited preschoolers.

Those of you who have faithfully read my blog for the past year may recognize this story. I hope you don’t mind a repeat. A brief version of this eye-opening tale also appears in Proverbs 31 Woman Magazine this month. If you’ve never met the inspiring women behind the P31 ministry, check out their offerrings at http://www.proverbs31.org/

Meanwhile, I wish you eyes to see the Marvelous in the days to come….

                                  Eyes to See The Marvelous
                                                  part 1
“Do you see my mommy’s BIG tummy?” my three-year-old daughter, Elizabeth, asked the middle-aged man standing behind us in the check out line. The poor man couldn’t help but sneak a quick gaze at my bulging midsection as Lizzy drew nearer to her captive audience and whispered in a conspiratorial tone, “You won’t believe what we’re GROWING in there!” She paused for dramatic effect, then fired the punch line: “It looks like a basketball, but it’s really A BABY!”
The man feigned a look of shock to satisfy my daughter and then smiled over her blond curls at my crimson face. I gave him a quick wave, packed up my groceries, and pushed my shopping cart into the parking lot. As I maneuvered my way to our minivan, I wondered how many innocent bystanders had been targeted by my daughter’s compulsion to share our AMAZING secret. While my daughter never grew tired of announcing our exciting news to others, I had ceased to revel in the miraculous as my due date drew near. Keeping up with two rambunctious preschoolers and battling the aches and pains of the last trimester of pregnancy had dulled the sense of awe I’d once felt as I partnered with God in growing our third-born. Sadly, the wonders of pregnancy had somehow settled into a lackluster routine of doctor’s visits, weight gain, and heartburn.
As I loaded my bags into the trunk, I checked to make sure I had picked up everything I needed to finish my holiday baking. Preschool Christmas program, office decorating party, cookie exchange; the list of upcoming events ran through my weary mind in the shape of to-do’s and don’t-forget’s. “I’ll be glad when Christmas is over this year,” I mused while I veered past the twine-tied bundles of evergreen trees tossed carelessly in the corner of the parking lot and headed for home.
 

“You should try looking at things through her eyes for a change,” God seemed to whisper as I sat in a long line of traffic and half-listened to my daughter’s gleeful chatter. I stashed the thought in the back of my mind until I had unpacked the groceries, cleaned up the lunch dishes, and settled my two little ones behind closed doors for a midday rest. As I settled onto the couch to elevate my swollen feet, I picked up my Bible and paged through the Psalms. A simple verse meticulously underlined in blue ink tugged at my heart. “The Lord has done this. It is marvelous in our eyes!” (Psalm 118:23).

Lizzy’s breathless voice rang through my head, “You won’t believe it…!”

I gazed down at my bulging belly and suddenly felt humbled and a bit ashamed. How had I allowed the Marvelous to become shadowed by the must-do’s? Of all the Christmas seasons, this should be the one that I cherished most. Like Mary, I had much to ponder in my heart. In just weeks I would welcome a holiday miracle of my own. While my third-born would be far from holy, my babe would enter the world with a high-pitched cry just as my Savior had entered a humble stable centuries ago. If the Miracle of Christmas eluded me this year, when would I ever grasp it?

 
With a contrite heart, I confessed my clouded vision and asked the Lord to help me view the nativity through fresh eyes once again. And just as God used a baby wrapped in swaddling cloths and a clan of simple shepherds to stir the hearts of Bethlehem on the very first Christmas, so He used a baby wrapped in pink and two unassuming preschoolers to open my eyes once again to the Marvelous. Perhaps what I learned will help you to see past the list-making, food-fixing, gift-giving demands of the season, as well, and encourage you to celebrate the Miracle that began the gala in the first place.
Meditate on His Name
 
Before Hannah arrived, one of the conversations that most heightened my children’s sense of anticipation was the topic of names. “What shall we name the baby?” my five-year-old son, Lukas, would ask countless times a day. By the time the baby arrived and necessitated a name, we had compiled quite an impressive list of possibilities. Some quite plausible (like Mary, Maggie, or Matthew) and others quite laughable (like Barney- if the baby looked good in purple, Clifford- if the baby had red hair, or Lovey- in honor of my childhood pet kitten).
As the children tossed about ideas, I seized the opportunity to explain the significance of their own names. We hauled out the baby name book to investigate the meaning behind the names and explored the stories in the Bible where their namesakes could be found.

I did not consider the impact of that simple exercise until months later when I was having tea at the home of a Muslim acquaintance. We had little in common outside of our roles as mothers, but our eldest children attended a small preschool together and that provided an adequate springboard for comfortable conversation. As we compared pregnancy stories, I asked my hostess how she had chosen her daughter’s beautiful name. At that point, Elizabeth, who had been playing Barbies on the floor beside us, jumped into the conversation.
Looking the lovely young woman right in the eyes, my daughter asked, “Do you know what my name means?” Befuddled, my acquaintance shook her head as Lizzy continued, enunciating each syllable as if it were golden. “My name means ‘CON-SUH-CRAY-DUD to GAWD.’” Then, in hushed tones, as if not to embarrass our tea mate, Lizzy asked, “Do you know what consecrated means?”

Shocked by my three-year-old’s verbiage, the young woman responded in broken English, “No, Miz Liz, I done know dat word.”

“Oh!” Lizzy responded, thrilled with the opportunity to expound, “It’s just a big fancy way of saying that when I was borned, my mom and dad gave me to Jesus!” Then, climbing up on the sweet woman’s lap and leaning in close to whisper in her ear, Lizzy compassionately asked, “Don’t you wish you were an Elizabeth, too?” I couldn’t contain my grin as the eyes of my hostess sparkled with uncharacteristic laughter. And as I quietly sipped my tea, I could think of no name more fitting for my first-born girl.

If the simple meaning of my daughter’s name could minister unaware to a young woman in need of a Savior, surely the very name of Jesus can minister to the unspoken needs of our own frantic hearts. His birth announcement, written by the divinely inspired prophet Isaiah seven centuries before the angels proclaimed his arrival, predicts a few of the names Christ would carry: “…And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace….” (Isaiah 9:6). Sound satisfying? That is just a small sampling of the smorgasbord of heavenly titles our Savior has been given. Hundreds of other names can be found for Heaven’s King throughout scripture. In The Power of a Praying Woman, author Stormie O’Martian reminds us, “Each of God’s names in the Bible represents a way He wants us to trust Him. Do you trust Him to be your Strength (Psalm 18:1)? Is He your Peace (Ephesians 2:14)? Is He the Lifter of Your Head when you are down (Psalm 3:3)? Is He your Refiner (Malachi 3:2-3)? Your Wisdom? (1 Corinthians 1:24)? Your Counselor? (Psalm 16:7)? Your Resting Place? (Jeremiah 50:6)….”

What do you need most this holiday season? The One whose Christmas birth we celebrate has a name to meet your need. In between the lengthy lists of holiday preparations, why not take some time to savor the list of our Savior’s names. Grab a concordance (the one in the back of your Bible will work) and look up “Names of God.” Or peruse the Psalms and note all the ways that the Psalmist refers to the Lord. King David, a man after God’s own heart knew his Creator by countless titles. In fact, David’s deep faith seemed to grow out of his first-name relationship with God. “Those who know your name will trust in you,” King David tells the Lord in Psalm 9:10. If you’re ready to bolster your faith this Christmas, check out the many names for the One this season celebrates. As you do, you might be surprised to find a name that was chosen with you in mind.

The Overflow:  “The Lord has done this. It is marvelous in our eyes!” (Psalm 118:23).

 
 
Alicia

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