God in His ever gracious timing has the trial of labor before me at the same moment that a loved one faces a fearful trial of her own. I wrote the following letter and meditation in hopes to comfort and encourage us both.

1 Cor. 1:3-5, 9-10

We often resist and wish it were not so, but this life is a trial and test, a training camp for glory. In this season of life, child labor has become for me the picture of life as a whole. We are called to persevere and endure that ultimately life might be brought forth in beauty and wonder. All of creation is laboring in the fight with sin. Our hope and joy is in the future life we are promised.

My strength to endure comes from knowing that the victory has been won and is promised. Because of what Christ accomplished on the cross, I know that the new life will come and be truly wonderful.

In having children I still sometimes fear that the baby won’t be healthy, that something will go wrong, that life will not triumph. But in the labor of life, we know that all will be well. We must only endure to the end, but we know that the end is so joyful that it can’t be compared to the trial and labor. It is far too much more glorious. It is true with having children. I would always choose again to have another baby rather than not just because of the labor!

Moreover, with labor, the contractions come and go. The pain and struggle are not constant. Although this life is a trial and race, yet God gives us meany seasons of reprieve and even many seasons of joy; celebrations and small tastes of heaven and His sweet pressence. Though life has been harder, God has always been much kinder than I expected Him to be. The Lord has provided sure seasons of rest and does not call us to endure more than He gives the strength and grace to survive. Several times in child labor, God clearly met me in my cry and prayer to give relief just when I needed it most.

This is what the Sovereign LORD, the Holy One of Israel, says:
“In repentance and rest is your salvation,
in quietness and trust is your strength, ~ Isaiah 30:15

We endure the painful moments through quiet and stillness. Strength comes by trust in the One who sustains our very breath and every thought. When the hurt overwhelms me, I release and rest, holding still on the promise the God is soverign over all things. If He can raise from the dead, than He can sustain my mind and life through this moment and the next, and the next. We are only able to live in this one moment, in “today.” What will come, will come, but I know I will endure to see the promised joy on the other side. That is the source of our trust and hope.

Come, behold the works of the LORD,
how he has brought desolations on the earth.
9He makes wars cease to the end of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear;
he burns the chariots with fire.
10″Be still, and know that I am God.
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth!”
11The LORD of hosts is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress. ~ from Psalm 46

False Christianity says, if you do all the right things - read the Bible, pray, have enough faith, go to church activities . . . - then you can have perfect victory and happiness now. By this lie, the enemy puts God’s children back into slavery, beneath a burden of trying to achieve a good by personal action. By this lie, we are yoked to failure, for we have not been promised heaven on earth but the grace to endure and even grow while we journey home. We live by quiet faith in the promise of Christ, the promise of that He will indeed bring us home.

Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful ~ Hebrews 10:22-23

So I am praying for you as I pray for myself these next two weeks; that your mind and heart will rest in God’s love and promise. Though this life is a great battle with sin, we are His children. You have been baptized into His family. His victory is sure. He is the one who accomplishes it. Let your mind rest as the waves of worry and doubt break over you. They will pass. They are nothing, but He is everything. He will keep us sane and alive through every moment, giving us hope, until He decides to take us home.

I felt rather brash with some of the language I employed in “Anticipating the Child,” but then I read the following quote from Peter Leithart and felt much better.

Theology is a “Victorian” enterprise, neoclassically bright and neat and clean, nothing out of place.

Whereas the Bible talks about hair, blood, sweat, entrails, menstruation and genital emissions.

Here’s an experiment you can do at any theological library. You even have my permission to try this at home.

Step 1 - Check the indexes of any theologian you choose for any of the words mentioned [above]. (Augustine does not count. Augustine’s theology is as big as reality, or bigger.)

Step 2 - Check the Bible concordance for the same words.

Step 3 - Ponder these questions: Do theologians talk about the world the same way the Bible does? Do theologians talk about the same world the Bible does?

I have several times before referred to Noel Piper’s book, Treasuring Christ in Our Traditions, and allow me to do so again. I periodically pull out this book to help me refocus our daily habits and seasonal traditions. As Piper exhorts, I do not want to raise my family aimlessly, but bring each day’s activities and thoughts more and more to center around Christ, our only true hope and life. The Pipers have labored sincerely and prayerfully to mould their family’s life around Christ, in everything they do and are. For the Advent season, Noel shares some wonderful ideas from the Piper family prayers and traditions. I highly recommend purchasing the book, but I will share here the truths and ideas we are planning on adapting from the book this Advent season.
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I posted this meditation over at the BHT advent blog.

When the doctor first told us our due date was December 2, my very first thought was of how wonderful it will be to be pregnant during advent season, to wait for our own precious infant as we anticipated the Christ Child.

As I await both labor and Christmas Day, I am most struck by the bloody humanity of the Chirst child, His immense vulnerability. Such sentiments have been uttered before, and may sound cliche, but not when you are facing such an event yourself. I cannot imagine the experience of not being able to find shelter at nine months pregnant and then of childbirth in a filthy manger. How sterilized and amazingly “safe” our hospitalized deliveries are, and yet I still wrestle with fear and anxiety of this cursed experience. Not only did God send His son to us in the humbled form of fallen human flesh, but Christ was born more in the same environment and manner as a sheep or a donkey.

Scandelous, shocking, fearful, painful, bloody; these words ought not be left out of our image of advent. He was attatched to a placenta, for crying out loud! Have you ever seen one of those? Yet also glorious, wonderful, blessed, joyful and breathtakingly beautiful. Precious, precious child. Pain and joy comingled in His birth, His life, His death. I am filled with gratitude for His first coming and longing for His return.

I have been meditating on a Chris Rice song all 9 months long and have somehow convinced our pastor to allow me to sing it on Christmas. As I imagine my own newborn’s tiny fingers I will soon hold, the song (copied here only in part) unites for me the scandal and the glory, the sacrifice and the wonder of our Savior’s mysterious incarnation.

Fragile fingers sent to heal us
Tender brow prepared for thorns
Tiny heart whose blood will save us
Welcome Holy Child
Welcome Holy Child

So wrap our injured flesh around you
Beathe our air and walk our sod
Rob our sin and make us holy
Perfect Son of God.
Welcome to our world

Michael and my fellow tavernites at the Boar’s Head have launched a blog for the advent season, Go to Bethlehem and See.

A quote from the site -

On this, the first day of Advent, we find ourselves waiting and praying for the coming of a Savior into our lives. We remember a birth, we pray for rebirth, we seek to nourish in ourselves and others the anticipation and hope of Jesus’ presence and the fulfillment of God’s promises.

Thou hast given so much to me,
Give one thing more, - a grateful heart;
Not thankful when it pleaseth me,
As if Thy blessings had spare days,
But such a heart whose pulse may be Thy praise.
~George Herbert

We started our Thanksgiving tree yesterday, with much enthusiasm from my three year old. Our humble tree is certainly, um . . . humble, as mom cannot draw branches worth 1/2 a cent, but Elise livened up our posterboard tree with a drawing of a tomato, apple with a worm coming out of it, a bird and a bird house. The Crawford Familiy Thanksgiving Tree, tacked up on the wall in the hall just outside the kitchen, is already filling up with leaves of thanksgiving.

The tree has helped get the homemaking/mothering gears rolling and today I am organizing for the rest of the month; Thanksgiving themed activities, stories, songs, and verses to fill our month with purposeful, fun, somewhat creative ways to learn about history and the greatness of our Lord. I post this mostly to organize and motivate myself, but also on the odd chance that someone else might benefit as well.

Surely many of you will laugh at the great simplicity of my activites and ideas, but perhaps there are a few out there like myself who are easily overwhelmed by crafts or who are new to mothering as I am and need to keep it simple, easy and basic.

Activities: All you need for these are construction paper, scissors, glue, tape, toilet paper tubes, crayons, pens or tempera paint if you are wild. Not only am I not crafty, I am cheap.

Place Cards - Make simple place cards using blank stationary note cards. Write each person’s name on the front and decorate if desired. Last year I cut out construction paper leaves, let Elise color them and then glued them on. Advanced, I know! Inside write a quote about Thanksgiving on the top and a verse on the bottom. As Thanksgiving dinner came to an end last year, we let our food settle before dessert while taking turns reading quotes and verses. Google “Thanksgiving Quotes” to find a few bits of comic relief. Some families need that . . . Quote Garden has some great quotes. I liked the ones on this Baptist site as well. This worked well and helped get everyone involved, even guests, in a non-threatening manner.

~ Chain of Thanks - Cut pices of construction paper to be used for a chain. Starting on Nov. 1st (or soon thereafter!) share a verse about gratitude or thanksgiving with your children and have them write something they are thankful for on one piece of paper for the chain. Do this each day until Thanksgiving and use the chain as decoration.

~ Blessings Journaling - On Thanksgiving day, in the morning or around the table or over dessert have each person share things they are thankful for. Record these thanksgivings in a book or on a piece of paper to be scrapbooked later with pictures of Thanksgiving and favorite verses. Each Thanksgiving read the lists from previous years and remember the faithful goodness of God given to us year after year. Be sure to include any guests!

~ Hands and Feet Turkey - This is a simple favorite. On brown paper, trace your children’s feet. Glue the feet together at the heel, so that the feet fan out a bit at the toes. Heel up, this is the body of the turkey. Draw or cut out eyes, beak and wattle. Cut out little orange turkey legs and glue ‘em on. Trace your children’s hands in different color papers. Glue one orange hand on each side of the turkey for wings and fan out a few other hands to glue behind the turkey as his tail. Isn’t that easy and cute?

~ Feather Headdress Napkin Rings - Cut a 1 1/4 inch wide ring from a tissue tube and paint or color it with pens. Glue construction paper feathers to the inside of the tube. Voila! Napkin rings!

~ Guess Who’s Thankful? - Another idea for family time after the turkey has been savored is to hand each person a pen and piece of paper to write down 6 things they are thankful for. Gather the lists together, shuffle and read each aloud, having everyone guess whose it is.

Songs:

~ “Give Thanks to The Lord“ from Steve Green’s “Hide ‘em in Your Heart” DVD (verses put to song)
~ “A Grateful Heart is Happy Heart” from Veggie Tales “Madame Blueberry”
“~ I Will Enter His Gates“ - Old praise song from who knows where! - uses only scripture lyrics.

Verses of Thanksgiving - We will just read these few verses throughout the month over breakfast and dinner and talk about what they mean with the girls.

~ Deuteronomy 7:9 - Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, to a thousand generations.

~ Isaiah 25:1 - O LORD, you are my God; I will exalt you; I will praise your name, for you have done wonderful things, plans formed of old, faithful and sure.

~ Psalm 139:14 - I will give thanks to You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Wonderful are Your works, And my soul knows it very well.

Stories for Thanksgiving

Barbra Curtis at Mommy Life has a good-looking list of books for the Thanksgiving season. I have yet to try out any on our family, so we will be off to the book store tomorrow.

As I dozed on the couch again last night, I spent my last conscious thoughts thinking about what books and stories to focus on for our month of Thanksgiving. I want my children to know the actual story of how this American holiday began, of course. Beyond that, I want to read stories that inspire gratitude in my children, stories that show them why gratitude is the proper and natural response of someone who knows God and sees what He has done. Which stories would best accomplish this? Good heavens, most of the Old Testament at least! I love all kinds of stories, but it freshly occured to me that God has written down specific stories for specific reasons. He knows our hearts and best how to penetrate them.

We read Bible stories nightly to the girls before bed, and I think we will just continue our habit. We will focus on the stories of the pentetuch which the girls are learning about at church and talk together about the awesome care and provision the Lord gives to His people, which we can rely upon, rejoice in and be every grateful for.

I would LOVE for you to share any other ideas, verses, and especially stories in the comments.

I must give up thinking of myself as intelligent for a while and expecting myself to write anything profound whatsoever. I am amidst a different season right now, one physically rigorous more than intellectually. I must accept the fact and give my brain a break.

This week has ushered in the beginning of holiday bustle in addition to a few preparations before the baby comes. Presents to buy (I perpetually procrastinate Christmas shopping, much to the demise of my mood and budget. Starting in October/November is far advanced for me!), the house to stock with supplies, and baby items to get out, sort and wash. Perhaps this is overkill, but I wanted the girls to have little presents ready to bring the new baby when she is born (those are now wrapped and ready in the pantry) and presents for the baby to “give” the girls when they visit in the hospital (things to keep them entertained on their visit as well!). I finished packing my hospital bags this week as well. Those of you who are homebirth champions will probably be glad that you didn’t have to do such packing, but in all honesty, I LOVE staying at the hospital. I rest so much better when nothing around me feels like my responsibility and I am quite sure that I am paying them enough to be at my beck and call! I rest very well at the hospital and stay as long as I can, with nothing else to do but cuddle my new little one.

Although I really haven’t ever frozen meals before, I am trying to round up a few recipes to stock the freezer with. Casserole meals usually aren’t in my repitoire, but I am growing fond of these convienant, one-dish meals. We won’t be able to call family over for help when little one is born, and I figure my family still need to eat, eh? To save money, I am attempting to sew a few presents this year. I had to take my pattern to Bible study and beg the skilled women there to tell me what “bias” and “basting” and “pressing” were. Sad, I know. But I must say that the projects have actually turned out ok!

“Cool” weather has finally hit, so I had to update the girls’ wardrobes a little bit. So that you might see into my shopping dysfunction and laugh, it took me over 3 hours to buy two pairs of pants, three shirts, 8 socks and 2 hair bows for my three year old. (I returned some clothes only 30 minutes after I bought them.) My three year old took her “pumpkin purse” with her and left it at EVERY store we visited. Since I forgot my stroller, I had to carry the 19 month old or walk her slow, wandering pace back and forth and back and forth between the stores, half the time suffering from immediate buyers remorse and half the time in a panic that we lost the precious polly pockets hiding in pumkin purse. Add to that a tired mommy with a 22 pound bowling ball strapped to her stomach, following the “3 second rule” with sacred chips purchased to appease the baby, and I am quite sure we entertained the mall workers.

All the while, I have been trying hard to give the girls the attention and instruction that I am responsible to provide, and deeply desire to provide. Neither do I want my house to fall apart. I become very cranky amidst mess and environmental chaos. Furthermore we have Thanksgiving guests coming, so I need to not let those mold lines burn a hole in the toilet bowl.

Although I usually try to make Sunday more of a rest day, I ended up organizing for my week and grocery shopping. As I peeled potatoes into the veggie stock I am making for the week, I questioned weather all this work was worth it. How tempting going the easy American way is, from fast (non-nutritious) food, to day cares, to lawn service, to TV as your perpetual babysitter, each day requires a conscious, prayerful effort to choose the more excellent way. Is it worth it?

Today our church, Christ the King Church on Chirst the King Sunday (last Sunday of the Christian calender), celebrated a Thanksgiving sunday and made time for people to stand up and share. How faithful the Lord is and how precious it is to hear of His goodness from the lips of His redeemed. I was most moved by grown children who stood amidst many tears to express overwhelming thanks for their parents; the consistant testimony they provided and the endless patience, forgiveness and unconditional love. I am sure those parents had many moments of fatigue and even despair, yet to hear the confession of my redeemed child, who has demonstrated perseverance in their lives, thank the Lord for His testimony in my life . . . that would be worth many sleepless nights and tiring days.