Author and Editor
Jessalyn Hutto
As a child I dreamt of becoming a famous actress, so it will come as no surprise that I was very disappointed when we moved from Hollywood Central (Southern California) to a tiny town in Texas. Despite this major setback (as seen through a child’s eyes) I kept pursuing my dream, and spent most of my childhood on the stage at our local community theater.
The summer before my sophomore year in high school, I was invited to a church youth camp where I heard the gospel of Jesus Christ for the first time. It was then that I came to understand that Jesus was the perfect Son of God who died a horrific death on a cross so that my sins could be forgiven. From that point on my life was completely different. God began to mold and shape me into something that desired to please him rather than myself. I began to sense that I wanted to be involved in full time ministry one day, but didn’t exactly know how.
I began my college career majoring in musical theater, but soon switched to special education. During my junior year of college I met Richard. He was passionate about the Word and cared deeply about its proclamation, plus he gave me that oowy-goowy feeling in the pit of my stomach. He told me that he felt called to pastoral ministry and I was hooked. Our dating saga is much too complicated to go into here, but lets just say I played hard to get until I knew for sure that he was the only man I could spend the rest of my life with. Once we were officially dating we were engaged after 4 months and got married 2 after that.
We moved to Louisville, Kentucky to pursue Richard’s seminary education with our new Mini Schnauzer, Melvin, in tow. While in Louisville we became pregnant for the first time and soon after miscarried. That was our first major trial as a married couple and the Lord gave us great strength and joy through it.
Then the Lord blessed us with Elliot’s pregnancy. Richard began the hunt for a full time job that would support us and allow me to stay home with our precious baby boy. The Lord had other plans. It became quite clear to us that we were not going to be able to find a job in Louisville. So, we packed up our tiny one bedroom apartment and headed home to Texas where there was a job waiting for us.
On December 31, 2008 Elliot was born and our family became 3… well 3 1/2! On June 4, 2010 Hudson entered our world and added to our joy. For now our family is four (Melvin went to live with his grandparents), but only God knows what the future holds for us. Richard is working hard on completing his master’s degree while providing for our family with a full time job. We look forward to the day, Lord willing, when he can completely devote himself to the study and proclamation of God’s word!
Our passion as a family: As we joyfully live in the abundant grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we will seek to daily know the Lord fully, serve the Lord faithfully, and proclaim the Lord fervently.
Below are some of my latest writings here at Desiring Virtue:
When Prayer Goes “Unanswered”
I have lost two children in the womb (see here and here). Two darling little babies, at different stages of developement. I had the highest hopes for each of them and prayed often for their safety, growth, and healthy delivery. I prayed for their souls even before they had fingers and toes, for their future before their brains were even fully developed. I asked my God for their lives, and he refused my requests.
I was asked recently by a sweet sister in Christ if I now found it difficult to pray. From our perspective my prayers for my children were unanswered. It would be easy to assume that God either didn’t hear my prayers or that he simply didn’t care about them. Even worse, someone in my position may begin to doubt the reality of a God who doesn’t “answer” prayer. It is the perfect situation for an unbeliever to say, “Ha! You see? He isn’t really there; you are waisting your time praying to a God who can’t hear you!”
When we are faced with the unthinkable we are often faced with a crisis of theology. Suddenly what we believe about God becomes imperative to how we respond to his providence. Perhaps you have been in a similar situation or are going through one today even. It is all too common in this sin drenched world for us to face the effects of the fall. Death is all around us. Pain and suffering seem to sweep through our families as often as the flu. Hopes and dreams are too often crushed into tiny pieces of disillusionment. All the while our prayers can sometimes seem pointless.
If.
Our prayers are only pointless if the point of prayer is to get what we want from God. If God is a genie who simply grants wishes no matter what their consequences, then a God who doesn’t grant your wish is broken and the lamp you rub as you pray might as well be sold in your next garage sale.
But this is not the God we serve. This is not the God we lift our hands in worship to. The God we entrust our deepest desires, our greatest hopes and biggest dreams to is the all knowing, all powerful, infinitely wise Lord of the Universe. The Galaxies are the work of his hands (Psalm 8:3) and yet he stoops down to provide food for the tiny birds of the air (Matthew 6:26). He is infinitely big and yet infinitely personal. The God we pray to hears our prayers (1Peter 3:12), even when it is too difficult to put them into words (Romans 8:26).
The problem isn’t that God can’t hear our prayers or that he isn’t powerful enough to grant them. God is not limited. The problem is that we are limited. Unlike our heavenly Father, we do not know what the future will bring, we do not know what he plans for our families, we do not even know what is best for our own hearts (Jeremiah 17:1). We can only see what is right in front of us; we can only ask for what seems to be the best thing at the time. But God doesn’t see like that. He sees the past, present, and future all at once. In a sense he lives with us (in our time) and yet, he also lives outside of time. His purposes are beyond our comprehension because we are limited to the here and now. He is not.
This is precisely why we bring our prayers to him: because he is the only one who has the power to answer them and because he is the only one who knows if they should be answered. I have no desire to pray to a God who will blindly answer my prayers no matter what the consequences. I would much rather spend my time in communion with the God who works out everything for my good, the God who has a glorious plan for his elect, the God whose purposes will not be thwarted.
Jesus taught us to pray according to the Lord’s will (Matthew 6:10), not our own. His will is perfect, ours is not. We can be confident that he will answer prayers that specifically echo his revealed will. Prayers such as the sanctification of another believer, that glory would be brought to the Lord through your circumstances, that he would provide a harvest of believers to missionaries across the world. Other things are not as clear. As I prayed for my little babies, I did not know if it was the Lord’s will to bring them into adulthood, but I did know this: He calls me to make my requests known to him and to trust him.
Sometimes he chooses to use the prayers of his children as the means of accomplishing his perfect will (1 Kings 17:21-24) and sometimes he doesn’t (2 Samuel 12:18-22; 2 Samuel 12:23). He always uses them to develop in us a reliance on his power and wisdom. Prayer is more than an ask and receive exchange between you and the God of the Universe. As Wayne Grudem so beautifully puts it:
God wants us to pray because prayer expresses our trust in God and is a means whereby our trust in him increases. In fact, perhaps the primary emphasis of the Bible’s teaching on prayer is that we are to pray with faith, which means trust or dependence on God. God as our Creator delights in being trusted by us as his creatures, for an attitude of dependence is most appropriate to the Creator/creature relationship. Praying in humble dependence also indicates that we are genuinely convinced of God’s wisdom, love, goodness, and power-indeed of all the attributes that make up his excellent character. When we truly pray, we as as persons, in the our character, are relating to God as a person, in the wholeness of his character. Thus all that we think or feel about God comes to expression in our prayer. It is only natural that God would delight in such activity and place much emphasis on it in his relationship with us. (Systematic Theology)
When I prayed for my children I was conversing with my Heavenly Father, who loves me and knew that their little lives would only be with me for short while. He had a plan for their lives and for their deaths. His will was to bring glory to himself through their short lives and the sanctification that such a loss would bring about in my heart.
As I shared with this dear sister:
“Some ways that the Lord has blessed me through my miscarriages are more obvious than others. I have been tremendously blessed by the opportunity to be a witness of God’s goodness even in the midst of trials. I have had the privilege of sharing in many women’s sorrow as they pass through the waves of miscarriage and loss. I have had a new appreciation for grief and been able to mourn more appropriately with those who mourn. My own character has been altered through the experience of pain and suffering. My spirit is quieter, slower to speak, more willing to listen to people, as these were the things I so treasured in others when I was going through my own trials. My relationship to my husband has grown by leaps and bounds as we have had to rely on one another through such dark times. We share a particular loss that no one else will ever be able to comprehend and that unites us. I have been able to look into my Savior’s face and acknowledge that he is indeed good and been able to feel his very real presence in the darkest of hours. These are no light blessings… they are the blessings that produce endurance, and joy in the faith. Physically, I have been blessed with two wonderful children-one of which would not have ever been conceived if I hadn’t lost my first precious child. This was the Lord’s will for me and I rejoice in it.
Would I have ever asked to miscarry? No. I will always pray for the safety of my children and hope for their safe delivery, but I am confident that the Lord does not bring any trial our way that isn’t good for us and that won’t draw us closer to him.”
And so dear sisters, I encourage you to continue in prayer. Remember that no request, if it be in line with this revealed Word, is to great. Our God is able to answer the most impossible of requests (Matthew 17:20). But do not be disheartened if he does not seem to answer your prayers. Do not think him unkind, unloving, or powerless. Instead, find in him the wisdom that knows his purposes are good and his will is perfect. Know that if your request was not answered, he, in his infinite wisdom has chosen another path for you-a path that he has planned from eternity past for his glory and your good.
Pray without ceasing to the one who is able to answer your prayers, but always with the desire that his perfect will be done, whatever it entails.
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A New Year at Desiring Virtue
As a new year begins at Desiring Virtue, I would like to thank each of you for spending time in this little corner of the internet. The Lord blessed me through your fellowship as we walked through the Scriptures, searched out the yummiest of recipes, talked about organization and household management, and even as I let you peek into my own heart. This year I shared with you my highest moment as well as my lowest. You have both encouraged me to pursue the Lord harder during the beautiful, lovely days and offered your words of wisdom during my darkest of hours. Thank you. Your fellowship is a gift from God.
Desiring Virtue has seen tremendous growth over the past year and I rejoice in the knowledge that there are so many women out there who are passionate about the Word of God, and who desire to apply it in their role as homemaker. My prayer is that this place will continue to be an encouragement to your soul to seek the Lord’s grace in all that you do and that it will continue to reveal the often overlooked connection between theology and homemaking. It is only because of the God we serve and the powerful, life-altering gospel of Jesus Christ that we are able to lay our lives down for our families, serving them day in and day out. As I have said before, “This is what Desiring Virtue is about. It seeks to mix the “holy” with the “secular” and encourage women to see their callings as wife, mother, homemaker, neighbor, friend, and church member all as avanues of enjoying the grace of God and bringing glory to the grace of God.”
This year, Lord willing, Desiring Virtue will take you deeper into the Word of God while encouraging you to make the connection between the grace of our Lord and the mundane, everyday tasks of homemaking. We will find encouragement from women who have gone before us and women who are walking the path of grace today. We will look at practical ways to serve our families, our church, our communities for the glory of God. If you are connected through Facebook, you will be kept up to date on all of DV’s latest posts as well as inspirational reads from all over the internet that will challenge you in your walk with the Lord as well as encourage you in your calling as homemaker. Desiring Virtue’s Facebook page is also a great place to fellowship with other women who desire to grow just as much as you do. Make sure that you connect to DV in this simple and beneficial way.
If you are new here at Desiring Virtue I would like to say “Welcome.” I am so glad the Lord has led you here and I pray that you will be blessed by this website. You may be wondering where to begin or what you have missed. Here is a list of 2011′s most popular posts as well as some of my favorites:
Are You Desiring Virtue?
When God Asks You For Your Isaac
Death and God
Gospel Parenting, Old but New
Common Temptations and Christ’s Uncommon Grace
The Deception of Gender Equality
Grace: The Great Equalizer
When Holiness Seems Too Far Away
Of course the top visited content at Desiring Virtue has been the Homemaking Printables. I am so happy that literally thousands of people have been able to benefit from the these simple tools to help manage the home. Here is a quick run down of printables that may help you get organized in your homemaking this year:
Plan of Attack (Daily Planners)
Today’s Plan of Attack (Daily Planner featuring full page views and completely blank)
This Weeks Menu Plan
Websites and Passwords
Running To-do List
Weekly Reflections
Large Family Logistics Inspired Daily Planner (New, blank version to come)
Make sure to connect with Desiring Virtue either through Facebook or Twitter to stay up to date on the latest printables!
Here is to a new year of honoring the Lord through serving our families, friends, churches, and neighbors for the glory of God!
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Preparing for the New Year and New Daily Planner Printables
One of the most exciting (as well as practical) gifts I received this Christmas was Large Family Logistics: The Art and Science of Managing the Large Family. By most standards our family is still small (it is just the four of us at the moment), but this book is by no means just for the large family. In fact, I don’t think you have to have kids to be able to profit from this book and the wisdom shared within its gigantic pages (the size of this book is impressive in and of itself!). What this book offers is an insider’s look into one homemaker’s methods and systems as she goes about caring for a large family. It is a textbook of sorts on homemaking, a guide to organizing your life as a homemaker. This is something that I can benefit greatly from. Yes, as the years continue to pass I get wiser in the way I do things and I slowly begin to figure things out (things that usually amount to simple discipline on my part), but how much more helpful is it to have someone show you the ropes before you become overwhelmed? Sure, some days I feel overwhelmed already, but things are tame for the moment with only two children and neither of them homeschooling yet. More than anything I want to master some basic home management skills before my family gets any larger and and I begin homeschooling (this is when hyperventilating my enter into my daily routine). This is Kim’s purpose in writing the book. Listen to her heart:
“…I found that there are many young moms who are in the same position that I was-unprepared for keeping the home with lots of children. While women historically were equipped to be the caretakers of thriving, busy households when they reached maturity, most of today’s women are ill-equipped for such responsibility. this change has happened in the wake of feminism, which teaches young women that they can have a career and be a mom. Guidance counselors in the schools encourage those who enjoy children to be teachers or day care providers. Childbearing is an experience to have after practicing with a dog or cat for a few years. I read recently that in some circles chidden are an economic status symbol along with all the accouterments to buy for them.
When the Internet came along, I met many fellow casualties of feminism. I realized that I was not the only woman who desired to be a faithful homemaker who was crying out to God, “How do I do this?” That realization caused me to begin sharing my ideas through blog writing, articles, and, eventually, completing this book for this moms who were a step behind me in my journey of motherhood and home keeping. I am motivated to take the time to write now because the answer I often heard to my own question of “How?” was, “I don’t know, I just did it.” There’s truth in that answer-there are so many things that we need to just do-but I wanted specifics. the specifics pass into the deep recesses of our minds because often they are small tips, tricks, or ingrained hap its that require little thought. My goal is to write those things down for those who are struggling with “How?”‘
And so, I have been quickly searching through this fabulous resource for the how of actively managing my family. I say actively because it can become very easy to passively manage. You know what this is like: you begin to play more of a defensive role as the home manager, constantly making up for lost time and reacting to the day rather than planning out the day and successfully accomplishing all you set out to do.
Most of what Kim shares amounts to routine and setting a pattern of living and working within your home. She shares specific systems that she uses in order to manage her own large family and persuasive reasons for doing things in a like manner. Because of this I have decided to alter my daily routines to more closely aline with the one she prescribes in her book. She follows a similar “one focus a day” approach, but makes my previous attempts at the same system look pathetic in comparison. Her goals and expectations are much more detailed and assure that she will accomplish a finely tuned home. This is something that I long for. After spending some time in the book (preparing for a new year of homemaking) I typed up some new printables to fill my home management notebook with. They follow her system almost exactly (with a few modifications), focusing on one major household task a day.
Tuesday: Kitchen Day
Wednesday: Office Day
Thursday: Town Day
Friday: Cleaning Day
Saturday: Outside Day (She refers to this day as Garden Day, but I have no garden… so yeah)
Sunday: The Lord’s Day
The biggest difference in this system to what I was doing the past is that most cleaning is reserved to one day of the week. There are daily cleaning tasks to be done, but Friday is reserved for getting down and dirty.
Also, she recommends focusing on one area of your home every week for doing Deep Cleaning (you know, the stuff you never ever do until it gets just terrible). In her family they do one thing in that area every day, but you could also do it all on cleaning day. I have decided to do it every day like she has and then catch up on Friday if needed. Examples of Focus Areas are bathrooms, living room and family room, bedrooms, etc… and examples of deep cleaning to do in those areas are things like declutter the area, catch cobwebs, dust ceiling fans, clean light switches, etc…
I also love the idea of having a day completely focused on paperwork, computer work, budgeting, menu planning and the like. This is what she refers to as Office Day and would really benefit my home management by encouraging me to be intentional and disciplined in these areas.
As the new year begins so does my prayer that the Lord would continue to empower me to serve my family well through the ministry of homemaking. I am thankful for the tips I am learning in this book and look forward to implementing more of them in the future.
If you follow Kim’s plan, or are looking forward to reading the book in the future, you can download and print my printables below for your own use. I am sure that I will be modifying them in the future as I try out this method and tweak it to better serve our family, but this is a good starting point. Please let me know if you find any typos or have any suggestions!
I can’t recommend Large Family Logistics enough. If you are looking for some inspiration and motivation for your homemaking, I would encourage you to check it out!
Also, if you are looking for some less specific printables to organize yourself with this new year, check out these Daily Plan of Attack printables.
Other printables you may be interested in:
Websites and Passwords
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
A Different Kind of Christmas Tree
Throughout the series Cultivating A Christ-Centered Christmas I occasionally mentioned how our family incorporates some of the practical traditions shared. Today I wanted to go into a little more detail as to how our family celebrates with a Christmas Tree.
As I mentioned in the series, no family’s traditions are exactly the same. In fact, most of the traditions I shared with you are not ones that we personally use and among the ones that we do use, some we have tweaked or recreated to fit our personal needs and desires. That is the point of family traditions right? They are your family’s traditions!
I am going to share with you the way my husband and I combined the Christian “Jesse Tree” tradition with our the traditional “Christmas Tree” tradition to provide a beautiful and unique way to worship the Christ of Christmas.
Our Tree’s Backstory
Three years ago we decided to assess our Christmas tree. I’m sure it had something to do with me reading “Treasuring God in Our Traditions” by Noel Piper. In the book she explains that there never was a Christmas tree in their home. They didn’t really see a point since it had nothing to do with the incarnation. Rather than simply accepting cultural norms, they decided to only include traditions that truly pointed to the Christ and encouraged meditation on the Savior. My head started reeling the first time I read this. No Christmas tree?
My mother’s Christmas tree is a paradigm of Christmas trees. It is always very large, perfectly adorned by bows, ribbons, lights, and beads. The ornaments that decorate its fragrant branches range from porcelain ballerinas to fantastical glass blow fish.
Picking out the perfect tree every year growing up was a family affair (a battle that my brother somehow always won) and decorating the tree was a major event, one that my mother always seemed to make special. I loved our tree. I am still utterly enchanted when I walk into my parent’s home and take in the beautiful job she has done each year.
Would our home not have that same tradition? Would our children not walk through isles of trees searching for the perfect one to adorn our family room? This was something I would have to think and pray about.
As I researched more and more traditions that were specifically Christ-centered I came across the Jesse tree tradition. I loved the way it encouraged us to celebrate redemptive history, the way it caused us to think about the waiting that God’s people experienced as he fulfilled his promise of salvation. As I began to consider implementing it in our Christmas celebration I couldn’t help but feel that having a little tree (or even a branch as some use) that focused on the Savior and a very large, mostly arbitrary (beautifully arbitrary mind you!) Christmas tree during the celebration of Christ’s incarnation was a little lopsided.
Since we were already reassessing our Christmas tree to begin with, we decided to give the tradition an overhaul and meld the two trees together into one Christ-centered tree that would spur us on to love the Savior more every time we decorated it. And so our Christmas tree was born.
Our Christmas Tree Tradition
“O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit.” (Hoseah 14:8 ESV)
We begin decorating our tree the Saturday after Thanksgiving. That night as Richard brings it in and sets it up, I prepare the hot chocolate and treats. We start in the same way most do by stringing lights around the tree; a beautiful reminder of Christ’s illuminating character and sinless life (the more lights the better!).
Once the lights are strung, we begin putting our ornaments on. One by one we adorn our tree with simple, beautiful ball ornaments that display the names of Christ. On each ornament I have written one of the ways the Bible refers to the Messiah as well as the scripture references. As we hang each name we say it out loud reminding each other of the many attributes of Christ. As our children get older and the tradition can last longer, we hope to take time to read several of the references associated with the names.
Next we hang cross ornaments to remind us of the reason Christ was born as a baby in the flesh of men. This is a collection we have just begun and look forward to adding to. I love to see the crosses amongst the various names of Christ as well as amongst our advent ornaments as it reminds me that every event in Biblical history points to the Savior.
Once all of our ornaments are hung, we add red ribbon that cascades down our tree reminding us of the precious blood that was shed for our forgiveness.
And of course, the last thing to be added is the star, reminiscent of “his star” which the wise men followed to find the Christ-child.
The next day is Sunday, the first day of Advent. This is when we begin adding our “Jesse Tree” ornaments. These ornaments trace through the course of redemptive history beginning with Creation and ending at the coming of the Messiah. I made ornaments for each event by downloading images of paintings off of the internet and then Mod Podging them into picture frame ornaments. Each night leading up to Christmas we add one ornament to the tree and read the corresponding account in the Bible. This wonderful tradition is helpful not only for the children, but for us as well. Together we remember (and our children learn) the need we, as a fallen race, had for a Savior. Through learning the anticipation of God’s people, we too build anticipation for Christmas day when we celebrate the Messiah’s coming.
As the advent ornaments continue to be added to our tree, a wonderful story of God’s interaction with his people begins to unfold. All the while this incredible story is nestled in among reminders of the Savior, to whom it all belongs.
I love our tree.
I love that it has a purpose and that every time I look at it I am stirred to think on the amazing truths of salvation. When I look at it I think of my Savior.
Our prayer is that God would use this tradition in our children’s lives to not only teach them the story of salvation, but captivate their little hearts with the joy we have in God’s goodness to his people.
My Challenge to You
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post. Every family’s traditions will look different. My hope in sharing our Christmas Tree Tradition with you is not say, “You should do this too,” but to encourage you to be intentional about your celebration and don’t be afraid to step outside the box a little in an effort to honor the Lord and worship him through your traditions. I have found so much joy in coming up with creative ways to make our Christmas about the One who is worthy of so much celebration.
This post is linked up at A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
The Very Real Love of Christ
‘“…The people talk strangely about [Christian]. Some say he now walks in white, that he has a chain of gold about his neck, or that he has on his head a crown of gold set with pearls. Others say the Shining Ones who sometimes showed themselves to him during his journey have become his companions, and that he is just as familiar with them in the place where he is as one neighbor is with another here. Besides, it’s confidently affirmed concerning him, that the King of that place where he is has bestowed upon him a very rich and pleasant dwelling at court and that every day he eats and drinks and walks and talks with Him and receives smiles and favors there from Him who is Judge of All.’
‘Moreover,’ continued Sagacity, ‘it is expected by some that his Prince, the Lord of that country, will soon come into these parts and will desire to know the reason-if they can give any-why his neighbors treated him so lightly and made fun of him so much when they saw that he would be a Pilgrim. For they say that he is now held in so much affection by his Prince, and that his King is so much concerned with the indignities that were cast upon Christian when he became a Pilgrim, that He will look upon everyone as if those things were done to himself. And it’s not surprising, for it was because of the love Christian had for his Prince that he did what he did.’” -John Bunyan, The Pilgrim’s Progress
How deep is the love of Christ! Can we comprehend the weight of love that is lavished upon us? Can we even begin to comprehend the overwhelming joy that will fill us as we stand before the King of the Universe and feel his loving presence? To be so intimately acquainted with the one who’s love has no boundaries is an incomprehensible gift-one that we will thank him for all of eternity for.
It is hard to grasp the love of Christ daily without taking it for granted. It becomes a normal, everyday, tarnished thing. Its luster slowly fades as we talk about it over and over, as we sing about it over and over, as we hear about it over and over. It becomes a philosophical idea rather than a real emotional experience. Our religion becomes a list rather than a relationship, rather than a love. How do we keep this from happening? How do we revive our spirits, stir up those groanings and longings for the Savior?
We must remember the gospel.
We must remind ourselves of our sin and the just penalty of death that hung over us until Christ chose to love us. We must remind ourselves of our unloveliness, of our disgustingness. We must remember that we hated Christ, that our sin was a constant act of retaliation against his love. We must remember that in spite of all these things he chose to love us.
He died for our murderous, adulterous, perverse hearts. He bled and suffered for our filthiness. He chose to allow the disgusting sinners of this earth to nail his perfect, stainless hands and feet to a horrible cross. He chose to slowly suffocate to death in his own lung fluid as he gasped for enough breath to finish our salvation. He did all of this so that we could be cleansed. He cleansed us so that we could understand his love and feel his love. He took away our filthiness so that we could love him.
We must remember our hope.
We must remind ourselves of the promises he has made to us. He has promised to return for us. He has promised that our faith, our blind faith, will be rewarded with visual, physical affirmation. We will stand with him in glory and enjoy his presence forever without the guilt of sin hanging around our necks. Wrongs will be made right and evil will be punished. The suffering we encounter here has all been counted, it is all under his watch. He will avenge the wrong that has been done to us for the sake of his name; he will be glorified. He has promised to cleanse our heart forever and make us white as snow. We will be able to stand before the Holy God and not shrink away because of Christ’s love for us! When you remember these things it is pretty easy to feel his love, to love his love, to sing about his love, to preach his love. But there is something that leads us to love Christ even more than our experience and future with him.
We must enjoy our Savior.
Christ himself is enough to elicit the most profound love from the depths of our souls. Think about his pure character, his power, his gentleness, his generosity, his strength, his moral purity, his empathy, his ability to forgive sin, his eternality, his friendliness, his holiness, his majesty, the list could go on and on. Christ is supremely worthy of love because he is Christ.
Enjoy his love, and allow yourself to be transformed by it’s unique life-altering power!
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Why Not Santa Claus? (Part 3)
From my last two posts regarding Santa you might think I was raised with these convictions, but that is simply not the case. Like most children, I grew up believing in and enjoying Santa Claus. All season long I would anxiously wait for the gifts he would bring and every Christmas morning I awoke with the excitement of knowing that “Santa” had left these special gifts for me under the tree and would quickly rush to unwrap them. Even when I got older and understood that Santa was not real I enjoyed the tradition of having gifts say “from Santa” on them. I do not look back on those wonderful experiences and abhor them, on the contrary I find them very sentimental!
However, having experienced the joy and excitement of Santa as a child I can honestly say that I would have rather been taught how to worship and enjoy Christ instead. My parents tried their best to tell me about the birth of Christ, even reading the Biblical account, but I never really gave it much thought. In my childish mind I understood that these moments of thinking about Jesus were supposed to be the real purpose of our celebration, but in my heart I really only cared about getting to the part where we unwrapped the gifts from Santa.
You see, when my family and I became Christians and totally devoted our lives to Christ (starting around my sophomore year in high school) Christmas took on a whole new meaning. Suddenly it was a time to thank God for the miraculous gift of his Son, Jesus Christ, rather than a time to focus on material gifts. Every part of my life, including Christmas, became an opportunity to worship and adore the one who saved my soul from eternal condemnation. As a Christian, my heart’s desire is to glorify God in every area of my life (as much as humanly possible) and I desire to help my family do the same. I especially want to teach my children how to know and honor the Lord early on in their lives through our family traditions.
Christmas provides a special opportunity to take extra time to focus on Jesus and why he came to earth in the form of man. Rather than let this time slip through our fingers, Richard and I want to make the most of it. We have come to the conclusion that the best way to do this is to cut out anything (anything possible) that distracts from this message and add anything we can that will bring to life this message. For us, Santa falls into the category of unnecessary and even distracting traditions and because of this we have no need of him. Though it was emotionally hard for me to make this decision at first, I have found that the Lord quickly blessed our desire to focus our hearts and time on him alone. My prayer is that one day he will use our Christmas traditions to usher our children into a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. What a blessing to have a time so devoted to the Messiah! What a tragedy it would be if I simply let it slip through our fingers.
And so this is why Richard and I have chosen to not include Santa in our Christmas traditions. Not because we think Santa is evil, or that other parents who tell there children about Santa are evil, but because through prayer and counsel we honestly believe that the best way to help our children love Christ more is to show them that we love Christ in every area of our lives, including our Christmas traditions. Through our joyful celebration of the Messiah’s birth it is our prayer that they too will come to have a similar joy and excitement when the season approaches. I am so very grateful that our God is worth celebrating every moment of every day, and that we have a special opportunity to do so in even greater abundance during the season of Christmas.
So, in answer to the question “Why Not Santa?” I simply want to say “Why not Jesus?”
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11 ESV)
You may be wondering what you would do during Christmas without Santa. If so, I would love for you to read the recent series “Cultivating a Christ-centered Christmas.” Just click here to learn about many Christ-centered traditions you can implement in your family!Photo Credit
This post is linked to Time-Warp Wife’s Titus 2sday.
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Why Not Santa Claus? (Part 2)
If the world wants to celebrate a fictitious person then so be it. However, when Christians begin to embrace Santa and try to meld him in with their celebration of the birth of the Messiah, I fear that we have lost our grip on reality. When well meaning parents explain that they simply want their kids to be able to experience the “magic” of the season I wonder if they, themselves, truly understand the incomprehensibly profound act of God becoming man so that he could save the world from the power of sin. Is there anything more magical, more incredible than that? Is there any need to celebrate or focus our hearts on anything but this mighty act? Claiming that your children will “miss out” on the fun and excitement of Christmas without a mythical character at its center is paramount to saying that Jesus isn’t enough. Perhaps the true problem is that you, yourself, don’t believe that Jesus is enough to bring joy and excitement to your child’s Christmas celebration.
I am not trying to make the case that Christmas has always inherently been about Jesus and that there is no room for other celebrations. I am well aware that Christmas finds its roots in the long celebrated Winter Solstice and that it was only when the Pope declared December 25th to be the anniversary of the birth of Christ that it became a Christian holiday. What I am trying to say is that as Christians our celebrations should be inherently and distinctly Christian.
There should be an obvious difference in the way we rejoice in and experience Christmas when compared to unbelievers. Let the world raise their children to believe in Santa Claus while we raise our children to believe in the Christ, the Son of God! Let the world teach their children that Christmas is a time when you get glorious gifts while we teach our children that Christmas is a time to celebrate the most glorious gift of salvation!
I understand that tradition is hard to break and that it is emotional. But if you love the Lord and desire for your children to experience that same love, diverting their attention to a mythical being may not be the most helpful exercise. There is One who is greater, lovelier, and much more gracious than even Santa and his name is Jesus. I wholeheartedly believe that the children who miss out on Christmas are actually those who’s attention is divided between Santa and Jesus. There is no way to whole heartedly appreciate and be excited about an Invisible God when at the same time a visible, tangible, and physical, gift-giving man is also being endorsed and encouraged by your parents. But this, I think is the problem. It doesn’t so much bother us that our children might be half-heartedly excited about Jesus (or even a fourth-heartedly for that matter). We just want to see the smiles on their faces as they awake to see the presents that Santa left for them under the tree.
Ultimately it comes down to our hearts as parents. What do we value? What do we want our children to value? What do we want the world to see that we value? Are we content with teaching our children to have divided affections? Are we satisfied with our Christmas celebrations knowing that, though we tried our hardest to make “Jesus the reason for the season,” our little children were too caught up in the magic and excitement of Santa to really care? We have to ask ourselves if we really care.
I have heard parents say “they are only children once, let them have some fun and enjoy Santa while they can!” My only response to that statement is this: Children are only children once! You only have one opportunity to instill in them a love and adoration for Christ; use this time to teach them how to find their joy and excitement in the eternal God who never changes and will never fade.
Come back tomorrow for the conclusion of “Why Not Santa Claus?”
This post is linked to Time-Warp Wife’s Titus 2sday.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Why Not Santa Claus? (Part 1)
Please understand that I am not saying it is absolutely impossible to cultivate a Christ-centered Christmas that includes Santa. Rather, my hope is to challenge you to contemplate the purpose of including Santa in your celebration as well as the benefits and consequences of including him in your celebration.
In the next few posts I will be sharing my heart for why I believe it is most beneficial to the the spiritual formation of our children to focus solely on the incarnation of Christ rather than mixing Santa with Jesus. I pray that, even if by the end of this series you disagree with me, you will at the very least be encouraged to be purposeful in how you shepherd your children’s hearts during this wonderful season.
The topic of Santa Claus is very interesting to me. How is it that a fourth century bishop who was known for his generosity to children, the poor and the destitute became the center of a an entire holiday season? When and why did people feel the need to mold this real and supposedly God-honoring man into an idol?
The word idol may sound harsh. I am not proposing that everyone who participates in the Santa Claus tradition is an idol worshiper, but I fear that the vast majority of Americans are in fact teaching their children to worship an imaginary man (imaginary because the historical St. Nicholas of Myra is vastly different from the one we celebrate now).
Think about it for a moment, how is the way we encourage our children to worship the true God any different from the way we teach our children to relate to Santa Claus? We teach them that Santa is all-knowing (after all he can see you when your sleeping and know when your awake), he is omnipresent (he somehow can be everywhere at once in one night), and he rewards good behavior while punishing bad behavior. We actively ingrain in our children the validity of Santa, reading them stories, teaching them songs, taking them to “meet” Santa and more. We remind them throughout the year (especially as Christmas gets closer) that the gifts they get on Christmas will depend upon their obedience or disobedience making Santa an authority in their lives. In many ways, and in many homes Santa may seem more “real” than God himself!
Of course we know that we are basically lying to our children so that they can have some childish fun, and they will find out sooner or later that it was all just an elaborate story meant for their enjoyment, but they don’t know that yet. In their childish minds Santa is the coolest man on earth! Who could be better than Santa? I mean goodness, all I have to do is make a list and he will give me all my little heart desires come Christmas morning!
It should not surprise us to find that Santa has grown into such a phenomenon, for we know that man’s heart was created to worship. As humans we were created to have a relationship with our Lord. In fact, our hearts and minds are fitted to worship (though this natural inclination is skewed as a result of the fall). No, it should not surprise us when we see the world grasp at any and all earthly idols as they search for joy and spurn the one true God, but it should surprise us when the Christian community embraces the worship of a fictional character with little more thought than “I want my child to have fun.”
You may be wondering what you would do during Christmas without Santa. If so, I would love for you to read the recent series “Cultivating a Christ-centered Christmas.” Just click here to learn about many Christ-centered traditions you can implement in your family!
This post is linked to Time-Warp Wife’s Titus 2sday and A Wise Woman Builds Her Home.
If this is your first time to visit Desiring Virtue you may want to join our growing community of passionate homemakers by "liking" DV on Facebook, following DV on Twitter, or subscribing to DV's email delivery via Feedburner.
Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Imitate)
We have looked at many different practical traditions that you can make a part of your family’s Christmas celebration, today we are going to look at the most important ways that we can glorify and honor our Lord at Christmas time. By imitating the heart and love of our Savior we will point others to the most wonderful of Kings, the one who can give them true and lasting joy. I hope that you will prayerfully consider making service and giving the biggest part of your Christmas, rather than parties, gifts, and shopping.
Imitate Our Messiah King
Care for the Orphans and Widows- Imitate the heart of our Savior by paying special attention to the orphans and widows around you. Consider who around you (or around the world for that matter) you can show the love of Christ to. Is there a nursing home near you? Is there an elderly, home bound member of your church you could spend time with? Can you volunteer at a shelter? Will you participate in Operation Christmas Child? Is there a needy family that you are aware of whom would be blessed by your generosity during Christmas? Look for ways to serve and give to those who are the most alone and needy this Christmas, for this is undefiled religion, this is what our Messiah loves to see his redeemed doing. Photo Credit
Care for the Church- Find special ways to honor those who serve faithfully in your church family. People who may not be recognized often are nursery workers, set up crews, sound and tech crews, small group leaders, and youth workers. Take the time to thank them for serving our Messiah King and bless them in some special way (keep in mind that a personal note of thanks is probably more appreciated than a baked good even… and more economical too). Also remember to honor your pastors and their families during this time. They will be especially busy during this season (many will be unable to spend their Christmas with extended family as they serve the church). A practical way to serve these busy people is by offering to prepare dinner for them one night during the Christmas season as they may be too busy to come over to your home for dinner. A good meal that is already prepared is a very special blessing! Gift cards to Wal-Mart, Amazon, Target, etc… would also be excellent blessings as pastor’s families often operate on small budgets. Don’t forget those you do not see! Send Christmas cards and gifts to missionaries you have been praying for and supporting throughout the year.
Care for the Poor- Consider spending less money on gifts for your family and more on gifts that will make a lasting impact on those who have nothing. (Talk to your family about this goal before making any drastic changes to your gift buying; make it a family project). Perhaps you will begin supporting a child through Compassion, or you will donate money to an organization that provides clean drinking water to those who are dying without it-one such organization is Living Water International.
Care for the Persecuted Church- Look into different ways your family or you personally can encourage and strengthen the persecuted church. Check into the many opportunities that Voice of the Martyrs provides like filling an action pack for persecuted Christians, collecting blankets for Sudanese Christians, writing a letter to a Christian who has been imprisoned for his faith, or simply giving money.
Invite someone over for your Christmas Eve/Christmas day celebration who doesn’t have anywhere else to go. Let them be a part of your family and participate in your traditions. Show them that your family is different, that your family serves the Lord and not the lust for material possessions. People you might not think about are college students (especially students from other countries), elderly neighbors, and seminary students/couples.
While we were in another state for seminary we were very blessed by a family in our church who “took us in” for Christmas and allowed us to enjoy their feast with them.
Be Set Apart- All of the traditions we have discussed throughout this series are meant to be distinctly Christian. We want the world to see that we have something incredible to celebrate, something that is beautiful and wonderful and exciting, something that they will want to partake in too. Think about Christ’s character and make it your aim to display that to the world around you this Christmas. Keep spare bills in your wallet so that you are ready and able to give to The Salvation Army, to beggars on the street, to buy your friend lunch. Be prepared to share the gospel with your coworkers, fellow students, and neighbors. Make baked goods for your neighbors to show them the love of Christ and personally deliver them. Invite people to church with you on Christmas to hear the good news. Carry your faith into every aspect of your Christmas (that includes your Black Friday shopping!).
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!
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Cultivating a Christ-Centered Christmas: Practical Traditions (Worship)
So far we have looked at the Motivation for a Christ-Centered Christmas, Advent Traditions, and Ways to Meditate on Christ. Today we are going to turn our attention to practical ways we can worship Christ during the Christmas Season!
Through sharing a wealth of ideas with you, I hope to prove that by focusing on Christ, rather than the many materialistic and mystical traditions the world focuses on, you are not giving up a joyful, meaningful, memorable Christmas. On the contrary, by focusing our hearts and minds on the Living God throughout the Christmas season, we will do lasting good to our lives, our children’s lives, and the lives of the watching world around us.
Worshipping the Messiah King
Christmas Eve Service- Make your church’s Christmas Eve Service a focal point of your Christmas tradition. If you have children, build up the excitement of going to the special Christmas service where you will worship the Messiah King with your church family. Make time for the service and plan your other activities around it, so as not to be rushed and simply adding more “activities” to your night. Candlelight Service Photo Credit
Incorporate Christmas Hymns into your family devotion times and play Christ-exalting Christmas Carols in your home throughout the Christmas season.
The First Gift Tradition- Wrap a box that can be used every Christmas and fill it with white index cards that read “Jesus blessed me this year by…” (or something to this effect). Fill out as many cards as you want individually and then place them in the box on Christmas Eve. Christmas morning open the box and read them out loud to one another reminding each other of the many blessings our Messiah King has bestowed on us. Offer a prayer of thanksgiving to our giving Lord for all the many gifts he has given us (including the gifts you are about to open). Pray that he would cultivate thankful and mindful hearts in each of us. Open each other’s gifts with the desire to bless others because we have been so richly blessed.
Save the cards from each year by tying them up in ribbon and leaving them at the bottom of the box. Throughout the Christmas Season take a peak at old cards!
This is the first year we will be incorporating this tradition into our Christmas. I plan to write “Jesus I thank and worship you because…” on each of the cards so that our gift to Jesus is filled with praises to him (what he truly desires).
Rejoice! Make Christmas morning a very special and exciting day by making a lavish breakfast lighting lots of candles and singing loud worship music to the Messiah who has “arrived.” Consider waking before your children wake up (I know…) so they can see that you are thrilled to celebrate Christ’s birth. In this way you can capture their hearts and minds before they even begin to think about presents. Burst into their rooms singing “Good Christian men, rejoice with heart and soul, and voice; Give ye heed to what we say: News! News! Jesus Christ is born today; Ox and ass before Him bow; and He is in the manger now. Christ is born today! Christ is born today!” Then lead them to your tree to give Jesus your gift of praise!
Shepherd’s Pouches- Cultivate a giving spirit in your children’s hearts by encouraging them to collect spare change or allowance money (provide opportunities for them to earn money) during the Christmas season. Hang “Shepherd’s Pouches” rather than stockings and allow them to fill them up with money for Christ (their gifts of praise to him). Tell them that you will put all of the money together when Christmas arrives and donate it to the church, a charity, a needy family you know, or use it to send your Compassion child a special Christmas gift. Christmas Eve night, exchange the money for small trinkets that you would normally put in a stocking.
Don’t forget to have a Shepherd’s Pouch for Mom and Dad too! Let your children see your desire to worship Christ as well. Giving your money to someone or sending it off to a charity on Christmas day would be an excellent way to make the experience more realistic to younger children (even if the Post Office isn’t open you can put it in a drop box). Leather Pouch Photo Credit
Consider limiting the amount of Christmas gifts you give to your children in order to help them focus less on material things. Some use a “three gift” rule mimicking the frankincense, gold, and myrrh brought by the wise men to Jesus.
We have a one present tradition, that we hope to build on as our children grow and are able to make/buy gifts for their siblings (we also ask that extended family use temperance in their gift buying).
Some larger families have a “Night of the Giver” for every person in their family where each person is assigned a night when they are able to give the gifts they have made/bought to each of their family members. (If you have four members in your family you have four nights of gift giving.) This helps to cultivate an attitude of giving rather than receiving. Christmas Eve and Day are then reserved to celebrate Christ, our ultimate gift and no gifts are exchanged.
Cut out Santa- I will share more on Santa during the month of December, but for now let me just say this: Allow your children to be thankful to the true Giver of Gifts rather than a fictitious person who will only distract from your worship of the Lord. Use the gifts from family and friends to teach your children about our great God who blesses us, so that we can in turn bless others.
Click here to take a look at ways we can practically imitate our Messiah King this Christmas season!
To see all of Desiring Virtue’s Christmas resources click here!This post is linked up at The Encouraging Home.
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