Advent Love

It's the third Sunday of Advent, and so tonight at Walnut Hill's 6:30 service, we lit the third Advent candle. I am slightly confused, as I thought that the third Sunday was supposed to be about joy--but no matter. Tonight we lit the candle representing love, and Clay preached on "Loving Fully."

The Advent candle for love reminds us that God's love isn't stingy--it holds nothing back. So, too, should our love overflow in generosity.

I was particularly challenged by Clay's exposition of Philippians 2:3-8. He asked us to think about what each of us tries to grasp. I know for me, those things at which I grasp become such idols in my life, competing with my love for Christ and others. Grasping keeps me from loving fully.

But what does it mean to imitate that selfless, un-grasping love modeled for us in Christ? In an essay in Come, Thou Long-Expected Jesus, J.I. Packer indicts Christians (and I am so guilty of this!) who misunderstand the point that Love has come:

"We talk glibly of the 'Christmas spirit,' rarely meaning more by this than sentimental jollity on a family basis...It ought to mean the reproducing in human lives of the temper of him who for our sakes became poor at the first Christmas."

He continues: "Nor is it the spirit of those Christians--alas, they are many--whose ambition in life seems limited to building a nice middle-class Christian home, and making nice middle-class Christian friends, and bringing up their children in nice middle-class Christian ways, and who leave the sub-middle-class sections of the community, Christian and non-Christian, to get on by themselves. The Christmas spirit does not shine out in the Christian snob."

Am I the only one totally convicted by that? So much of the time I'm more concerned with decorating my house and buying presents for family and making sure I have the right holiday ensemble to wear to all of the Christmas parties than I am with giving generously to those in need. I am a Christian snob, for sure.

Thankfully, as tonight's Advent Scriptures remind us, we find in the Incarnation a remedy for our snobbery and our grasping. King David writes, "Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits--who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion" (Psalm 103:2-4).

Praying that the crown of love and compassion might come to be the mark my life!

For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.
2 Corinthians 8:9

At Home on Greenwood Ave (or, Nesting for Single Chicks)

Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. Romans 12:13

Just a little more than a year ago I moved into my apartment on Greenwood Avenue. It may sound shallow, but this little home has been one of the blessings I've taken the most delight in this past year. There is something so sweet about this spot God has carved out for me.

Before I moved to New England, I always said that I'd NEVER live alone (kind of like I said I'd NEVER live North of the Mason-Dixon Line again--God must really get a kick out of disproving my bold statements!). But living alone has honestly been such a good thing for me here in Connecticut. It has meant that I'm able to come home from 12-hour days of ministry and really rest. It has meant that I can easily host Bible studies and small groups in my home. And it has meant that I can make my home a safe haven for girlfriends who need a spot to land for an afternoon or for the night.

I'm kind of amazed at how far I've come in "nesting" in just a year. Sometimes it freaks me out a bit...like "ohmigosh, what am I doing buying furniture and hanging pictures and settling in?" I'm a single girl, after all, with lots more adventures to be had before I get tied down to a house full of stuff. But I think it's important to nest, to create a space that feels like home, a place where one can offer hospitality.

The passage I've claimed over and again in seasons of singleness is from Isaiah 54:

"...more are the children of the desolate woman than of her who has a husband," says the LORD. "Enlarge the place of your tent, stretch your tent curtains wide, do not hold back; lengthen your cords and strengthen your stakes. For you will spread out to the right and to the left."

Isaiah 54:1-3

I want this little home to be a tent where the curtains are stretched wide and many can be blessed! I'm learning that hospitality like that has to be practiced, as Romans 12:13 suggests. Sometimes it means cleaning multiple days per week, or doing extra dishes, or being more thoughtful about how I stock my pantry. Sometimes practicing hospitality means saying "Come on!" (that's a Southernism that just exudes gracious hospitality) when I'm tired and I just want to put on my PJs.

So I'm strengthening my stakes here. And if it's only for a little while, well then, that's a good reminder that this life is just a shadow of Home anyway.

Here's a virtual tour for those of you who live far away:

Front porch (facing Greenwood Ave.), circa summer 2010.
Kept the plans alive all summer, only to over-water the fern upon bringing it inside for the winter. RIP, love fern!

I love my Charlotte chest from Pottery Barn...it was delivered the week before my Grandma (Charlotte) Russell went on to that true Home.
Much of my bedroom decor (including bed linens, below) came from my favorite boutique in Franklin, Tenn. I heart Lulu! The bird-themed shadow box above my nightstand holds a picture of my late grandparents and me at a wedding.
It only took three trips to CT for Mom to help me get my built-in bookshelf wallpapered! Didn't she do an amazing job?! I love it!
Have I mentioned I'm obsessed--OBSESSED--with my bedding? Made by Taylor Linens and purchased in Nashville. A total splurge, but worth every penny!
My living room is the hub for lots of girls' ministry events!
Probably my favorite piece of furniture. Tons of surface area, perfect for writing/studying, plus a huge drawer with cute little compartments!

Aiden MaGee Moves to CT! (lessons in loving the Giver)

I'm starting a new chapter in my life in Connecticut this week. Our family horse, Aiden, made a 24+ hour trek from Carlock, IL to Bridgewater, CT...and I suddenly find myself a full-time horse momma after six years off the job! (Taylor has been in the momma role these past six years, but now she's a college girl and it's my turn again.)

My dad sent us the sweetest e-mail regarding the move. Here's a little excerpt of what he wrote:

Aiden left Hunter Oaks at 10:40 a.m. in good spirits and in a box stall. I said goodbye to him with apples yesterday, treats today, told him that we all love him, that Chels will see him soon, and the rest of us before long. It was a bittersweet time for me. Chelsea and Taylor, I have lots of fond memories of time with you at Hunter Oaks and watching you ride lesson and leased horses and then, Scottie and Aiden. I am sad to see this time end and can only imagine what it is like for both of you when you left Scottie and Aiden behind. Sweet, because I am choosing Taylor's outlook, " I am happy that he will be with Chels and have a good home."

How great is my dad?! There's a quote from a Focus on the Family article that we used to repeat when I was young: "the best way to love your daughter is to love her guinea pig." I happened to have a series of guinea pigs, so it was very practical advice for my parents. I think the same wisdom applies to loving whatever your daughter's pet happens to be!

Here's a picture of Taylor and me with MaGeester shortly after we adopted him from our friends in Virginia, the Knopps. (A family from the same barn had purchased my other horse, Scottie, from us a year earlier, so it's been a neat relationship of buying and loving one another's horses!)


All of us have grown up a lot since then! As Taylor thoughtfully said tonight while we chatted on the phone, "I think Aiden's matured a lot." Read: she has done a fantastic job with him--hope her out-of-practice big sister doesn't mess him up! Here's a picture of Aiden and me when I (sort of) knew what I was doing:

*****

Waking up today felt like Christmas morning. I was giddy with excitement to see my boy! But driving out to the barn this evening to meet him, I had a profound sense that God is after something here: I'm meant to love the Giver more than the gift.

In vulnerability, can I just admit that I struggle with that?! Anyone else want to fess up? It's such an easy trap...we find ourselves with beautiful friendships, dazzling possessions, or some exciting new adventure...and suddenly we "want the Father's gifts more than the Father," as Tim Keller has succinctly put it. The opposite can be true, too, at least for me. In moments when I feel deprived of something, I can start to imagine that the something will fill me more than God can. I "feast" on it, as Sarah describes the tendency. How foolish to love His creation more than I love Him, the Creator! Crass idolatry.

So I was really praying about this whole thing tonight, and as I read from Valley of Vision, I came across a prayer for worship. Here's my favorite part in light of how God has been directing me tonight:

Crowns to give I have none,
but what thou hast given I return,
content to feel that everything is mine when it is thine,
and the more fully mine when I have yielded it to thee.

I love that! Along this journey of figuring out the logistics of Aiden's cross-country move, I've felt that this horse business is significant. I moved to New England to know people outside the Church. To engage in the culture. To be obedient to the Lord and let Him use me as a worker in the Harvest. Building relationships at the barn seems like a strategic way to do that.

On a larger scale, money is tight here in Fairfield County, where the cost of living is extremely high. In his lesson on giving for our high schoolers last Sunday, an adult leader said, "Let me un-confuse you--giving is not just about money." Well put, I thought.

I know that I need to grow in my willingness to give generously out of my limited finances, but I also know that God is calling me to leverage other gifts in His service (namely, my apartment, which He's blessed me to be able to afford, and this horse, provided by my generous mom and dad).

Is it just me, or is there something profoundly relevant about Proverbs 3:9-10 here?

"Honor the LORD with your wealth,
with the firstfruits of all your crops;
then your barns will be filled to overflowing,
and your vats will brim over with new wine."

Many use these verses to preach the health and wealth gospel, which of course I think is a heinous interpretation. The point of the passage, I think, is that we're blessed to bless others. Just like in the Parable of the Talents, when we are responsible with that which God entrusts to us, He blesses us with more--so that our generosity can increase. I so want to excel in that art of giving!

So, Lord, in the sweetness of this blessing, I yield all I have and all I am to You.

*****

Home sweet home! The folks who were out at the barn tonight couldn't believe how quickly Aiden settled in. He even felt at home enough to make a quick escape while I was feeding him apples--he wandered across the aisle into his neighbor's empty stall...just to check out the grain bucket, you know!