Looking for Christmas Signs?

“Yes, we’re looking for Christmas signs.”

Check out my latest post on my other blog: “Through the Looking Glass: Christian Reflections.”

http://aharvestofmiracles.blogspot.com/#!/2013/12/looking-for-christmas-signs.html

God’s Knowledge, Numbers

Can you count to infinity? And can you come up with an infinite number of names?

“He counts the number of the stars. He gives names to all of them.” Psalm 147:4. He spoke them into existence “by the breath of His mouth.” He numbered them and gave them names.

And here’s my translation/paraphrase of Psalm 139:13-18:

“Lord, You created me and everything in me.
You assembled me in my mother’s womb.
I praise You because I am miraculously and astonishingly engineered.

All Your works are wondrous.
I can see that clearly just by considering my own body.
Even before I was conceived, You prepared the blueprint of me
and saw the chemicals for my DNA
while they were still scattered somewhere in the earth.

You foresaw all my days and inscribed them on Your Scroll
before a single one of them came to be.

The countless ways You think of me are meticulously detailed,
and how great is the sum total of all those ways!
If I tried to count them,
it would be like counting granules of sand on an endless beach.

You have also thoroughly planned my eternal destiny.
When I fall asleep for the last time,
I will wake up and live forever in Your glorious presence.”

OK, let’s start. One, two, three, four…

The Gift Reveals the Giver

A priceless, beautiful gift, a divine mystery

“Behold, children are a gift of the Lord.”  Psalm 127:3

What do you think of someone who gives you a nice gift? Usually your opinion of that person goes up. You appreciate the gift and the thought behind it. Sometimes we give a really nice gift, a very expensive one, to those we love the most, but for those who are not so close to us, we tend to buy a token.

What would you think if someone gave you a scorpion for your birthday, in all seriousness, what thought would be behind such a gift? What kind of person would do that?

We don’t earn gifts. They are given in love by people with a generous heart. What did you do to earn your children? Did you create them? Was it your genius who designed their bodies and personalities? Did you chose yours? No, children show all the qualities of an extraordinary gift, one which we neither make nor  chose.

Judge the God-the-Giver by the gift He gives us in children.

And “thank God for His indescribable gift!” (II Corinthians 9:15), another glimpse of an extravagant God.