How Many Kings

From the fall to the birth of Jesus, all of Scripture points to a coming Messiah. It points to a promised One who would restore the relationship between God and man. Even all of the Levitical Laws of the Old Testament point towards Jesus as the ultimate fulfillment of them all.

And this in the time of year we celebrate that the promised Messiah did come. This is the time of year we celebrate His birth - His miraculous birth to the least likely of people for a king to come from. A birth that many at the time and many today still miss the significance of. Or if we catch the significance, we may have a difficult time keeping that our focus in the midst of everything else that happens this time of year.

As Christmas approaches this year, I've been feeling personally challenged to spend more time that I usually would digging into what Scripture shares with us regarding the birth of the Messiah.

That's where this blog will be going for the coming weeks - at least most of the time.

Right now, a favourite Christmas song of mine.

Seasons

Snow-capped mountains

Fading into clouds come low

Grey skies above

The world seems small today

 

Changing seasons

Summer becomes fall

Fall turns into winter

 Temperatures dropping

 

Bare tree trunks and branches

Leaves long gone

The death that always comes

The death that winter brings

 

At least it looks that way

But deep inside

Life still breathes

Waiting for spring to come

 

A world covered in white

Until the day comes

That it all changes

Snow melts

 

To reveal new life

That was buried deep within

Bursting forth in glorious colour

Bright, beautiful, new

 

Without the winter

Without the death

That winter brings

We would miss spring

 

The new life bursting forth

Would be unnoticed

In the busy-ness of life

As we hurry through each day

 

We all have favourite seasons

Each beautiful in its own way

And each one needed

To see the beauty of the others

 

Snow-capped mountains

Reflect the brilliant sun

Blue skies above

The world seems big today

 

Spring has come

New life has come

Five Minute Friday: Tree

I sat and looked at the trees around me. Barren branches reached for the sky. Only a few orange leaves still clung bravely to the branches. I wasn't sure how much longer they would hang on.

At first glance the trees looked dead. A sure sign that winter was on its way.

Wishing away the cold, my thoughts turned to spring. In just a few months, there would be life on the barren branches of the trees in front of me. Life that burst forth from within. Brilliant colours. Fragrant.

Then I realized something. We need the winter to appreciate the spring. These barren branches I was looking at right now are necessary. Without the contrast, I would miss the beauty of the new life that spring brings forth. The new life wouldn't catch my eye and look so grand without the barrenness of the branches now.

The same is true in our walk with God. We all have times when things feel dead - when there seems to be nothing growing in our lives. But it is those times that prepare us for the new life God wants to bring within us. New life that we might miss if things were always easy.

It was getting too cold to stay out any longer. But the image wouldn't leave my mind. The image of new life bursting forth from what looks to be dead and barren.


It's that time again. Five Minute Friday . . . except mine is a Saturday post this week. Joining in with the others over at Lisa-Jo Baker's blog for five minutes of writing on a given word. No editing or overthinking, just sharing what comes with each other. Today's word was "tree."