A Low Key Christmas

I did quite a bit for Christmas last year - entered Cathy's nativity scene challenge, hosted both families at our house, wrote lots of Christmas cards, put up our first ever large Christmas tree....

But this Christmas is going to be lot more low key.  In fact, it is starting to remind me a bit of the 2010 Christmas (except this time we're not moving 600km away and things are therefore nowhere near as chaotic).

We're not putting up the big Christmas tree this year.  We'll be at my family's house in Albany for Christmas this year so there's not much point.  I leave for Perth a few days after New Year's so we're getting ready for the baby's arrival.  One less thing to do...

Little Christmas tree can go up instead.

No Advent Calendars.
No craft.
I'm steering well away from 'Pinterest Christmas competitions' as Jenny puts it (that made me chuckle).

Nothing very much happening here...but that's ok.

Last year I had such fun doing lots of stuff, but Christmas isn't about 'stuff'.  It's about reflecting on Jesus coming to earth in God's great rescue plan for His creation.  Focusing on that is always a challenge regardless of how many activities are involved.

Diary of an Incubator: Hopes Deferred

Back in March, I wrote a post called The Golden Oldies about how I had (and still have) the desire to visit the elderly in the local nursing home.  I wrote about my situation of feeling like I was alone in wanting to pursue this, and deliberated whether I should just step out boldly and see what happens.  After receiving a number of lovely, encouraging comments, I spoke to a good friend of mine who is a carer in a nursing home.  She echoed what everyone had said on my post about the elderly needing structure, and not to commit to something if I couldn't maintain it.  Duncan encouraged me to wait until I finished my business course at TAFE at the start of June, so that's what I planned to do.

About a month after I wrote that post, I saw an ad from the Red Cross asking for volunteers in nursing homes.  This would involve meeting up with a resident once a week or fortnight and spending some time with them chatting, going for a walk together, having a cup of tea, or playing games....exactly what I had been passionate about doing.  I tore the ad out of the newspaper and planned to give them a call.

Then the pregnancy test came back positive...

This was not a total shock.  We hoped and planned to have children sometime around now.  Yet, because a few of my friends have struggled in this area and I have seen their pain, I had resigned myself to the fact that we may have to wait.  It turned out we didn't have to wait long at all.

By that stage the morning sickness had started.  While I didn't actually throw up, most days I constantly felt like I was on a boat.  Trying to keep the news quiet until we reached 12 weeks was a struggle as I had to pretend everything was ok when I felt so awful.  After the first trimester, I got the flu, gastro, and a cough. 

I decided that now would not be a wise time to start meeting with an elderly person.  The Red Cross programme wanted volunteers to commit to at least a year.  I couldn't do that when I would have a newborn less than a year later.  Also, to expose the elderly to my germs would just be cruel.  Duncan and my carer friend told me I had made the right decision.  They encouraged me that now was not the time of my life to pursue this, but I may have further opportunities down the track.

But when?  Would I have to wait four years until this child goes to kindy?  We might have other children by then.  Would it just be better for me to meet with an elderly person without the distraction of kids?  Or should I just take them with me?  I was very disappointed.  I wanted this baby, but I wanted to meet with someone at the opposite end of life as well.

I had also planned to meet with someone to read the Bible together and was praying for opportunities to pursue this.  This hasn't happened.  I still haven't finished editing my book.  My head space has mostly been taken up with preparing for our new arrival, finishing work etc.  I have felt bad that I haven't been pursuing relationships as much as I would like to.

This pregnancy has been a battle to learn contentment with where God has placed me at the moment. That my plans are not always His plans.  That I need to slow down and trust Him.  Please don't misunderstand this post: I do want and love my baby, and I'm looking forward to meeting him/her, but I'm finding the transition to be more difficult than I expected (and the baby hasn't even arrived yet).

My hopes may have been deferred, but they haven't gone.  I've been shown my weakness and my need to trust my Heavenly Father in all things.  Some women may be super mums, but I'm not.  I know that I don't have a very big life plate.  Right now I feel like He wants me to focus on preparing for parenthood and raising this little person to know and love Him.  While He hasn't given me an elderly person to share the gospel with, He has given me the task of serving my new family and raising them in the Lord.  Slowly I'm learning to be content and give thanks in each and every situation.

Please Vote For My Post

I've entered my post The Young Adult Body Part in the December edition of the Christian Blog Carnival and now they are having a competition where readers get to vote for their favourite post for the month.

Could you please take a minute of your time to vote for me by going here and typing 'I vote for The Young Adult Body Part' (or something similar) in the reply box? You will need a Google login to vote.

I'd be honoured.

They're going to announce the winner on Saturday 15th December so please vote ASAP.

If you're a Christian blogger, consider entering one of your posts into the next carnival on the 2nd January. It's a great way to get more exposure for your blog. Go here for more details.

The Pendulum: Service and Spiritual Gifts

Some churches are really big on every member discovering where their gifts and passions lie so they can serve Jesus and the church in those areas.  Often they run 'spiritual gift courses' so you can find out how God has wired you and where you should serve.

But many people in the evangelical circles I associate with sneer at such a view.  "What?  You need a spiritual gift for stacking chairs?"  They lean more towards the 'everyone can do everything' view.  If you see a need in the church, you should just step in and serve.  Don't worry about whether you're 'gifted' or not.

I sit in the middle.

I do not believe everyone can do everything.  I think Scripture is clear that the church is a body made up of many different parts.  Each part is needed to serve Christ.  While special emphasis is placed on teaching, all gifts are valuable in building up the church.  In fact, teaching is serious business.  Not everyone should do it.  There are special criteria for serving as an elder or a deacon.  It's not a matter of just filling gaps.  While it's true that there is no real talent or giftedness required for stacking chairs, not everyone can do it either (the elderly or people with disabilities, for instance).  If you start to believe everyone can do everything, then it can lead to people feeling used and like square pegs being cut to fit round holes.  I felt like that when I kept getting nagged to teach Sunday School.  In the end I gave it a go, but I found it very difficult and stressful.  I wanted to serve in other areas.

Yet, I also think that some churches place too much emphasis on possessing spiritual gifts and forget about what they're for.  The emphasis should be on using those gifts to build up the church, not the person with the gift using it for their own fulfilment or so they can feel superior to others.

The problem comes when churches try to build their congregational activities on a certain model.  The church up the road has a Sunday School, youth group, ladies' fellowship etc so we need to have those groups too.  They forget that there is no rule saying a church needs to have those formal ministries, and start to accuse members of being lazy if they don't want to serve in those areas.

I like what The Trellis and the Vine has to say about building ministries around the gifts of those in the church.  If there are a number of people passionate about reaching out to the elderly, for example, then let's get those people together and train and encourage them to pursue this, rather than forcing them into areas they are less suited to.

But I can also see that sometimes the church is presented with certain needs and somehow those needs need to be met e.g. there are all these kids in the church; who is going to teach them?  Although, having said that, my husband grew up in a church where there was no Sunday School and he had to just sit still and draw or something during the service.  He reckons if there aren't enough Sunday School teachers then it's perfectly ok not to have Sunday School every week, rather than overburdening the teachers.  He said he didn't think it did him any harm to learn to sit still with the adults (even though he is an 'outdoorsy' fellow).

Can people learn new skills, even if they feel they don't possess a certain gift?  Absolutely.  But some people are gifted by God and will find it easier.  Some people find it naturally easy to speak in front of an audience and have very little or no fear.  Others battle with nerves every week, but keep on doing it anyway.  The quiet 'behind the scenes' people can be encouraged to step out of their comfort zone and try something 'up front', while the leaders and teachers should not feel or be treated like they are above stacking chairs or cleaning.  But being more of a 'behind the scenes' person, rather than a leader or organiser, I am happy to take on the less flashy roles to free up the leaders to lead and teach.

God has given each congregation who He has given them for a reason.  Rather than lamenting over the fact that they need more musicians or service leaders or Sunday School teachers, congregations need to learn to give thanks for who they DO have in their midst, and encourage those people to serve and honour Christ in all that they do.

The Young Adult Body Part

One of the most encouraging sermons I've ever heard was on the 1 Corinthians passage about the body which I posted yesterday.  I literally cried tears of joy and relief when I heard it.

You see, in the lead up to that sermon, I'd begun to feel like I wasn't part of the body of Christ.  Well, I was part of it, but not REALLY part of it, if you know what I mean.  I felt like what I had to offer wasn't what others wanted.  They wanted me to be something I wasn't; to be gifted in areas where I was lacking.  Most people understand the body analogy.  They know that the church needs all of the parts and that God has arranged them just so.  But often Christians want to rearrange them the way THEY want them.  They want certain types of personalities with certain gifts.  They want to be 'strategic' so they try to cut people to fit into the mission plan they've made.  Their intentions are good (they want people to be reaching out to others with the gospel), but they end up wounding their fellow Christians in the process because they are not respecting how God made them.

I have felt this intensely as a young adult.  I was a uni student when I heard that sermon and I felt inadequate because I wasn't an uber walk-up evangelist.  I felt like I was being pushed into leadership positions when I'm not really a leader.  It was like there was this stereotypical Christian young adult 'role' I was meant to fit into.  I quickly got the impression that all Christian young adults were outgoing, extroverted leaders who thrived on buzz, people, late nights, board games and playing casual soccer.  They led Bible studies, youth groups, and beach missions.  I remember my now brother-in-law's reaction when I told him I wasn't going on 'Bustrip' - 30 uni students on a bus travelling across Australia pretty much non-stop to get to a conference in Canberra and mission in Sydney.  He was horrified.  He told me that I was missing out, that it was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and that I'd regret it if I didn't go.  Well, guess what?  I haven't regretted it.  Not once.  I'm an introvert and the thought of spending three weeks with people CONSTANTLY gives me cold sweats.

I'm not saying people shouldn't ever step out of their comfort zones and try new things, or seek to be trained.  But some people are too pushy and I felt like I was trying to be conformed into a certain image, to be identical to other young adults instead of being encouraged to serve God the best way I could.

If we truly believe the body of Christ is a body, then we also need to realise there are different body parts within the demographics.  There are young adults who are loud, dynamic leaders, and there are young adults who help out quietly behind the scenes.

We need to accept that God has placed people where they are for a reason.  We need to celebrate the diversity of the body and support and encourage those parts we see as less flashy.

This post has been entered in the December edition of the Christian Blog Carnival. If you're a Christian blogger and would like to enter one of your recent posts, submit it here today.

Bible Verse of the Day

The body is a unit, though it is made up of many parts; and though all its parts are many, they form one body.  So it is with Christ.  For we were all baptised by one Spirit into one body - whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free - and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.
Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.  If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  And if the ear should say, "Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.  If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be?  If the whole body were an ear, where would be the sense of smell be?  But in fact God has arranged the parts in the body, every one of them, just as He wanted them to be.  If they were all one part, where would be body be?  As it is, there are many parts, but one body.
The eye cannot say to the hand, "I don't need you!"  And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don't need you!"  On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honourable we treat with special honour.  And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, while our presentable parts need no special treatment.  But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other.  If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honoured, every part rejoices with it.
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.
1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Back To Bremer

I love visiting Bremer Bay!

In January, Duncan and I made plans to have a weekend in Bremer at the end of September with the same friends I went with last time (plus a heap of their friends we didn't know).  I was looking forward to sharing the weekend with the man this time (we both love four-wheel driving - even the baby loved it hehe!).

Usually we would see it as an excuse to get out the tent, but this time I really needed a decent bed, so we booked a chalet for three nights.

The road was like a river.  Such fun!

Mud, glorious mud!

A quick break before figuring out which track to go down next.

Such a beautiful beach.

What a handsome fellow.

Lunch break.  I look like a frump wearing Duncan's jumper, but, hey, I'd discovered
the ones I'd packed didn't fit anymore.

It was wildflower season.

Ellen sandboarding.

Rhianon and I.

Duncan borrowed the four-wheeler.

And he was off...

Some of the blokes and their bikes.  It was a morning full of noise
and petrol fumes.

View of the Stirling Ranges on the way home.