Listen to the song “The Love of God” (instrumental piano music from my cassette) here:
The cassette is available from our online shop.
This may be a “holiday season” message but it is true for any time of the year! ♥
I’m still at home for Sunday this week while my skin heals again and one little guy of ours had a cough. (Due to environmental sensitivities to RF-EMF radiation, I do not go to town as often as I would like to because we currently live near a community which has a fair amount of cell towers. I don’t want my eyes/skin to burn weekly plus it can take a couple of weeks to heal these kinds of injuries fully so I go to urban areas only occasionally.) So we listened to some music and found something to watch together as I painted a wooden box for our kitchen. We have a special screen cover that helps to reduce magnetic fields on a monitor/TV. It is a mild winter day today and there was a deer at our birdfeeder this morning.
What we watched was a Christmas message on LOVE. It reminded my of things I had been thinking of these past few days, of a song I had sung to my Sweet Pea last night as she went off to sleep on my lap, of the hope that knowing God personally brings to my own life (despite everything that could appear to be “hopeless”), of the deep joy that Joy truly has, and of that desire to share on this website about real life. So this is a real life message on LOVE – GOD’S LOVE – for each of us. ♥
Here is the link and I hope it works. It is a message (after a Christmas children’s play/performance) by Crawford Loritts. He is a pastor whom our family has had the privilege of hearing in person during the summer before when he’s visited MBC, a family camp near where we live so I had searched for his name and the word “Christmas”.
It is entitled, “What I Really Want for Christmas Is…Love” (This link might show up as “peace” but on the same page is the wee link for the message about “Love”, which is the one we saw.) Enjoy! And have a wonderful Christmas!
http://fellowshiproswell.org/series/what-i-really-want-for-christmas-is/?video=video2
(Full disclosure: We do not get compensated in any way to recommend this link to you. We may or may not personally agree with every statement he makes in writing or speaking at other times (remember, he is not perfect and neither are we), however, this specific message is excellent so we are sharing this link.)
“Could we with ink the ocean fill,
And were the skies of parchment made;
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade;
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the ocean dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.
O Love of God – how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong –
It shall forevermore endure,
The saints’ and angels’ song!”
(Acknowledgements: Words of this quoted stanza were written by Frederick M. Lehman (1917) based on an old poem, hundreds of years old, public domain.) What kinds of things I might do if I’m home from church (for any reason)?
- Bible study with “Washi tape” and copying out handwritten notes from my old Bible (that is falling apart) into a new one. I have not been one to really enjoy writing in separate journals that I wouldn’t pick up and read again. But when I take notes, I tend to write them right in my Bible in the margins or the blank pages in the Bible where I can refer to them again and again. My old Bible had ordinary-sized margins but my newer one is called a “Journal the Word” Bible and has more spacious margins.
- Listen or watch a message from a church or a speaker that I’m familiar with and trust to proclaim the Word of God honourably. This can be an audio download, a cassette or CD, DVD, or YouTube message. I often take notes in my Bible because this is a very enriching time. Occasionally, another person is here with me too.
- Play the piano – just by ear or to go over some of the pieces of gospel music in special arrangements.
- Pray while I walk around the yard or sit on the grass, enjoying nature around me.
- Do a craft that reminds me something about God.
- Talk to a neighbour for a few minutes or check on our animals/pets.
- Nibble fresh fruit perhaps.
- Maybe prepare to have guests from church while I’m listening to a sermon.