He is Greater.....John 3:30 says He must become greater, I must become less"

 You know those Lindor Truffles?  The ones that come in the pretty celophane wrappers?  They are round and sweet and soft and if you are a grown up you can fit the whole thing in your mouth and then bite down and the flavor simply spreads like yummy goodness in your mouth.  Even after the candy is gone, the taste lingers ..and there are many flavors to choose from like peppermint, caramel, white chocolate to name just a few.    I was gifted a bag of these from a sweet family I know and love.  Initially they were left on the doorstep and later, they confessed they were gonna ding dong dash me for them but decided to just drop them off instead.   This week my devotional guided me through a spritual discipline called The Examen.  The challenge was to look at 2021 and consider the highlights and the low points and to remember.  I was challenged to go month by month, starting in January and look at each month of 2021.  My initial examen was broad strokes and I thought about the big events: 

 Well, I managed my own version of the 12 days of Christmas....imperfect as it was.  If I were to be factual I would have started December 25 and moved forward 12 days but that is not going to happen....culturally, it makes sense for all things to lead up to Christmas Day for me, as we prepare for and look to the birth of Jesus.   So here we are on the 12th day of Christmas my true love gave to me....twelve drummers drumming....and the clock just passed 12:00 midnight so it is officially Christmas Day.  I'm up because my sweet Josiah has a nasty croupy cough and instead of waking us both up with coughing and misery I offered to take first shift.  You see....Roger has a Christmas Day brisket out on the smoker so he will be up anyway after 3am checking the meat temps for his low and slow feast.....so he has second shift.  Hopefully Jojo can get some rest tonight.  He's had a rough few nights.  We are celebrating slower and later tomorrow with  our party at noon-ish.  Those drumme

  The eleven pipers are said to represent the 11 faithful disciples.....meaning all of Jesus' disciples except Judas who betrayed him.  I think today, in honor of Christmas Eve I will make a list of my own 11 thoughts on generosity.   1.  One can be a gift-giver without being generous.  Generosity is a state of mind and a matter of the heart.  2.  To be generous is more than to be self-sacrificing.  3.  The world is desperately in need of more daily generous stories.  4.  Traditions are a form of generosity.  5.  Forgiveness is generous and costly but so rewarding.  6.  Yesterday I brought another carload of gifts from a giver to a receiver.  In one of the bags was a stuffed fox.  The mom told me she had decorated her child's room with a fox theme but had not been able to find very many fox toys.....so the person who shopped had definitely heard from God when she chose the fox as a gift.  7.  Today someone asked me to stop by for an envelope to share with another family for a C

 Eight years ago today we stood in a court house with a judge to finalize Josiah's adoption.  He had been with us already for awhile because that's how these things go.  He came to us at six months, because his original mama needed help.  We were only gonna keep him for the long holiday weekend that May in 2013 but after a few days it became clear he wasn't going anywhere.  We didn't have a plan or a bedroom for a baby boy.....we had 4 kids and 4 bedrooms and he was in a pack-n-play in our room because when he got dropped off that day in May, that's what we could manage. We managed ok and talked through different options for how to move kids around, make a temporary bedroom in the basement, etc. but we were busy doing life and it just didn't get done.  Josiah wasn't a foster placement, it was a private adoption so we were not bound by any rules.  We were crammed in and we were literally on top of one another and it was working out....sort of. We had a trip p

 Thank you to everyone who thought of Jeremiah today.  Surgery went well and we are home!  When we got to the same day surgery center the nurse that got him ready turned to me.  "Are you Niki?" she asked?  She remembered me from 27 plus years ago when we both worked at that same hospital together shortly after we had both graduated.....craziness!  We marvelled at the fact that nursing had been very good to us, and that we had stuck with our chosen profession for so long and were still working in it....and she added that our education was also worthy of noting because it prepared us for longevity.  I'm so grateful for the preparation I received to be a nurse that would be able to do all that I have been honored to do all these years.  Community Health Nursing definitely has my heart. Prior to community health and more specifically maternal child health, I worked in Oncology, Med-Surg, Surgery, ER and OB.   I've done this work for over 20 years now, working with familie

 About 10 years ago someone surpised us with a Christmas blessing called Ding Dong Dash.  It involved the 12 days of Christmas and leaving a gift on our front step starting December 13 with a little poem.  The 12th day of Christmas was on Decemer 24 whereupon they revealed their identity to us.  Jeremiah was 7 or 8 at the time and the entire experience was epic for him.  He was shocked when they could leave the package and disappear right before our eyes....he tried to camp out and watch and never saw anyone....these Christmas elves were GOOD!  Our kids would wake up each morning talking about what it would be the next day, curious about when and where and how the little simple gift would appear.....it was magical and exciting and challenging and so much fun. The next year Jeremiah wanted to do it.  Oh buddy.....I don't know....really?  Yes mom!  Really!  Please!  He was so excited and if you know Jeremiah you know that his smile and shining green eyes are quite persuasive....so we

 They showed up tonight.  I heard the car doors and opened the garage.  I had a folding table ready.  I know this family.  They reach out every year and ask me if there is a family they can bless for Christmas.  I'm not sure how many years now but I'm guess it's close to a dozen if not more that they have asked and I have always said yes.  I choose one of my families who have already let me know that Christmas will be hard this year....I ask for the clothing sizes, the wants and needs, etc and give the list to my generous Christmas elf family (sometimes it's more than one family.....this year a couple of families asked and I got to match them up).   My friends go above and beyond the list given every year.....it's a family afair.  Their kids help shop and wrap and deliver the packages....the dad throws in meat.....and I get to smile and say thank you on behalf of the family who will receive this blessing in the morning.  They started this holiday gift-giving when th

 My young friend that I once called "extra kredit" lives elsewhere now.  I spent some time with the family that have said yes to him last week and we talked about all of the things....because I understand things that are harder to say to most folks.  This family needed a safe space to say the things and to ask the questions and because of all of the generosity in the world, I had some answers.  It was good for me to be with them because it reminds me again to be on my knees in prayer for them, and for him....what was hard for me is still hard for them and for him even though it no longer is my hard.   I got to deliver Christmas presents to them for him because a generous group chose to bless local kids in foster placement for the Holidays.  She let me choose the gifts because I had known him longer that she had at the time of the inquiry.  When I talk with her and visit her and pray for her and text her I want to hug her every single time but even though we share a child we a

 In the Fall a friend told me she would be opening her home to someone who needed a safe place to stay for awhile.  I wasn't aware that this was something she did from time to time because in addition to being generous with her home, she is also humble and protective of the ones she shows hospitality to.   Months later I asked how things were going and she shared that she hoped the guest could stay awhile longer as they were really enjoying each other's company.   More recently she mentioned that this new friend had never experienced Christmas before.  I asked if I could try help make it a fun Christmas with gifts and she said she would really appreciate that....so I threw a little request out into Facebook world to see if anyone wanted to help with a Christmas Blessing for a couple of local gals.  Today I got to drop off some gifts, some food and a thick envelope of gift cards at the home of these two.  I wanted them to have it in time to do some shopping of their own if they

 Decembr 17.  Today's story about generosity is actually something that happened a few days ago.  I was working and doing a home visit to a woman who didn't speak English.  I had an interpreter with me to help me do the teaching and assessments I needed to do.  Part of the work involved asking this individual what her date of birth was and she gave it to me but proceeded to explain that it was really just a number.  I asked her to tell me more about that.  Well, she said, where she comes from, no one writes down when you are born.  You just are.  So the day is not known.  At some point if a day is needed by someone, which was the case for her, one is given to her.  I asked her if she got to pick the day and she said that no, it was chosen for her.  So, I asked, did someone just look at you and decide you looked about a certain age and just give you a date and she said....yes, pretty much.   This is staying with me.  Initially it stuck with me in a sad way because noone made not

 Today's thoughts are about.....glitter.  I was wrapping gifts this morning.  Of all the things I needed to get done today, the one that was most time-sensitive and required privacy was the unboxing and wrapping of gifts.  I had purchased some really pretty paper along the way and took it out to wrap some gifts...and what was sparkly and pretty in the clear plastic wrap turned out to be....glitter.  The more I handled the paper the more glitter seemed to spread everywhere....generously.  And wouldn't you know that the first couple of boxes I tried to wrap didn't fit in the glitter wrapping paper?  It was really strange....it was 2 small sheets of paper that felt more like fabric than paper....so the over-handling of it made the glitter move even more.  There was glitter everywhere....on my hands, my clothes, my face, the table, the floor....my hair.....and as we all know you don't just wipe away glitter. Isn't glitter generous?  A little goes such a long way!  It ju

 December 15.  This morning I was driving to a meeting and thinking about generosity.  I had just finished filling my car with gas because it always seems to be empty these days as I travel around the county for work....and gas prices continue to go up so I am either filling my gas tank or paying the gas bill.  I remembered a time long ago, when I stood at a gas tank in California on a Sunday morning.  I was dressed for work and on my way to my job at a department store.  I needed gas to make it the rest of the way so I stopped but found out I didn't have any money to pay for the gas.  Back then, in the 1990s, you could pump your gas before you paid for it, even in southern California.  I was flustered, panicked and overwhelmed.  Someone noticed.  Someone generous noticed and paid for my gas.  I remembered telling him if he wrote down his name and number I would pay him back but he said no thanks, it was fine, he would just help me out.  Relief flooded over me.  In a cold sweat, I

 Our sermon for the third sunday of Advent was on generosity.  How fitting, in the Christmas season, that we take time to reflect upon the giving season, and the time of year when people share and extravagantly bless others.  The passage was 2 Corinthians 9:6-11(ish)  It goes something like this.....     Remember this:  Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously.  Each man should give what he has decided in hhis heart to give, not relunctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.  And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that in all things at all times, having all that you need, you will abound in every good work.  As it is written; "He has scattered abroad his gifts to the poor; his righteousness endures forever,''  Now he who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will also supply and increase your store of seed and will enlarge the harvest of your righteousness.  You will be ma