Here we stand on the brink of a new year.  Turn around and look behind you.  How will the life you lived last year be remembered by others?  I didn’t ask how your circumstances pleased you, nor how good your year was, but I asked about your life.  How will you be remembered for the way you lived your life last year? 

As I was recently reading through Mark 14, I read about Mary pouring the costly ointment on Jesus’ head.  Judas reprimands her, saying that the ointment could’ve been sold for much and then the money given to the poor.  However, Jesus answers him in verse 9, Verily I say unto you, Wheresoever this gospel shall be preached throughout the whole world, this also that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her.  Mary will always be remembered for this act that she did for Jesus.  It showed her great love for Him.  That is how we remember Mary of Bethany…she loved Jesus!

This passage made me stop and ask myself, “For what do I want to be remembered?”  Knowing that God’s Word reveals His Son, and that it is the Mind of Christ, my answer is that I want to be remembered as a woman who loved, knew and obeyed the Word of God.  After answering that, I realized that there has to be a plan of action in order to accomplish that goal.  How will I gain a greater love, knowledge and desire to obey the Word?  I am asking God to reveal the process so I can follow through in the year to come.

We can’t do anything about the time that has already passed.  If we have regrets about last year, we must let go of it and look forward to 2012.  We must each ask what we want to be memorialized for in this next year, then set about a plan to accomplish that, with God’s help.  What will be spoken of as a memorial of you next year?  Today is the time to plan for that!

I’ve shared my desire for my memorial, now, tell me – for what do you want your life to memorialized?

With love,

Christmas celebration at The Cunningham’s started the week before Christmas.  We celebrated early with Alli before she left for Antigua.  Here she is getting dishes for the table from the china cabinet…

We came home from church and finished getting dinner ready.  I don’t know what I would have done without my two assistants – Whitney and her dad!  I’m really good at giving orders asking for help.

 One evening this week I was in a store and I overheard two couples who were friends and had bumped into one another in the aisle chatting.

“How are you doing?” one woman asked.

“I’m worn out, just like everyone else at this time of year!” came the answer in a disgusted tone of voice.

This woman looked and sounded like Scrooge.  “Ba-humbug!”  She had let everything crowd in on her instead of focusing on what was most important.

Today is Christmas Eve’s eve. How are you feeling, friend? Tired? Stressed out? Overwhelmed?  Has there been so much busyness going on that you’re just ready for Christmas to be over with?  If so, can I encourage you to take time today to just stop and be still?  Refresh your heart for Christmas by getting your Bible and finding a spot to be alone with the Lord, perhaps in front of the Christmas tree.  Open to Luke 2 and slowly read the Christmas story.  Ponder what sights and sounds you would hear as you join the shepherds on the starry hillside.  Would a cold wind be blowing through the stable where Mary and Joseph were caring for baby Jesus?  What baby-like sounds would come from his mouth?  Can you hear Him?  Think about the awe of stooping over the manger to peek inside, and rejoice as Simeon and Anna did at His coming.

The devil would love for us to be so sidetracked with our preparations for Christmas that we never stop to behold the Babe.  Be refreshed in your heart and  your Christmas spirit by spending time adore Him. You’ll leave that place ready to finish things up with a right heart and a sweet attitude.  A crabby woman at Christmas isn’t such a pretty package!

Merry Christmas!

With love,

This past Tuesday morning I was in a mad search through my house looking for some money that I had lost.  It’s not like me to lose things, but the truth is, I could not think of where it would be!  I had opened a stack of mail and piled the envelopes on the coffee table.  Then I remembered taking the empty envelopes to…THE TRASH!  It seemed very logical that I had also dumped the cash that was in my hand into the trash with the envelopes.  And so my sweet husband went out (on his own kind initiative) and got the trash bag from the day before, and proceeded to sift through the coffee grounds and banana peels until he found the stack of envelopes.  However, the search came up empty.  No cash.  ~sigh~

I tore the house apart, straightening drawers in the process of looking for the currency.  As I searched, the Lord brought to my mind the parable I had recently read in my reading through the Gospels; it is the parable of The Lost Coin in Luke 15:8, 9  What woman having ten pieces of silver, if she lose one piece, doth not light a candle, and sweep the house, and seek diligently till she find it?   While I was looking high and low, the Lord was speaking to my heart about my lack of diligence to look that fervently for sinners that need the Savior.  It was very convicting.  I fail at this over and over again.

Meanwhile, the search continued and I decided that I would go to the trash and have another look – just in case my husband had missed it.  Ooooo, nastiness and filth!  The trashcan?  You’ve got to be kidding me?  I am not a dumpster diver and have no desire to begin now, but this was a valuable loss and I needed to find it, so I, too, fingered through the bag of trash we had recently disposed of…piece by piece.  Nothing but trash was found.

I heard the Lord’s voice in my heart as I came inside…Would you be willing to get dirty to give the Gospel to someone?  Would you do what you normally would not do so that someone else might hear the Truth?  Wow.

I continued to pray that the Lord would reveal the place where the lost money was.  In a last ditch effort, I had retraced my steps from the day before, then decided to head across the hall to Allison’s bedroom, which is of course vacated in her absence.  As I neared her dressing table, I looked with disbelief.  There it was, tucked underneath some Christmas cards that had come for her.  I began calling to my husband, “I found it!”   You can’t imagine the relief and the happiness at the discovery!

Then, once again, a verse from the  parable came to mind –  And when she hath found it, she calleth her friends and her neighbours together, saying, Rejoice with me; for I have found the piece which I had lost. What joy there is in seeing a soul saved!  There is rejoicing in heaven as well as on earth! 

It really doesn’t matter how that money got to that dressing table; I know the Lord allowed it to teach me a very real lesson.  I need to give a more desperate search for sinners that need my Savior. 

I don’t know if you’ve ever lost something of value and scoured through the house looking for it, but it is exhausting (and dirty) work!  May you and I go after lost souls with at least as much earnestness, and then come rejoicing when the lost has been found!  Christmas lends itself to many opportunities to share the Gospel with others.  Ask the Lord to make you aware of those opportunities and to see the “lost coins” that are all around you.

With love,

We had a sweet time together enjoying all our family traditions, while rejoicing in our hearts that Christ’s birth has such an impact in our everyday lives.  It is because of Him that we do what we do.  He is the center of our home and hearts, and nothing is more fulfilling!

Saturday night I tried a new dessert – Toffee Cheesecake Bars from my Dec/Jan issue of Healthy Cooking, put out by Taste of Home.  Who doesn’t love cheesecake?  But seriously, if you want to try to eat healthy, one piece can have more calories than you should take in in a day!  These bars have 169 calories and 9 g fat!  They are super simple to put together, and they are DELICIOUS! 

Ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup cold butter
1 package (8 ounces) reduced-fat cream cheese
1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon  vanilla extract
1-1/4 cups milk chocolate English toffee bits, divided

Directions

In a small bowl, combine the flour, confectioners’ sugar, cocoa and baking soda. Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Press onto the bottom of an ungreased 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish. Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until set.

In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy. Add the milk, eggs and vanilla; beat until smooth. Stir in 3/4 cup toffee bits. Pour over crust. Bake 18-22 minutes longer or until center is almost set.

Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Sprinkle with remaining toffee bits; cool completely. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or overnight. Yield: 2-1/2 dozen.

Sunday dinner had to be on the table quickly because Allison and her sister (who sweetly brought Allison home), had to get on the road to get Allison back to Greenville for a commissioning service early Sunday evening.  I found another new recipe in the Healthy Cooking Magazine to try for our dinner that could be made ahead of time.  I made Provolone Ziti Bake.  I assembled it all on Saturday, then popped it into my oven on Time Bake so it would be ready when we got home from church.  We all really like it.  I’m always happy to find another recipe to add to my Sunday menus! 



Provolone Ziti Bake



1 medium onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
3 garlic cloves, minced
2 cans (28 ounces each) Italian crushed tomatoes
1-1/2 cups water
1/2 cup dry red wine or reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 tablespoon sugar
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 package (16 ounces) ziti or small tube pasta
8 slices provolone cheese

Directions

In a Dutch oven, saute onion in oil until tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer. Stir in the tomatoes, water, wine, sugar and basil. Bring to a boil; remove from the heat. Stir in ziti.

Transfer to a 13-in. x 9-in. baking dish coated with cooking spray. Cover and bake at 350° for 1 hour. Top with cheese. Bake, uncovered, 4-6 minutes longer or until ziti is tender and cheese is melted. Yield: 8 servings.



I love this Mandarin Orange Salad!  It’s a nice change from a standard tossed salad.  I’ve shared this with you before, but thought I’d add the recipe again.



Mandarin Orange Salad

Dressing:
1/4 cup wine vinegar
1/2 cup oil
1 tbl sugar
salt and pepper to taste

3 3/4 oz. slivered almonds
2 tbl sugar

1 head lettuce, chopped
1/2 cup chopped green onions w/tops
1/4 cup chopped celery
1 11 oz. can mandarin oranges, drained

Combine vinegar, oil, 1 tbl. sugar, salt and pepper in bowl; mix well. Combine almonds with 2 tbl sugar in skillet. Cook over low heat until sugar melts and almonds are coated and light brown, stirring constantly. Cool to room temperature. Combine lettuce, green onions, celery, mandarin oranges, and caramelized almonds in salad bowl. Add dressing at serving time, tossing gently to mix well.

I’m sure your kitchen has been as busy as mine with Christmas just around the corner.  What kind of yummy things are you baking and cooking?  I’d love to hear about it!

From my parsonage kitchen,