We have this vanilla in the cupboard. It's nasty. [Not Really Trying To Break The Company] Brand® Artificial Vanilla Extract. After attempting to bake with it, even just the name triggers a muscle tightening of my nose and left side of face. Yuck! (Note to self: vanilla is not supposed to taste like rubbing alcohol combined with toxic resin. Nor is it supposed to leave a rancid-rice-pudding after-taste.) I guess artificial vanilla is never quite like the real thing.
Coffee whitener. Plastic. Artificial vanilla. Frosty the Snowman. Hmmm...
A friend asked a few of us a question a couple weeks ago. He asked, if we took away our jobs and all the stuff that we do and titles that we have, who would we be... really? It surprised me how difficult this simple question was to answer. "Well, I'm a musician." Nope. That's a title... something I do. "Okay... I play guitar and piano." Narrowing it down? Way off the mark. "I am someone who finds music very moving; I am often best expressed through music??" And that's just one thing about me. Sheesh!
The other day, I was playing my guitar. It was one of those songs that you hear one day, and instantly becomes your life-theme song for the next several months or so. It's been an ongoing theme for some time now:
I won't be satisfied
I won't be found alright 'till I find
Who You are
I'd climb every mountain
I'd travel the deepest valley to find
Who You are
In the middle of the song, it struck me that I am the most lost, have the least purpose and direction in life, and know myself the least... when I lose sight of who God is.
You, You cause the lame to walk
You open lips to talk
You're everything and that is who You are
You, You calm the storms at night
You turn the dark to light
You're everything and that is who You are
My Saviour, my Healer
Redeemer, that is who You are
Creator, my Maker
My Father, that is who You are
Christmas will be here in a blink. Everywhere in town, there are signs, advertisements, propaganda. "Half price!" "Best seller!" "Going quick!" Bigger. Better. Images of Santa. I was curious: I Googled "how to find the right gift," which brought up 219,000,000 search results. Are we obsessed? What is Christmas, anyway?
I'm kind of hitting this from two different angles, but I hope this Christmas, Jesus will be more to us than just a cute little story. I hope that we'll take time to pause and revel at the mercies of an all-powerful God. I hope that we'll remember who He is... really. I hope that He will define us. Define me. And my story. Because how we view God defines who we are and what we do, whether or not we intend. And I'm not too crazy over that artificial vanilla.
But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour appeared, He saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy.
He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit,
whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Saviour,
so that, having been justified by His grace, we might become heirs
having the hope of eternal life. Titus 3:4-7
Who You Are - Jon Egan © 2006 Vertical Music Songs/ASCAP
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