This morning I was in a rush to get ready for church...haven't been there for two Sundays, and I was anxious to get back to some kind of "normal" routine again! Also, my hubby was going to be preaching today since our pastor has been on vacation this past week. So anyway, hubby and I were discussing which Advent Candle would be lit this week...Last week was "Hope". Some churches use different scriptures and passages about Advent each week, so no two are exactly alike. But I was thinking today would be about Peace...and so hubby was actually preparing his message to include thoughts about how to find peace in a world of turmoil...and of course there is only one answer...through faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord...by putting our trust in God and not in kings or governments or things of this world...by not being deceived by the things of the world...that is the only way to find peace...put Jesus first in everything, and we will have peace. That's it in a nutshell pretty much.
This is our church's Nativity Scene.
And this morning in church I was wishing I had taken a picture of our lovely Advent Wreath and candles. But I was in the choir and didn't think to do it. So here is a picture that I did take last year at the lighting of the 2nd candle, and my hubby was the one doing the lighting last year. It was a special time, and is a special time each week as we light the new candles in anticipation of the Advent of our Lord at Christmas.
Now, I am doing the lazy thing here tonight and am attaching some links to the past few years of posts that I wrote on the second Sunday of Advent. I hope you will take the time to open these links and read them at your leisure this week...and I pray they will hopefully be a special kind of Advent devotional for you as you read them. I am also going to go back and re-read them and let God speak to me through His Word. I hope you will enjoy these...
Link to Previous Post about PEACE=Bethlehem's Candle
Another post about PEACE
Advent Post about the Shepherds
Oh, another wonderful Advent Post!
On another note, yesterday our son Scott came home and he did finally get the many bins of Christmas decorations out of the shed. Now the house is in a bit of a mess as I start opening the bins and going through them and determining what to set out and what not to display this year. We will probably set up the Christmas tree tomorrow. We did, however, put out the outdoor Christmas tree and other special decorations for our yard:
It made me happy to come home last evening after spending some time at Dixie Cottage after hours so we could be open during the town's Christmas parade and to see this all lit up in our yard.
Speaking of Dixie Cottage and the parade, oh, you just gotta love a small town! It seems like the whole town came out for the evening parade and the lighting of the Christmas tree and other activities in the old downtown village.
Thankfully our store sits right on the edge of all this activity, and so we figured it would be worth our while to have the store open last night...and oh, we are so glad we did!
The store looked so pretty with all the lights on in the windows. That's Ben on the front porch, waiting for the parade to begin!
The High School Marching Band came right by our store on their way to the parade. The young man with the reindeer antlers is a grandson of one of our church friends, so I was happy to get his picture.
Then when it got dark the parade began. It's kind of too dark to make out what most of these floats were about, but it was still a lot of fun.
This one was Smokey the Bear...and all of our fire department trucks were in the parade with lots of lights and sirens...
I think one of these floats had our State Champion High School football team riding! Our little town high school hasn't had a winning year in football in many many years, and this year they went all the way to the top and won the state championship for their division! So our town was pretty proud of our team!
Anyway, I said it was worth our staying open late for the store...and yes it was! It had been a rather lackluster week in sales after our big Sip and Shop event a couple of weekends ago. People seemed to be dragging after Thanksgiving and not even bothering to come visit, let alone buy anything. But then last night it seemed like they were coming out of the woodwork! Several big items sold right off the bat...and we ended up with more sales in a couple of hours than we'd had in a week! So yes, it was well worth the staying late and having fun too!
So, all in all, it's been a good weekend. Thankfully I am finally feeling much much better...I was able to go to church and even out to lunch afterwards...we got some decorating done, and things are looking up at the store.
And it's been a week to watch for and pray for peace...The Prince of Peace...to reign and rule in our lives.
I keep repeating these verses:
Isaiah 9:6-7
6"For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given;
And the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the increase of His government and peace
There will be no end,
Upon the throne of David and over His kingdom,
To order it and establish it with judgment and justice
From that time forward, even forever.
The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."
Luke 2:14
14 “Glory to God in the highest,
And on earth peace, goodwill toward men!”
