Good News

Our families have been asking us, “What do you want for Christmas?” And as I have spent inordinate amounts of time trying to find deals on other people’s gifts, I have gradually come up with a few things to go on my own list. But when I really think about what I really, really want, these two words come to me…

Good News.

I want good news for Christmas. In particular, good news about the house. It doesn’t have to be that we get the house by Christmas, but I would love to get good news. Good news that it is going go happen and the process is moving forward. That’s all I really want.

Think about it… what is the greatest thing you could receive right now? Is it good news about a loved one who has been ill? Good news about a family member trusting Christ as their Savior? Good news about a test result? Good news about a long-distance friend coming to town or another friend’s engagement? Good news about a job opportunity or a financial gain?

Given a choice between a new sweater and good news… the decision is obvious.

We want good news. Like a child – eyes wide, gazing intently upon a beautifully wrapped gift – our hearts eagerly anticipate the revelation of just what “good news” we are about to hear. The very words quicken our hearts and shorten our breath. There’s no easier way to torment a person than to pronounce “good news” and then pause before relaying the contents of your message.

Good News.

Imagine hearing the Gospel for the first time…

The very first time.

The Good News given to Mary and to Joseph. To Elizabeth and Zechariah. To the shepherds, strangers to Mary and Joseph, yet given an exclusive invitation to the birth of their Savior.

All members of a nation, a people waiting…

Waiting for their Messiah. 

And receiving the Good News for which generations upon generations of their people had waited. Good News that changed their world.

Good News that changes our world.

Delivers us…

through despair, emptiness, loneliness, grief, fear, death.

Delivers us from a world of darkness and into God’s marvelous light.

Not just someone else’s good news for which we can be happy. This Good News is for us as much as it was for Mary and Joseph and the shepherds.

It may not seem as staggering to us as it must have been to them. The concept of waiting for a Savior is foreign to us. Christ has come; He has already paid the price for our sin and redeemed us as children of God.

Is it old news? Diluted by generations and translations of copies, of copies of manuscripts pronouncing this Good News?

May it never be. It doesn’t matter how the gift of this Good News is delivered, what matters is the Gift.

And that Gift is Jesus. The Gift of Peace and Hope. The Gift of Life.

What good news are you waiting for right now? I pray that you too would hear good news this Christmas. But most of all, that you would come to a deeper appreciation of the Good News that has already been delivered to you.

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I am taking the month of December off from blogging. I love blogging, but I feel I need to take a break from the computer for a bit. And while Christmas is a particularly nostalgic time for me that inspires more than a couple potential posts, I think it is also a perfect time to reprioritize some things in my life.

And hopefully when January comes, I will be able to greet you, renewed and refreshed. And hopefully bearing good news!

Have a wonderful Christmas as you celebrate our Savior.

“I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; He is Christ the Lord. “

Luke 2:10-11

Customized Christmas Cards Decked Out in Bling… These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

My apologies for the long title, but I just couldn’t help myself.

Remember how I mentioned yesterday about how you can get 50 free customized  Christmas cards from Shutterfly? Well I gave you one sample, but that really didn’t come close to representing the diverse collection of cards they have to offer.

Just ask my mom (she’s the one who’s picking out the 50 free cards). I sent her the link to their site yesterday morning, only to get multiple phone calls desiring my assistance in helping her narrow her options down. Finally, she chose this design (Wisemen’s Journey):

She narrowed it down to this one in part because she liked the wisemen and the message.

And then I started customizing the card with this picture (remember I told you about our mall Christmas picture?):

Only to discover that she could customize the whole message too! When I called her to tell her the good news, she responded with…

*silence*

hee hee… She was happy about that, but now it made it even HARDER to decide if she wanted to stick with her original photo card design or use a different one.

Ya know, I really should just break down and get texting with how many times we called each other yesterday.

Maybe next year.

Anyway, personally, I really love these designs:

I just love snowflakes (Bright Blue Snowflakes Design)… where are you, Snow??? I’m sure you Michiganders will probably hunt me down with pitchforks after this post, but…

Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!

And then I love the picture possibilities of this design here (Most Wonderful Year Design):

I love how you can write a decent-length message in this one (Christmas Letter Design):

I love the swirly font in this one and the black and white makes it so… striking I think. Not at all your typical Christmas card. But I love that the real meaning of Christmas is the theme of the card (O Holy Night Religious Design):

Yeah… I’m glad Mom’s choosing and not me… too many good choices. Of course, it doesn’t help that they find the cutest darn kids to put in the sample pictures. I mean who really needs to customize it if the kids in the pictures on the front are already cuter than your pictures? Unless of course you already have a little one, in which case, send me your kids’ cute pictures so I can use them on my cards!

Although, come to think of it, some people might get the wrong idea.

Anyway… back to reality.

Here are some links to their products (they’ve got some pretty good deals going on this week… even for people who don’t have blogs!):

* Christmas Photo Cards (like the ones I showed you)  http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/christmas-photo-cards

* New Year’s Cards (including invitations – just don’t forget to invite me) http://www.shutterfly.com/cards-stationery/new-years-cards

* Photo Calendars (My friend Summer gets one of these each year from her husband. I love this idea!) (*cough* hint-hint *cough* Although I suppose they would only be pictures of myself since my handsome hubby is less than cooperative about getting his picture taken.) http://www.shutterfly.com/calendars  

So what d’ya think? Did ya see anything you liked (other than the glamourous mall family Christmas shot)?

I love this time of year! So many of my favorite things all packed into one month!

Happy planning!