We celebrate Jesus coming to the world at Christmas and then we live out the wonder of that during the coming year. I’ve been encouraged and challenged as 2019 marches on, by a dream I had on Christmas Eve.
Do you dream a lot?
I don’t remember my dreams very often but some nights I have a dream and it just hits me and it’s so vivid and so significant that I ask myself – Is this a God dream?
So in this dream I was shopping. Do you like shopping?
I think you either love it or hate it don’t you? I’m in the former category.
I was looking round a shop where there was lots of pottery type items. I bought an appealing well-made bowl. I was happy with my purchase.
AND THEN I DROPPED IT!
It smashed into many pieces.
And my immediate reaction was to get down on the floor and scramble about trying to find and pick up all the pieces. I was sure I could pull it back together. So, I continued scrambling trying to make the pieces fit together again.
It didn’t look good!
But I was saying – “It’s fine. It will do. It’s the best I can do!”
And then something amazing happened.
A shop assistant came over and said
“Here’s a new one! Take this new one. You can’t have this broken one. You need to have this new one.”
And I said
“But I can’t afford another one. I don’t have any more money.”
And the shop assistant said
“I don’t want money for it. Have it.”
And I said
“But it wasn’t your fault. You didn’t drop it. I dropped it. I’ve broken it. I should pay.”
And the shop assistant said
“No. Have it. Take it. I want you to have a whole new one.”
And I accepted it. I knew I didn’t deserve it.
And I was filled with such joy.
I woke up and remembered the dream vividly. And I knew Jesus was speaking to me.
Stop striving!
Strop trying to keep it all together.
Stop trying to fix things without me and “making do”.
I’VE COME TO MAKE THINGS NEW. I’ve come to give you NEW LIFE. To make things new.
I’m not about “making do!” I’m about the best for my children. I bring hope.
I’ve come to give you life and life in all its fullness.”
Have you seen The Greatest Showman? It’s a fun film with good music.
There’re some good themes around diversity and acceptance of others and it explores self-worth.
There’s that iconic song – “This is me.” It’s a great song.
The world’s not going to define me. I’ll be who I was meant to be me.
That’s good. Jesus tells us to love ourselves.
BUT it doesn’t stop there.
THERE’S SO MUCH MORE TO LIFE THAN THAT.
“This is me” is like scrambling around to fix things ourselves.
A good friend of mine who loves Jesus and is an incredible singer re-wrote the words of this song
“This is He.”
It’s not about me.
It’s about Jesus.
Because of Him I can be who I was truly meant to be.
I asked my girls (8 and 6 years old)
“What’s the difference between Jesus and Father Christmas?”
And they said
“Father Christmas has a naughty list and we might not get presents cos we’ve done some naughty things.
But Jesus doesn’t have a naughty list.
He gives us gifts whatever we’ve done.
He loves us when we’re good. He loves us when we’re bad. He loves us all the time.
Kids can get it.
It’s simple but so deep and vast and significant at the same time.
We sometimes don’t get it do we?
There is a hope and His name is Jesus. He’s done it all. He’ll do it all.
We can believe how amazing Jesus is and how He can do it all but let’s live out the reality of that and let it impact our worlds. We can encourage each other in this.
What are the areas in our lives where we’re scrambling about trying to fix things on our own?
Our emotions? Health? Finances? Addictions? Relationships? Work Situations?
The Holy Spirit can pin point things for us.
Do we need to stand up, lift our heads high and accept what Jesus can do in our lives?
I like to have word for the year and my word for 2019 is NEW. Jesus makes this NEW!
Written by Jen Waterfield
