People make their living writing an article a week on technology – changes and how to manage them. I, along with others, am caught in the backwash of how at ease I want to be with that which is new. However, while moving forward, I do try to keep having to be au courant to a minimum. Change is the word for the ages from horse drawn carriages to horseless carriages. My mother who lived in three centuries moved from a party line, to an operator, to a dial phone and even saw long distance after 6 p.m. on Sunday disappear.

After several false starts and one scarey one, I am doing quite well with a QR, those lines and turns that lead to Quick Response. Some have been aware of their possibilities since 1994 when they were invented, if that is the correct term. The amazing part to me is that, supposedly, ordinary people can create one. In 2011 I shared teaching with a younger woman. She taught our students how to attach a QR to a paragraph. This way, a picture of one’s house in the morning could appear along with the writing explaining the sequence of leaving for school. My job was to staple to the bulletin board and be amazed. Even in our low income school each child had to cell phone to create and view.

Step 2 was more pleasant yet not more intuitive. A local music group attached QR’s to various stops along a nature trail. A friend and I could walk, sit, copy code, and enjoy a piece tied to that place. Again, it was her expertise and phone that made it happen. All I did was read about the possibility in the paper and make a suggestion.

Then I got caught unprepared. I came up to a parking garage and the sign where I usually just punch a button said USE QR CODE TO OPEN BAR. I froze. Cars lined up behind me. No one honked, yet it was not a comfortable place to be. A young woman knocked on my side window. “Just take a picture. It’ll work. There are signs inside.” A minor miracle and I moved ahead with, as the saying goes, the faith of Abraham. Another hurdle was taking another picture and being able to enter my license plate and my credit card. After tending to my business, I timidly asked if I would be in the garage all night. The secretary assured me that all was captured in the proper place and would allow me to leave. Sure enough, as I approached the exit bar it rose, as if we were good friends and it had been waiting for me,

Yesterday I realized I had crossed into a capable zone. The day had been long. At 3:00 lunch had not happened. I walked to a nearby casual eating place to have my favorite soup/sandwich combo. I paid and went to my table. In the center was a QR code. I snapped the picture and entered the number of my ticket. Sure enough, in a reasonable time, the young waitress found me, outside under the shaded overhang. I had not even considered that this might not work. You’re right. The Bible is sparse on technology, yet there is always the promise that something new is waiting to happen.

Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and a river in the desert. Isaiah 43:19

This is a phrase that matters only to some people depending on location, age, and occupation. On the surface, it sounds like a seasonal happening, like when to sow seed or harvest the crop. Yet, in Houston, my place of most knowledge, closet adjusting is almost a non-event. Closet changes are even a non-gender non-occurence Let me speak for men I have know and observed. Boys I have raised and those I have taught wear short parts all year in most areas south of 40 degree north latitude. It depends on whether the line is in California or maybe in mountains of Tennessee. A favorite jacket they consider heavy might come out, especially if the lapel is cool in the vernacular meaning of the word: an attention drawing plaid or a fuzzy under collar resembling the fur of some animal. In pre-Covid days and suits were worn to work, a wool suit lurked in the back corner with its vest and hopefully a cover to provide a protection from moths. When the temperature dropped to near freezing, that usually counts as winter, that coat hanger was moved to a more accessible spot for the two days it was needed.

In spite of my realizing that for the most part, a heavy cotton cable knit sweater or a lightweight but lined jacket would be sufficient for most cold snaps, I have amassed a variety of sweaters. Double knit black pants or polyester ski pants with accompanying long underwear take care of my bottom half. The cloudy nippy days seem to call for sparkling colors and extra warmth. Single garments usually have a history that I remember fondly as each makes its appearance: annually, bi-annually, or once a decade. The most revered and cherished is a Ralph Lauren vest with a reindeer in cross stitch on the front. In high school, our daughter eyed it through Neiman Marcus sales until price matched budget. It lives in the box of once in a whiles and came out for me with its reds for Christmas this year. In the same box is a forty year old Norwegian Dale Classic sweater I ordered from the factory. It has wonderful silver buttons with snowflakes. Age comes to play when I want warmth and various turtle necks fill the bill. I love pulling them off at the end of the day to realize that a slight chill was kept at bay.

We live with the illusion that after Christmas warmth is on the way. So, the term organizing is limited to the moment something else is needed until that day in spring when we realize nothing is required any more except a long sleeve cotton shirt and maybe a light shawl for air-condition moments. I don’t do sleeveless, so Target tee shirts and Land’s End denim shorts do about 86% of the time. And yet, we are required to live prepared. I drained pipes before THE BIG FREEZE and cut down a tree before a hurricane. One son needs a new snow blower and California is putting sandbags in place. As our needs are, so may be those of someone else. I’m giving three verses this week. Organize as meaningful to you.

“While the earth remains,
Seedtime and harvest, And cold and heat,
And summer and winter, And day and night
Shall not cease. Genesis 8:22

She is not afraid of the snow for her household,
For all her household are clothed with scarlet. Proveers 32:21

 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? Matthew 25:40

Since I not making money from printing the words, hopefully I’m not violating a copyright. Writing this on the 61 occasion of my wedding day, December 28, 1961, the marriage song from Fiddler on the Roof seems appropriate.

Sunrise, sunset
Sunrise, sunset
Swiftly fly the years
One season following another
Laden with happiness and tears

This week of the year always reminds me of a constant of life – change. That variance can be as simple as night falling and a new day coming or as momentous as a toddler pulling up next to a coffee table and then letting go to be transformed into a walker. In three more days, hands will lift to tear off Saturday, December 31, and we will have to pay attention to using 2023 as the final number on checks and contracts. Across the country, all have faced THE BIG FREEZE: in most places the temperature was a detriment to plants and, in some cases to lives. People who thought it was safe to travel again have ended up away from home, and worse, separated maybe forever from their suitcases. In the flow, almost without being noticed, December 21 heralded the Winter Solstice, the sun slowly moving toward the northern hemisphere beginning the line saying one season following another.

Laden is a very poetic word to provide an antonym choice of emotional provision. By definition laden means weighed down or even burdened. The tears I understand; however, can you imagine being burdened with having to face so much happiness. A good symbol is the one for yin/yang, curved and joined, offering balance between competing forces. Looking at what has been, the comment on the days has been true. Some memories are pulled out when I need a reminder of sheer joy. A few others need to go in a box with a tight lid. The new year coming up seems to stretch out with the vastness of 365 days. I face them with words to another song I cherish and you may have to look them up, the hymn “Day by Day.” Or, as a five year old friend says, “You go with what you get and you don’t throw a fit.”

From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the LORD is to be praised. The LORD is exalted over all the nations, his glory above the heavens. who stoops down to look on the heavens and the earth?

Psalm 113:3

This is the fourth year I’ve spun words around not just Christmas as the world knows it . The Thursday before four Sundays named Advent in the liturgical year, I’ve tried to define how December opens again for me a familiar foundation for the rest of the year to build on. Some years I’ve written about decorations and what they mean or don’t mean to me, about those words that are used in various order of hope, peace, joy, love. I’ve remembered music that has colored special times. I’ve regretted that even with the softness of candles filling dark corners light is not the focus of one Sunday.

The words for this year have no choice but to be personal. I had to put the whole month of December on hold after eye surgery. Thankfully, the procedure went well. I did not have the dailiness of readings because the term blur was more than descriptive. That and appearance hindered going to choir or church. I’m not driving and have had to accept with humility what help was offered in love. For the first two weeks, bending at the waist was not allowed and all decorations are stored in the bottom of chest. Just now, though, are some of the demanding restrictions being lifted and I am lately entering celebration. Along the way, moments counted.

How did the moments come? Hooray for living in a technical age! Each Sunday I have been almost more a part of a service than when seated behind a tall youth and craning my neck to see around the broad shoulders. Church families with children I teach light a candle for each week and carry that light into the world at the service’s end, and little faces and voices seemed close and clear. Video cameras panned the choir. The music surrounded me and I could also see faces of fellow choir members filled with the the blessing of that message. My private drivers took me to hear a high school choir at the Fine Arts Museum and to marvel over a collection of creches in a nearby church. Best of all, I can re-enter the group that was virtual and will be able to be a part of Christmas Eve with music and that special story and finally the lighting of the Christ Candle. Mystery means influencing the course of events by using supernatural forces. When the whole congregation, each holding a candle, spills out on the church steps to sing Silent Night, the mystery of the moment becomes foundational reality, and I join Mary after journeys, angels, and shepherds.

But Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.

Luke 2:19

A grammatical moment. If you had been so fortunate as to have had me for English you would have memorized the FANBOYS, those conjunctions that tie complete ideas together. The most commonly used is and. In Luke 1, and starts 41 sentences. We move through Luke’s reason for writing, to Zacharias’s words from God, to the annunciation to Mary, to a visit to Elizabeth, to the Magnificat, to the birth of John the Baptist, to the final word that the child John grew and lived in the desert.

Then then is a long skip with no details, just the pronouncement to begin Chapter 2: “and it came to pass in those days,” From undoctorial research, no definite proof exists that these officials sent out such a decree or how it went to “the whole world. ” Yet – use of another important conjunction,-this was the tie that moved prophecy to fulfillment. The child who will be the Son of God will be born in Bethlehem. That’s not where the mother-to-be is at this moment. Spend some time thinking of your family getting ready for a journey. Packing up, Joseph gathering tools he might need, Mary’s mother offering advice about preparing for a birth, and probably a week long trip of 90 miles. Anything you want to know about food or accommodations along the way has to wait for a Bible class in heaven.

Getting to Bethlehem seemed to create more problems culminating with Luke 2:6 , “and so it was.” The final complete ideas are put together, tumbling into an amazing story drawing in stars, shepherds, angels, songs of wonder, and viewing a new-born on a bed of straw. Our choir sang Christus Paradox which moves through a series of unlike ideas that are drawn together in what this babe became. Lamb and Shepherd. Peacemaker and sword bringer. Gift and cost. Everlasting instant. Through the coming twelve days, continue your way to Christmas, paying attention to the ands that direct the way.

²⁶ And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth,

2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

⁶ And so it was, that, while they were there, 

That stole blogs is on the loose and wasn’t letting the publish this morning. However UPS had promised ot help. One always hopes the cavalry arrives on time.

I’m writing this the Saturday before the 2nd Sunday of Advent because my life is being slowed down next week with eye surgery. A problem will be corrected, yet the viewing of the week will be a blur. The blur is a little like the evolving of a celebration for the long awaited coming of the child Jesus. I did some very casual research and how the day is marked has had components added and taken away and, by the early Puritans, almost totally ignored. I’m just throwing out some ideas and you make what works for you to affirm, inspire, or remind.

First, I am not sure that those who longed and waited for the coming of God to step into history really thought of His coming as a baby in spite of Isaiah and those defining names. Even when a mature Jesus preached and healed around Nazareth he was just a local boy, Mark 6:3 “Isn’t this the carpenter, the son of Mary?” After crucifiction and resurrection, anticipation was for the 2nd coming. Another chance to get it right.

Secular and sacred began blending over the years. My most interesting enlightenment was that from Babylonian times until 1752, various countries began a new year on the spring equinox, March 25. Annunciation or Lady Day was March 25 in the church. After that it made sense for Christmas to be December 25. Advent used to run to Epiphany or the coming of the Wise Men with Jesus’s baptism leading into Lent. Changes came in the form of trees and gifts and posadas in the Latin countries. The most liturgical moment of my childhood was attending Christmas Eve at the Episcopal church which involved a processional with candles! I lived without Advent until my mid-thirties. My daddy carved a straight wooden piece with four holes as a candle holder for our children. Was a circle too difficult? The choices still vary with colors of the candles and the name and order designating each Sunday. This night I’m writing, ads are proclaiming Only 21 Days until Christmas. What have you chosen to lead you in hope, joy, love, peace to that day when the moment of waiting turns to arrival.

And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered. And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.

Luke 2:6 – 7

Some of you who are squeamish may have already assumed this one is not for you. It’s your lost. Since I am the one who writes, I am the one who gets to choose and I am not ready to leave Thanksgiving yet. This is how the title ties in. My daddy taught animal husbandry and I know odd facts not necessarily discussed in the general public. The cows he raised had four parts to their stomachs. Instead of chewing food thirty times like your mother taught you, they have a system of chewing, bringing up, chewing again, until finally it completes the cycle that gives the most nourishment from what is given.

That’s how Thanksgiving was for me this year. I was suffitted with traveling demands, change in schedule, an abundance of relatives and their love, and, of course, a variety of food. Throw in a piñanta and a group picture of 51 in a barn and the not able to digest level was reached. The trip home required focus on navigated through intense rain showers. Home had a list waiting that was demanding my attention.

So, it wasn’t until I received the file of pictures that middle son sent out that I could pull out moments and really cherish each. I have come to the ranch for most Thanksgivings since 1963 and some of those present were part of the original gathering. The first year had only 15 of us and this one was the chance to see how branches of the family tree had grown new twigs. I attached names to the great-greats that I did not have sorted out and which ones belonged to whom. One picture was an early morning coffee with me and a niece up early to tend turkey #1 even as her mother had through so many years, Her grown up son, my son, and I stuffed non-candy in the yellow bird piñata they took to hang at the barn. I got to greet one group who came from Chicago and hold a 9 month old who came to me cheerfully before he entered the main house and noise. Relatives and fringers who were related to someone organized food and set up tables on an extended porch. We wouldn’t have had that amazing all together picture if a sister of an in-law hadn’t been a professional. What had been a overstuffed feeling eased as remembering each bite of an overwhelming day helped the whole be a thankful time to be savored and nourished to meet the need to belong and to celebrate.

God sets the lonely in families. Psalm 68:6

The choice of the second word was deliberate. Not a casual comment of “Hey, you,” to that unknown character chewing gum and walking away without a backward glance. This is a request to a person of noble statue who has been taught two magic words, please and thank you. The behest is made to each of us and how the duo is received and offered tinges our whole day. The national thanksgiving of this week is for gifts of intangibles like survival and friendship and for tangibles like food and shelter.

To deepen my feeling of how “thank you” colors a situation, I went back and looked at two examples. One is a thank you I never gave. I asked a couple to stand in a situation where I really needed help. The moment (well it was more than a moment) passed, and I got caught up in something else, and then I really felt awkward coming back to the incident, and then I lost the contact. In this lifetime, they may have moved on, and I am left standing in a well-deserved mud hole. On the other hand, I have offered an action that required, if not sacrifice, but commitment on my part only to never receive a response. In one case, I stewed and fumed and almost prompted, “Was my offering helpful?” each time we met. I still wonder if what I did was worthwhile. The shoe was on the other foot.

So, this became more personal than I planned and more scattered than a national syndicate will want to pick up and publish. Yet, I looked at the faces your e-mails represent and wanted to say “thank you” for letting me invade your space. I wandered aimlessly in Kroger at 9:00 this morning and one of the stockers said, “Can I help you find something? Let me show you.” No way could I dash on without a smile and “Thank you,” before he turned away. The coming up weeks will be filled with giving and taking, both because it is someone’s job or just someone’s place in life for now. As days unfold, note how footsteps are made easier for you or you can ease the way for others. Note times someone steps up to help and when you are called to do the same. James reminds us that all gifts have an ultimate source. We still have to ask with “Please” and receive with “Thank you.”

 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above,

James 1:17

More than just death and taxes are certain. Comments after elections are always rampant. Some are how well the process was handled this year while on the other hand probes must be made into “allegations (not proven facts yet) of improprieties ( missed standards stated or expected) in the way elections were conducted.” This was a word for word quote from the Houston Chronicle. I did some Wikipedia type research and a review of my memories and can state that unequivocally no election has been without fraud since Roman times, my earliest starting date. One site even listed eleven ways that unscrupulous citizens, or even aliens for that matter, could mess up the hope of validity. Because voting involves numbers, mathematicians have a field day dealing with totals, and age groups, and absentee against on site, and that not to be argued with proof of ratios and percentages.

Consider personal experience. This year you may have been am eighteen year old able with a bit of pride to cast your first vote. I have a variety of experiences under my belt. The earliest was sitting on a counter next to my daddy who inked an eraser on an unsharpened pencil and marked a paper ballot. Some years I’ve had to sign my name under a voter registration list and other years they just looked me up in a book and put a tic next to my name and recently my driver’s license was my proof of identity. I voted with a mail-in ballot one year and followed the directions to sign my name where it crossed the seal of the envelope, so no one could open and change my choices. I have stood behind a machine and had to move buttons and a yellow knob to go through a long process before check and submit. This year I needed help to understand feeding a sheet of paper through a voting machine and then taking it to be scanned and printed before handing it in. I have visited with friends at a local church while waiting to vote and have also been one in a long line at a municipal center. I missed the years where voting was a stating your choice in a loud voice while someone else wrote it down, so in each case mentioned, my vote was my private opinion.

Two caveats as I wrap up. I do respected the frustration of those whose right to vote was made difficult or impossible this year because of non-validation of themselves or non-availability of a voting site. As a woman, I am aware that offering that right to have a say in government was a long journey even in a democracy. And, I offer utmost respect to those paid and otherwise who moved machinery, set up sites to be used in the most effective and efficient manner, and stood their post all day to answer questions and encourage as needed. Once again, I cast my one vote – the only voice I have. I voted against a few candidates while not feeling strongly about the one I did choose. For some slots, I definitely wanted that one with the box checked. The next day, my candidate won, In some cases, my candidate lost. Across the slate, may each of us have wisdom and commitment to respect how our individuality makes for a stronger community. The verse is true in a variety of situations that require the power of one.

Choose you this day. Joshua 24:14