Bear one another's burdens....

Yesterday was one of those days where the cares of this world weighed heavily on me and on some of those I love dearly.  In the midst of the weightiness, God in His lovingkindness, reminded us of Galatians 6:2:   "Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ."  What a striking thing!  Bearing each other's burdens fulfills the law of Christ.  And His law is love.  And grace.

And after reminding us of this, He gave us His body yesterday to help us bear our burdens.  Such blessing.

Then this morning I read this in Streams in the Desert:

If you have gone a little way ahead of me, call back--
It will cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track;
And if, perhaps, Faith's light is dim, because the oil is low,
Your call will guide my lagging course as wearily I go.

Call back, and tell me that He went with you into the storm;
Call back, and say He kept you when the forest's roots were torn;
That, when the heavens thunder and the earthquake shook the hill,
He bore you up and held you where the lofty air was still.

O friend, call back, and tell me for I cannot see your face;
They say it glows with triumph, and your feet sprint in the race;
But there are mists between us and my spirit eyes are dim,
And I cannot see the glory, though I long for word of Him.

But if you'll say He heard you when your prayer was but a cry,
And if you'll say He saw you through the night's sin-darkened sky;
If you have gone a little way ahead, O friend, call back--
It will cheer my heart and help my feet along the stony track.

We can't -- shouldn't -- minimize the role we have in each other's lives of helping bear the burdens of this life.  God Himself gave us Jesus to erase our sin and reconcile us to Him -- the biggest burden there is -- and then Jesus gave us His body to help us walk this stony path, carrying the weight together.

Today I'm suiting up, getting ready to help someone else pack their burden, "calling back" to them, so to speak, to let them know He is sufficient.  Then we'll talk it out, and after that we'll take it straight to the foot of the cross and remind Jesus He walked this stony path before us, and would He please take this weight for us?  Because He longs to.

Awesome.....Again.....Always.

Quilted Nativity Advent Calendar

This fall I got a bee in my bonnet to make a quilted Advent calendar for my grandchildren.  I Googled those words and up came a pre-printed panel by Nancy Halvorsen from a few years back.  I did some more looking online and ended up finding a place that had some left.  I ordered a couple of them - you know, "just in case" - and then went on the hunt for border fabric.  One of the gals in our local quilt shop helped me find the right piece and off I went to put it together.

All the little figures are backed with felt and then have a loop attached with a button on the back.  There are also button-type fasteners on which the figures hang, both in the border (for before the date) and in the center (for after).  I also marked, with numbers, each figure and then underneath the fasteners in both the border and center, so the kiddos would know where everything belongs.  It didn't come with a solution for numbering, so it was kind of a "winging-it" thing.

Here are pictures of it before I gave it to them, and then a couple of shots of them with it.

 This one is at our quilt group when we were celebrating it.

All the figures are hanging in the border.

Close-up of some of the figures.

With the figures in the center hanging in their appointed places.

The kiddos with it on Day 2.....

.....and again on Day 13!

Oh, I love these two!