Creation to the Cradle

WHEN OUR CHILDREN WERE YOUNG I realized that there was a golden window of opportunity to capture our children’s hearts with the gospel in the days leading up to Christmas. As a young mom I wanted to make the most out of every opportunity to share Jesus with our children. Nativity sets were set up around the house and the children would play with them, acting out the story of Jesus’ birth. We had a family “advent service” every night in December in anticipation of the big event that was about to take place—Jesus’ birthday!

The anticipation of Christmas in our household grew increasingly thick with excitement with each passing day. Our children loved the stories of baby Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the angels, the wise men and the shepherds. It was obvious that we had an enthusiastic audience as we talked about how “the Father sent His Son to be the Savior of the world.” We also noticed that our children had a LOT of questions: “What is a Savior?” “Why do we need to be saved?” We found ourselves back-filling the story every year, re- telling the story of the whole Bible (often in a hit-or-miss, hodge-podge way), as we tried to prepare our family for the great unveiling of baby Jesus on Christmas morning.

The Christmas story is loaded with exciting drama. But sometimes we treat the Christmas story as if it were an isolated event in the Bible. We’re missing out on the grand adventure and anticipation of discovery if we tell the Christmas story as if God came as a baby out of the blue. There is a dramatic backstory that leads up to God coming to earth in the flesh. Much like following the clues in a good mystery novel, we can follow the clues in the Bible about the coming Savior that lead us directly from the Garden of Eden to the manger in Bethlehem.

That’s why KT, Megan and I worked together to create the advent devotional Creation to the Cradle. I sure wish that we’d had a book like this when our children were young because it would have made it easier and more cohesive to share the WHOLE Christmas story with our family in an exciting and logical way. Creation to the Cradle makes it simple to explain the BIG story to our children, in a way that grabs (and holds) their attention. Day after day the story builds until the great culmination of Jesus’ birth.

Like you, I want our children and grandchildren to have a fascination fused with joyful fun as they discover and know the Lord personally. I want their lives to be a grand, personal adventure with Jesus! I hope that you are able to maximize your opportunity to meet Jesus with your family this Christmas season. One of our own children was saved during those family advent evenings long ago. I’m praying that you can use this advent tool to help transform your holidays into “holy-days” with your family as you take the exciting gospel journey from Creation to the Cradle.

Enjoy the discovery ... and have a joy-filled Christmas!

Judy Gerry

Creation to the Cradle is a simple advent devotional for families that brings the BIG story of Christmas to life. Geared toward children ages 2-9, the questions included for each day will help even the littlest ones understand how the ancient story relates their own lives. Daily devotions take only 5-10 minutes, and no prep work or materials are needed (although many families enjoy lighting a candle during their daily "advent service"). It’s our Christmas gift to you! Get a copy here. Or to save on shipping for our local Ventura County friends and listeners, send us an email at megan@livewhatmatters.org.

The Year Ahead

Happy New Year!

Have you taken the time to set any goals for 2018?

Two years ago, I had some ambitious dreams for the coming year. The first was to read twelve books in twelve months—not an easy task with two babies to care for! But if that wasn’t wild enough, the second goal was even farther out of reach. I had this crazy idea to start a podcast for moms.

I can still remember calling up Judy Gerry to see if she would consider joining me in a new ministry venture. The first thing she said was, “What’s a podcast?” That day was the beginning of a journey that resulted in the launch of the Live What Matters podcast in April 2017. We weren’t sure who would listen. We just wanted to be faithful.

We are six episodes in to this journey and we have been delighted by stories of women (and men!) who have been encouraged through Live What Matters. And as we begin 2018, we look forward to coming alongside you with camaraderie and encouragement for putting Christ first in our homes. Our prayer is that young moms find support and gain confidence in their challenging, yet vital role. We also pray that older women are challenged to step up as mentors to those of us in the trenches of parenting.

In the coming weeks, we’ll be releasing a series of podcasts on making disciples in the home. It’s right at the heart of our passion at Live What Matters. Later in the year, we also plan to share episodes on the ways our children challenge our faith, navigating the challenges of being a new mom, and what your mother-in-law really wants. We are also working on some resources we look forward to sharing with you!

All in all, we are excited about what’s to come in 2018. How about you? Have you taken time to think about the ways you can be intentional about building into your family this year? If you need some ideas to get started, I recommend listening to the Live What Matters podcast Episode 03: Living Life on Purpose. You’ll be amazed at what you can accomplish when you commit your plans to the Lord. I know I am!

Love and blessings to you in this new year,

Megan Alfaro

On Doing vs. Being

By Judy Gerry

Let’s face it — we moms are BUSY!

The year of 1982 was a bustling one in the Gerry household. When the parents of five youngsters mention that they are busy, little explanation is necessary. If you have little ones, you know that just keeping up with the physical, emotional, and basic needs of the family is not only very demanding, it seems all consuming. When our children were young, I felt that I could never check off everything on my daily to ‘do’ list. There was no time to rest. Things seemed to be perpetually falling through the cracks.

Dave and I were beginning to notice that in addition to the routine demands of our family, bit by bit, we had added many other irons to the fire. Not only was Dave holding down a stressful job in Denver, over the previous years we had become very involved with church activities, community involvement, and helping at the local school. While these were great activities, we knew that something felt out of whack. It was becoming apparent to us that we needed to reevaluate our commitments and restructure our lives.

As we prayed about it, we saw that we were beginning to substitute the ‘good’ things in life for the ‘best;’ even substituting the ‘religious’ things for the truly ‘spiritual.’ We both became convinced that we needed to carve out more time truly nurturing our relationship with Christ Himself.

In the months that followed, we began to phase out of a few things. Not everything, but some. Together we made a concerted effort to focus on just looking at God Himself ... studying His attributes and His very essence ... talking with Him. That’s when we began to renew our excitement about actually knowing the King of the Universe!

During that time in our lives we committed ourselves to placing more emphasis on being people of God who had a passionate love-relationship with the Lord, rather than on doing things that were good things. That’s when I wrote the following poem.

 ON DOING VERSUS BEING

Slow down, clock, slow down; I have so much to do.

The years are skittering by so fast and I’m barely halfway through

With all I should’ve completed by now, the projects all undone.

If you don’t slow down I’ll have to go faster — run, Run, RUN!

 

Slow down, clock, slow down; each morning when I awake

I’m already behind from yesterday. There must be some mistake.

Maybe if I organize more, if I could finish all I’ve begun …

Can’t you see I’m getting dizzy? — run, Run, RUN!

 

Slow down, clock, slow down; I feel like I’m on my last leg,

But if I had an extra minute I could juggle one more egg.

But the clock will never slow down, and there’ll always be eggs in the air,

And even if I drop a few, will anyone really care?

 

Slow down, Judy, slow down; you have so much to be.

The years are skittering by so fast and I’m barely halfway ‘me.’

I’m meant to become like Jesus as I’m in His Word and pray.

The clock can keep on running, but I’m stopping with Him today.

As parents, we are always going to have schedules filled to the brim, and demands knocking at the door. But let’s make it our goal to spend time with our Father so that we can become the mothers and fathers that He designed us to be.

God Knows

By Megan Alfaro

Today my husband was telling our kids about Mother’s Day.

“What kinds of things does Mommy do for you? Does she play with you? Does she read you books? Does she give you hugs and kisses? Does she teach you Bible verses? Does she sing you songs?”

After each question my two-year-old responded with a cute little, “Yeah!” And then my four-year-old burst in with this little pearl:

“We don’t know all the things Mommy does, but GOD does!”

My heart about exploded.

Mama, I don’t know if there was someone to make you breakfast or bring you flowers and notes and presents today. I sure hope so! But I just wanted you to know, today, that every dish you wash, every diaper you change, every tear you shed, every little nose you wipe, every kiss you give, every moment of lost sleep, every desperate prayer, every shower you’ve skipped, every meal you’ve prepared, every word you’ve taught—none of it goes unnoticed by the ONE who has called you to this great and wonderful and challenging privilege of being a mother.

Your children may not recognize everything you do for them. It’s likely they’ll never really know. But your faithfulness matters. You and your work are so precious. And one day, your reward will be great.

“His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’”  - Matthew 25:21

A Word of Advice

By Megan Alfaro

Recently I was at a mom's group meeting where a woman in her sixties was asked about the one word of advice she would give to a younger mom. I was so struck by her answer that I thought I would share it here. She said this:

Beware of seeing your child only in terms of their potential--who they will be one day. Rather, enjoy them as a whole person right now. You never know what the future will hold.

A Little Prayer

By Megan Alfaro

If we're going to talk about what matters, prayer is going to be high on the list! My husband and I do our best to pray for our kids every day. We also have a habit of praying as a family before meals and at bedtime. My three-year-old daughter Zoé loves routine, and she is quick to remind us when it's time to pray. But saying a prayer for herself is another story. She always insists that Mommy and Daddy do the praying. One time she even told me, "I'll pray when I'm older."

Then there was today.

I came out at lunch time to find Zoé with her little brother Sam, folding their hands as Zoé whispered something inaudibly. "We were praying Mommy!" Later that evening at dinner I did my best to hide my astonishment when she wanted to say grace.

It's such a thrill to see our little ones follow our lead, whether it's that cute little turn of a phrase, a sweet gesture, or enthusiastically cheering for Daddy's favorite team. But seeing little glimpses of a budding faith is the very best of all. 

It took Zoé more than three years to follow our lead in prayer. Who knows when it will become a habit for my girl. But I'm grateful for the encouragement to remain steadfast in praying for my children and modeling my faith.

In the meantime, that first little prayer is forever etched on my heart:

"Thank you God for this food, and for this beautiful day, and for Nana and Papa. Amen."