Your Personal Top Ten List of 2011

Looking back at the ending year makes me thankful and more conscious of how I need to change in the next year. What has God done this year? What do I need to work on next year? With all the Top Ten lists coming out this week, I thought I would make a list of Ten Top things in my life this year.

Here are the categories/questions I used. You may want to consider them when you have a few minutes today or the next week or two as you begin 2012. Enjoy the memories, but also be open for God to speakJ

Christmas Carols Rich in Meaning

Last weekend my husband and I were blessed to attend a concert here in Dallas by the Orpheus Chamber Singers. Although we were not familiar with most of the music, we so enjoyed the quality of the group’s voices in a church built for sound without microphones. I was thankful for the printed program which included the lyrics to the unknown carols. Once again I was reminded of how much theology is present in Christian music of ages past. Although I enjoy contemporary Christian music, often such depth is missing.

As I listened, I allowed the truth of the words to pour into my heart. Beautiful and often deep, they brought home the true meaning of the season. Here are some of my favorites:

Blown Away by the Incarnation

On December 1, we received a wonderful Christmas gift—our first grandchild. I was blessed to visit the family for eight great days, including lots of time loving on her. Because of her birth’s proximity to Christmas, I often thought of the baby in the manger when I held her, and my mind was blown away by the truth of the incarnation.

How can God become a baby? How could he remain God and yet be totally dependent and helpless? How did Jesus grow in wisdom and knowledge like other children when he is the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end? How can the Creator be enclosed in a created body?