Lauren Sparks

The Sparks Notes

  • Home
  • About
  • Favorites
  • Policies
  • Contact

The Merriest Monthly Muster of All

December 27, 2019 by Lauren 16 Comments

December has always been my favorite month of the year.  I love that the entire world is celebrating Jesus – even if some of them don’t know it.  I love the decorations and music and shows and family gatherings.  I even love wrapping presents in pretty paper.  And even though some hard things happened in the last 30 days, I still got to celebrate and see Jesus all over the place.

 

My Shelby saw her orthopedic doctor for a follow up and we rejoiced in the news that her scoliosis is not progressing.  No surgery for the foreseeable future and we say, “Praise God!”  My husband had a doctor’s appointment as well, for his first colonoscopy.  He received a good report too.  Yay!

 

My youngest said “goodbye” to her volleyball career with an end of season banquet.  She received the award for being “most social”.  A good indicator that she made the right decision to hang up her knee pads.  Then she treated us to her Winter Choir Concert.  Thirteen fans came to hear her sing.  Both sets of grandparents, brother, sister, niece, nephews, and an aunt supported her with us.

 

Allie’s Jazz Choir also raised money for the program as Singing Christmas Cards.  The director rents them out to sing at holiday parties.  I got to chauffeur some of the group from party to live nativity.  My sister and I enjoyed their music and the rest of the church festivities at the last stop. 

 

Chuck was briefly called to the mothership in Bentonville for a meeting, while the girls and I held down the fort and hosted my bonus son’s family for a surprise visit.  In between those, the hubs and I snuck in two movie dates!  We enjoyed Last Christmas (even though the ending had been ruined for me) and Ford v. Ferrari.  At home I forced the viewing of Christmas at Rockefeller Center, Frosty the Snowman, Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Rudolph, and The Year Without a Santa Claus.  I even watched some Hallmark movies while baking this year.  When life gets messy, something simple and sweet hits the spot.  And then everyone enthusiastically participated in Elf – our favorite.

 

As a family we went to a Cirque Musica production called “Holiday Wishes”.  My husband and I won them in a silent auction for the Dravet Syndrome Foundation a few months ago.  I can only say that it was…weird.  That’s my best descriptor.  And Cirque Musica may be the C team of the Cirque family.  We also watched my niece Cora dance in a festive show at the Gaylord Texan.  That involved expensive parking, a shuttle bus and wall to wall people.  But Cora is A team so it was all worth it.

 

And now as I finish writing (even though I won’t publish until the end of the week), all the baking is done and the presents are wrapped.  We anxiously await Christmas eve services, time with family and a visit from Old St. Nick.  What?  I still believe.

 

If right about now you are thinking that you can’t relate to all my merry-making this year, let me point you back to last week’s blog.  We had concerts and parties and shows, but we are also had something really heavy and hard drop into our laps.  Because it is not really my story, I’m not at liberty to share the details.  But I do want you to know that if you are hurting this Christmas, I understand.  Even when life gets hard, Christmas is worth celebrating.  The Eternal One entered time.  The Lord of Glory veiled that glory in a human body for us.  And even though He came as an infant, He lives still.  Jesus saves people from the penalty of sin, from the power of sin and eventually from the very presence of sin. (from Bible commentary)

 

Hallelujah!  And Happy New Year.

 

Sharing is caring! If you liked this post, do me the huge honor of using the buttons below to share it to your favorite social media accounts. And if you want to get these essays emailed to you once a week, subscribe!

 

And look up these great writers I link up with every week:

InstaEncouragements, Literacy Musing Mondays, Hello…Monday,

The Good. The Random. The Fun.

BloggerClubUK, Tea and Word Tuesday, Purposeful Faith,

GraceFull Tuesday Link-Up, Hearth and Soul Link Party,

Let’s Have Coffee, Welcome Wednesday, Recharge Wednesday,

Worth Beyond Rubies, #TellHisStory Link Up, Porch Stories,

Encouraging Word Wednesday, Tune In Thursday,

Stories of Hope, Moments of Hope, IHeart Verse Link Party,

Legacy Link Up, Fresh Market Friday, Feature Friday Time,

Friendship Friday Blog Hop, Faith on Fire, Traffic Jam Weekend,

Faith ‘n Friends, Dancing with Jesus, Grace & Truth, Booknificent

 

Lastly, my posts may contain affiliate links and I earn from qualifying purchases. If you buy anything from one of these links, I will receive a few pennies to help offset the cost of this website at no additional charge to you. Thank you in advance for your help.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

“The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer…”

December 6, 2018 by Lauren 36 Comments

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

If it wasn’t for a certain misfit named “Buddy”, I would swear that I was the escaped Christmas elf come to earth.  I love everything about Christmas.  The songs, the lights, the special treats.  The parades and cheesy movies, the trees and decor, the presents and the gift wrap.  I record all the new and classic TV specials and am always disappointed in myself when I can’t get to them all before the end of the season.  Even though I’m a native Texan, I dream of a white Christmas every year.  It is not an exaggeration to say that I have jingle bells on my toes and tinsel in my soul.  Except…the last two years have been hard.  Last year’s Christmas newsletter was full of cancer and complications and job loss and seizures.  Putting some of that behind us, I had hoped this Christmas would feel different.  But it doesn’t.  We still have financial stresses, complications with Shelby, and I’m facing yet another surgery.  Instead of feeling sparkle, twinkle, jolly, most days I feel a little frazzled, a little tired and a little lonely.

 

As a city of Grapevine Employee, I was gifted tickets this year to our annual North Pole Express train ride and event.  We forced the teenager to go and set off on a family Christmas adventure.  It was everything that usually ignites my Yuletide spirit, but I wasn’t feeling it.  While I liked the sights and sounds, my heart was heavy.  Then Shelby started to laugh in sheer delight.  It started when we began to sing along with the carols playing over the train’s loud speakers and built to near frenzy when Mrs. Claus came into sight.  She laughed and laughed.  And I started to cry.  Shelby is satisfied with her lot in life.  No, not satisfied.  Joy-filled.  Shelby – the child with uncontrolled seizures.  Who cannot bathe, dress or toilet herself.  Shelby, who will always be dependent on the care and kindness of others.  She is truly happy.  There are a lot of hard things about having an eternal toddler, but the innocence, light and love that inhabit her are the trade off.  As she laughed, I could almost hear the narrator of the classic Grinch cartoon, “And what happened, then?  Well, in Whoville they say – that Lauren’s small heart grew three sizes that day.”

 

I recently read Lysa Terkeurst’s latest book It’s Not Supposed to be This Way, subtitled “finding unexpected strength when disappointments leave you shattered.”  You may or may not have heard about her very public betrayal at the hands of her husband.  While I feel like I currently have more issues than a magazine subscription, my troubles look like fairy tales compared to that.  And yet, I feel like her message is so similar to the sermon I heard in Shelby’s laugh on that train.  How are we supposed to feel about God when our normal doesn’t look like we think it should?  How can I reconcile knowing in my head that God is good and kind and not always feeling it in my heart?  The book challenged me to search myself for ways I am more attached to the outcomes in my life than trusting God in the process.  And yet we have permission to stop pretending that we don’t get exhausted by our disappointments.  But “To hope is to acknowledge reality in the very same breath that I acknowledge God’s sovereignty.”

 

Hebrews 12:1-3 is a very familiar passage to me, but I never before thought of it as an action plan for my “blahs”.  Although by no means a foolproof blueprint for reclaiming my joy, a good place to start is by asking myself what sins are easily entangling me?  And what would it look like for me to persevere right now?  And lastly, what joy has been set before me that will help me endure?  Now in actuality, our troubles are not always caused by our actions, and it may take time to regain enough strength to feel like we are persevering instead of barely hanging on.  But we can turn to God’s Word and His promises to see that there is always a joy set before us – that He rescues and reconciles humanity to Himself.  And that all started when His son Jesus was born to us in a barn.  That is the picture frame through which we must view everything that happens to us.

 

Since my family’s train ride to the North Pole, I decided to revisit the lyrics to my favorite Christmas hymn and admit that there is nothing wrong with me  feeling  like the”weary world” we sing about (“O Holy Night”) right now .  I still have plenty of reasons to rejoice and feel the “thrill of hope”.  The baby in the manger came for me, He lived for me, He died for me, and He saved me from destruction.  So I am lifting my eyes off of my temporary circumstances and looking to Him.  It won’t be a perfect effort on my part.  I still live in a world that’s hard, but the more I focus on Jesus and the incredible gift that He is, the more I can experience the joy Shelby is teaching me about.

 

“Be joyful in hope…” Romans 12:12

Click To Tweet

 

*Links in the post are affiliate links and if you purchase anything from them I will receive a few pennies at no extra cost to you to help offset the costs of this blog.*

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on LinkedIn (Opens in new window)
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window)
  • Click to print (Opens in new window)

Let’s Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter

About Me

I love Jesus, my husband and caffeine. The order of these can change depending on how tired I am. When my two daughters, stepson, and 4 grandchildren get to be too much, I practice yoga. God graciously allows me to share our adventures, victories and flub-ups from my laptop. May He be glorified here.
Read More

Subscribe for Updates

Enter your information below to receive the latest updates from the blog!

Recent Posts

  • I’ve Got Tears in My Ears (and Other Funny Titles)
  • Verse Mapping Joy!
  • Grace Upon Grace
  • First Friday Prayers: Prayer for the Caregiver
  • The Grand Finale of February

Find Devotionals By Me in These Books and Click on Image for Order Information!

A 25-Week Bible Study with Topics from Abide to Zeal
A 26 week journey to a better prayer life.
30 devotionals for faith that moves mountains

For Sharing

Lauren Sparks

Like Podcasts? I’m on This One

…and This One! click to listen.

Click below to get a free trial of my favorite technology monitoring platform

Need More Than Just Monitoring? Find Filters and Accountability Here

Search This Site

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2023 Lauren Sparks | Design by Traci Michele | Development by MRM

Stop!  Don't Miss Out!

I have a brand new e-book.  This was Not On My Bingo Card:  Essays on Cancer and Related Surprises is available to you FREE by simply subscribing to my blog!  

Invalid email address
I promise not to spam you. You can unsubscribe at any time.
Thanks for subscribing!