Nothing is more true...

“You get a strange feeling when you’re about to leave a place, I told him, like you’ll not only miss the people you love but you’ll miss the person you are now at this time and this place, because you’ll never be this way ever again.”
Reading Lolita in Tehran

Christmas Wish

Presents wrapped beneath the tree,
Christmas dinner, and family to see.

One more wish Lord for Christmas Day
One more Christmas prayer to say.

Around the world, not everyone knows
Of the birth of Christ that the angels foretold.

Dear Lord, may your holiday gift from above
Penetrate the hearts of all with love.

May war be stilled and violence cease
Just for a moment, a prayer for peace

Joy to the world, good will to all
He’s King of Kings, yet a child so small.

As we celebrate our Savior’s birth,
We pray for peace across the earth.

Dear Lord, please hear this prayer I pray.
Please bless everyone on Christmas Day.


Merry Christmas and so much Love,
Love,
Lauren

Christmas Grace

Christmas Grace
House of mud, lowest caste
Dirty jobs and difficult past.

Heart of pride and sinner still,
Struggling God to know your will.

Sex addiction, drugs stronghold
Has the future been foretold?

Fallen world, gap of sin
Need a Savior to enter in.

Every religion: a ruler, a king
Perfection required the gift we’re to bring.

But what’s required we cannot do
We have nothing of value to offer you

This Christmas babe, was he meant for me?
We’re not worth this gift but could it be?

The son of God should rest in a place of gold
Not in a stable out in the cold.

Who is this baby, this tiny King…
What message is he trying to bring?

Lowly shepherd, lowly place,
Life of poverty and disgrace.

In the fields, that silent night
Lowly place, met heavenly light.

The greatest and best weren’t the first to hear
Twas the humble and weak to whom the angel did appear.

Good tidings to you, go follow the star
You are chosen by God just as you are



This gift to the shepherds that came from above
Was not about honor but all about love.

God knew the shepherds, he knows us too,
He knows there is nothing of merit we can do.

This old story from years long past
Carries a message meant to last.

Lowly people, lowly place,
Changed with love by heavenly grace.

This Christmas may you really sense the difference and uniqueness of our Savior. He doesn’t come for the “perfect” but for the imperfect. That is the beauty of Christmas!

Merry Christmas 2009

Today was the first Sunday I didn't feel anything.. usually Sunday more than any other day I long to be in India. My heart usually just aches. All day today I missed the ache.. I wanted it. It made no sense why I didn't ache. I missed getting to talk to friends I usually talk with but was so happy to hear from friends I seldom get to talk to. I even got to talk by phone to one friend. Her story is so hard right now...so many trials. It hurt my heart to hear it but still no ache.. but finally...tonight there it is. Watching the end of a movie that I had seen before without tears - stirred my heart and again...I long for India.

Unresting heart