For ReJoyed, Christmas starts in late summer. In a “normal” year I make most of my ornaments in July and August. Each year I pick a particular theme. In the past it has been lines from “Oh Holy Night” like; “The stars are brightly shining”, “Till he appeared and the soul felt its worth”, and “ A thrill of HOPE the weary world rejoices”. This year I felt like I wanted to focus on just one word.
Because July and August were filled with house hunting I was running a little behind. We finally found the perfect house. Really, it was the house of our dreams. It had plenty of room for everything and everyone we have in our lives. It had a shop for Dusty and a small but super cool legit barn for a ReJoyed studio and a basement apartment. It was just a few minutes from downtown Minneapolis/St. Paul and even closer to my sister. Wow! We had been pre-approved for our mortgage and now all we needed to do is wait 6 weeks until closing. I got to work, on both packing up the house and making ornaments.
I had first thought the word would for the ornaments this year would be “HOPE”. Really, who doesn’t need a little hope even in the best of times. This year, it seemed to fit really well but I always pray and ask God what He would like and I wasn’t sure it was HOPE. I pictured the Christmas tree in my new house and all I could think of was the word “JOY”. Finally, after a year and a half of temporary quarters and 6 months of “quarantine” we would have a place of our own and it would be a JOYOUS Christmas! What a great way to end the year, JOY it would be!
So, I got to work, and made several ReJoyed “JOY” ornaments. The word Joy is made from copper wires and the silver plate is reclaimed silver platters. They are so simple and beautiful. I could picture my tree with dozens of JOY ornaments and nothing else. In a year filled with angst and uncertainty, we would have JOY in the end! I made lots and lots of JOY!
Right about now I wish I could make you hear that sound you hear on a TV show soundtrack when everything comes to a screeching halt… because that was the sound I kept hearing when a few days before closing on our house the date got pushed back a week, “No big deal, happens all the time.” I told myself. I had a count down on our refrigerator whiteboard to track the closing because the kids kept asking when it would be. I had to adjust the date and start the count down again, twice, as a matter of fact. Finally, we were there…. 3… 2… 1…. Late in the afternoon, the day before closing, the texts and calls started flying late into the night. Texts between us and our finance person and our realtor Jason. (Jason Brown of Edina Realty in White Bear Lake who will forever in my mind be known as St. Jason) I finally erased the countdown on the whiteboard and replaced it with Jer 29:11. (That’s a Bible verse, google it if you don’t already know it).
Our financing fell through.
Self-employment has its perks but financing a mortgage during a pandemic apparently is not one of them.
We sat here silent and stunned.
joy. really? the boxes stacked all over the apartment, the loaded truck, the friends we had lined up to help us celebrate and the utilities we had to deactivate were all reminders of the loss. i have dreamed for years of owning just a little piece of my home state of minnesota. joy was not my go to emotion.
A few days later I made a quick trip to Florida with my bff Paula. The trip was planned off the first closing date, but with the push backs it happened to be just a few days after the devastating news. It was good to just drive away from the train wreck. We stayed with a few of our dear friends that were beautiful reminders of the grace that has brought us safe thus far. When I returned home I was sorting through my ReJoyed inventory, putting things back on the shelves. I felt as if I was grieving… probably because I was. I opened my box of JOY ornaments.
JOY. Joy. joy. jOY. JOY. 100 or so little ornaments looked up at me and for a moment I couldn’t even comprehend the dichotomy of emotion. I paused, “what is joy?” Is it the perfect house, in the perfect location and the perfect Christmas tree? I cracked open my Bible as I am known to do when I question things that seem to have no answer. I found the word “JOY” in the back and began reading every JOY verse I could find and handwriting, in my journal, the ones that had significance me.
I want to point out two verses that almost felt like bookends for my situation. One from the Old Testament and one from the New Testament.
“You make known to me the path of life, in your presence there is fullness of JOY at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” Psalm 16:11
Now, I don’t know about you, but when I read verses like that I pray and ask God to show me how to be in His presence so I can experience that fullness of JOY! Ironically, the Psalmist was saying that JOY was a place… but that place was not a house it was in the presence of the Lord. I kept writing verses, Psalms has a lot to say about JOY. I wrote a verse from Isaiah and Habakkuk as well and then headed to the New Testament. Luke declares the news of Jesus’ birth as good news of great JOY for all people… but that’s not the one that caught my eye. It the very words of Jesus in the book of John.
“These things I have spoken to you, that my JOY may be in you and that your JOY may be full.” John 15:11
Now, I’ve read this entire passage many many times. This time, however, I was reading it almost backwards. I read verse 11 first. Notice it starts with “These things”. I was curious, what are these things? Well, if you read the beginning of John 15 you see that it is one of Jesus’ more famous dissertations. In my Bible it is titled “I Am the true vine”. If Jesus were trying to sell something he would have started with a question like, “Do you want joy?” or the infamous click bait model “3 ways to find joy”. But He wasn’t trying to sell anything, He just wants us to know who he is, who is Father is and who we are. He is the vine and His father is the vinedresser and we are the branches, an extension of Him. He is giving His JOY to us as we abide in Him.
You have heard the old phrase people say when you walk into their home; “Welcome to my humble abode”. Well, maybe as believers and followers of Jesus we should say, “Welcome to my humble abide” His JOY is my JOY when I abide in His Presence. The Psalmist knew the secret was being in the presence of the LORD, to be in His house. I guess you could say it like this, “to humbly abide in His abode”.
Joy is ours. Yes, even in 2020, JOY is ours.
As Luke 2:10 records Jesus’ birth announcement “And the angel said to them, ‘Fear not, for behold, I bring you good news of great JOY that will be for all the people.’ The very one in whom we find the fulness of JOY came very near so that His presence was available to “all the people”.
This year our Christmas tree will bear the word JOY and I hope yours will too. 2020 has left all us people hoping for “normal”. If you know Jesus, I challenge you to go bigger than “normal” and shoot for JOY! JOY in His presence as you abide in Him.
Wherever I am with Jesus, I am home. Welcome to my humble Abide.
Here is a link to purchase a JOY ornament of your own. https://www.rejoyed.com/shop/christmas/joy-christmas-ornament/ A portion of every sale will go to fund a very special project we are working on for the 4th Annual Priceless Christmas Party. Here is a link to my blog with the story of The Priceless Christmas Party.
