Home for the Holidays 17 and Chanukah 2

Written on December 18, 2014.

We bought our tickets a month ago and have been counting down since. Today, the last loop came off our countdown chain and we went to see the final installation of the Hobbit series. I watched most of the movie through tears. I’m sure it won’t have that affect on everyone, but it did me. As I watched a story so loved by our whole family, I realized how much of our story had been lived since the Lord of the Rings Trilogy came out. We were not yet a family of seven yet, as our two youngest had not yet made their way to our arms. We are now a bursting family of nearly eleven (Come on Ryder! In Pappa’s perfect timing of course!!) with spouses and grand babies now added in.

That is what the Jesse Tree is like for us. As we retell the stories each day of our past, present and future, we realize how much life has been lived in between. We see how fully our story has intertwined with the story that calls out to us every day, from the Heavens, the earth and our very beings. We are not the same because of the story we are part of. And the story is not the same, because we are part of it. Ever moving, changing and growing is the tale we have to tell.

Jesse Tree

Day 17 – December 17

ANOINTED

I promise not to have any spoilers for the movie, though to quote Toggle, “The book has been out for like 77 years. I’m pretty sure if anyone wants to know what happens, they could have checked it out by now.” This was after he did a spoiler for Axel Pearl who didn’t get to go with us 🙂

“You sit there with a crown upon your head, yet I have never seen you a lesser man."

Dwalin made this comment to Thorin when instead of walking as the King he was meant to be, he groveled as a madman, seeking his will, his way. I thought of Samuel and how he may have said these same words to Saul.

Samuel was much like the Shamash candle. Blazing with a holy fire, he was called to go and light the candle of a people, so they would burn together with a light that would dispel darkness. But sometimes fire reveals what truly lurks in the heart. The people wanted someone to burn for them, someone to keep the fire burning. They called for a king when their hearts cried for a Savior.

While the people shouted, God whispered. Samuel heard. His reply was as it was whenever God came in the quiet of of his heart. "Hineni. Here I am.” Or, “Here – I AM”.

Samuel was called to recognize kings, even when they were utterly unrecognizable. He served the kings before they were crowned and while they reigned. He anointed them, reminded them and refused them when their flesh raged and overshadowed their hearts.

Today I realized something embedded in the story all along. Samuel was able to stand among kings, because he was one. His heart held the truth of what it really means to rule. He served, never letting his light dwindle, so that he might touch the wick of those who needed remembrance, restoration and revelation.

MENORAH

Sundown 2

Tonight’s candle represents the moment when God said, “Let there be light.” What a moment! In it, He filled the sky with our story. He created the I AM circle as He set in motion the circuit of the sun, moon and stars. He enclosed the story inside tabernacles dark until filled with light, giving the sun a place to dwell like a bridegroom in his wedding tent. Engulfed in the midst is our invitation to to do the same, to complete the darkness so the story of His heart hidden there can be revealed.

Today, I realize it is no “coincidence” that the menorah’s of old and many still today are filled with oil, for that is what kings and priests are anointed with when they are recognized and revealed. Jesus was both King and Priest. As He is, we are. lower case kings (and queens!!) along side the Upper case KING. Priests, oil carriers who anoint each time we recognize the king and queen in each other. Light bearers, igniting the flame again and again, just as THE story is told over and over. May we never forget. May we ever remember.