A Christmas Mug with Tea

I have really been wanting to write about this for a while, and today is the day... The mugs in our apartment are these wonderful Christmas mugs. They have many different designs, but yet all place Christmas on our minds (and yes I do love Christmas and everything that makes me think of it). Since coming to Croatia, I have had multiple cups of tea a day thanks to my roommates who also practice this consumption. It really is great though, just to pull out your favorite tea, add milk and sugar, then sit down to do what ever you need to.

My favorite combination fo the to go with the Christmas mug and tea is reading. Ok, I am getting to my point my friends. When you want to relax, grab yourself a cup of tea and your Bible, then curl up on a couch, even if it is hard and shaped funny, and enjoy your time with God. I was reading the other day, and decided to end my time with a chapter from Captivating written by the Eldredges. I wanted to add this excerpt so that you could possibly feel the awe I felt in that moment holding my Christmas mug:

Creation itself is a great work of art, and all works of after it are echoes of the original. How it unfolded and where it reached its climax are mysteries worth unveiling. We will never truly undertand women until we understand this. The scene began in darkness, "Darkness over the deep and God's breath hovering over the waters." (Gen. 1:2 Alter) The breathless moment in the dark before the first notes of a great symphony or concert, a play, or an epic film. All is formless, empty, dark. Then a voice speaks. "Let there be light." (Gen. 1:3 Alter) And suddenly, there is light, pure light, magnificanet light. Its radiance will enable us to see now what is unfolding. The voice speaks again, and again. "Let there be a vault in the midst of the waters, and let it divide water from water." (Gen. 1:6 Alter) "Let the waters under the heavens be gathered in one place so that the dry land will appear." (Gen. 1:9 Alter) Creation in its early stages begins like any great work of art- with uncut stone or a mass of clay, a rough sketch, a blank sheet of music. "Formless and empty" as Genesis 1:2 has it. Then God begins to fashion the raw materials he has made, like an artist working with the stone or sketch or page before him. Light and dark, heaven and earth, land and sea- it's beginning to take shape. With passion and brilliance the Creator works in large, sweeping movements on a grand scale. Great realms are distinguished from one another and established. Then he moves back over them again for a second pass he begins to fill in color, detail, finer lines. "Let the earth grow grass, plants...and trees bearing fruit..." (Gen 1:11 Alter) "Let there be lights in the vault of the heavens..." (Gen. 1:14 Alter) "Let the waters swarm with the swarm of living creatures and let fowl fly over the earth." (Gen. 1:20 Alter) Forest and meadow burst forth. Tulips and pine trees and moss-covered stones. And notice- the masterpiece is becoming more intricate, more intimate. He fills the night sky with a thousand million stars, and he names them, sets them in constellations... The plot is thickening, the symphony is building and swelling, higher and higher to a crescendo. No wonder "the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy" (Job 38:7) A great hurrah goes up from the heavens. The greatest of all masterpieces is emerging....

How amazing is God?! Music speaks to my soul and to sit and picture creation in this way brought me to such awe. Turn on a symphony, close your eyes, and picture God creating the earth as the symphony is built. Paint, draw...do whatever it is you can to understand how amazing this is. Each masterpiece came from this moment. Look at art, listen to music, and it's origins will reveal themselves...it is so true! It's so crazy that this seemed to put it perfectly, and this memory stays with me. Now everytime I pick up a Christmas mug I am reminded of how awesome God is. Thanks God, I would say that this was a "So Happy!" moment...