“Oh Come all ye faithful,
Joyful and triumphant. . .
Oh come let us adore Him. . .’

I love this song. I love it even more when Andrea Bocelli sings it . When Bocelli sings “O Come all Ye Faithful,” I am there that Christmas night when the angels appeared to the shepherds.

“Come, let us adore Him” . . . and, yet, the word adore gives me pause. . . do I adore as I ought? Or is it just words, just a song. . . .

Adore: “To love in the highest degree; to regard with the utmost esteem, affection and respect,” says Noah Webster in his 1828 Dictionary.

I’ve loved my husband almost 38 years, a sometimes bedazzling love, a constant love, a we’re-not-giving-up-on-each-other love, a I-will-fight-for-you love, a forgiving love, a laughing love, an I-never-want-to-be-without-you-love, an unconditional love, a love that looks for the best, believes the best love.

Do I adore my Savior like that?

When the babies came, all those boys – and a little girl in heaven – Oh, My! My heart grew and grew. As some people say, my heart experienced “all the feels.” The I”m-going-to-protect-you feels, the my-heart-is-going-to-burst-your-so-precious feels, the I’m-never-going-o-let-you-down-or-give-you-up feels, the “you-did-what-but-I-love-you-anyway feels, the “you-stole-my-heart-in-ways-I-never-imagined” feels, a “where-did-that-tiger-mama-come-from” feels?

Do I adore my Savior like that?

Then the grandbabies came – and it was like when the boys came – except I realized I didn’t have to have all the answers then – all I had to do was love big, have treats, the good band-aids, a magical sanctuary for refreshing the spirit, encourage dreams, be a place where the tough burdens, regardless of age, can be set down at the backdoor steps, love without strings attached, where just spending time together is pure joy.

Do I adore my Savior like that?

Webster also says adore includes “to honor, reverence or glorify to adorn; to be magnificent or glorious, to magnify, to glorify.”

. . . and Webster takes it one visual step further: “This word is usually referred to the Latin ad orare, to carry to one’s mouth; ad and os, oris; as, in order to kiss one’s hand, the hand is carried to one’s mouth. See Calmet, ad verbum, who cites, in confirmation of this opinion, the ancient practice of kissing the hand. See Job 31:27. 1 Kings 19:18. Psalms 2:12. Genesis 45:15 . Ainsworth supposes the word to be a compound of ad and oro, to pray; and if the word is compound, as I suspect, this opinion is most probably correct.]”

“O Come Let us Adore. . .” to be so filled with love, with gratitude, recognizing so deeply the saving debt owed and stunned that anyone would pay the price to redeem me, to save me. . . that I would press His hand to my mouth in gratitude, covering it with kisses, incoherent in my praise and adoration. . .

“O Come Let us Adore. . .”

If I were to take all the ways I love my people – as a wife, as a mother, as a grandmother, and add all those ways I love together, it still would fall short of all the ways my Savior has loved me. How I have loved in my life is so insufficient . . . my heart cannot even begin to comprehend how big it is capable of adoring – and feeling it, believing it, adoring all the way down to my soul toes, adoring bigger than how I’ve loved my husband, my boys, my grands, my family and friends, and so, I’m asking God this season, to break my heart open for adoration to be more than words, more than the warmth of holiday good cheer. I pray that God clear away the barrier between my soul’s human fraility and His holiness and worthiness so that adoration of Him is so alive in my heart that it spills over, spreading adoration of our Savior that is more than a song.

“O Come Let us Adore Him. . .” really, really adore Him!

Wishing you a Merry Christmas, Shalom in it, and revelation that draws you closer to our Savior! ~ Maryleigh

Remember Me Monday: #27 & Linky

“I’ll make a list of God’s gracious dealings,
    all the things God has done that need praising,
All the generous bounties of God,
    his great goodness to the family of Israel—
Compassion lavished,
    love extravagant.”
~ Isaiah 63:7, The Message

In the Old Testament, God repeatedly, quietly and loudly, tells his children, “You have forgotten me!”  (Jeremiah 3:32, Ezekiel 22:12, to name a few). It’s a heart cry from a father to a child who has forgotten all the love, all the saving, helping, little and big blessings – and it leaves me stunned when I realize our Father, the creator of the universe, who knows things I cannot begin to fathom, who authors storylines that leave me amazed, delights in all of us so much, He cries out, “Remember Me.”

While every day is a Remember God Day, I am inviting you to join me on Monday mornings to come by and remember what God has done for you, for your family. Maybe God sent a cardinal darting out in front of you, as if to tell you, “I’m here,” or broke a child’s fever after you laid it all down at His feet in a 2 a.m. bedside vigil. Maybe He stood with you in the wait of a prayer sent out, or brought someone you loved to Christ. Maybe He healed your broken heart, gave your courage, or you gave Him your dreams as a love offering only to have Him give them back in an unimaginable way. Maybe God helped you survive to bedtime after a crazy Monday, or forgive yourself for missing it with your kiddos –– Whatever it is, let’s Remember Him. . . in a “Remember Me Monday” love letter.

“My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
Of your salvation all the day long,
Though I know not its measure.
I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign Lord”
~ Psalm 71:15-16.

Let us delight in Him by telling the  stories of what He’s done!  If you wrote a blog post remembering what He’s done for you, join the linky. If you didn’t but still want to praise Him for what He’s done – write it in the comment section. Then visit a comment before or after yours! One of the beautiful things about the blogging community is the relationships it builds!

Rules?  Write long or short, a list or a story, include photos or not. Just Remember Him and what He has done, and let the gratitude of your heart guide you. Let’s make Monday so Rejoice, that the goodness of God spills into the rest of the week!

Places I’m Linking at This Week:
 Inspire Me Monday, Grace & Truth,  
Purposeful Faith, Tell His Story, 
https://welcomeheart.com/blog, Worth Beyond Rubies,
Share a Link Wednesday, Let’s Have Coffee, 
Grace and Truth, Faith on Fire,