Vintage

There is nothing new under the sun, so the saying goes.
I am finding that to be true.
I know it is true when I talk to my youngest daughter.
Still in college, I love our talks on the phone or one-on-one when she is home.

Clothes I gave away from my high school days are back in style.
If only you saved them, Mom, I have often heard her say.
Who would have thought that what I gave away back in the day is now in fashion again?
Who had the foresight to know that saving those things would be wise?

No one has the room to pack a wardrobe away waiting for the next generation to wear it.
No one has the ability to look down the corridors of time and see that it all comes full circle.
Vintage is the word that is used to describe something old but chic.
Wearing those clothes back in the day was never considered chic.

My daughter and I went to my favorite consignment shop.
We had fun browsing in the room that holds antiques.
We had fun looking at old dishes and and house-ware items.
I saw her stop at one shelf in particular.

Mom, look at these, she said calling me over.
She held up a large string of outdoor Christmas lights.
The kind of lights with the large colored bulbs.
They are back in style; in my mind they never went out of style.

Everything has become streamlined.
Christmas lights went from large colored light bulbs to mini lights.
Some houses have a Motion Laser Light Projector.
This projector makes thousands of green and red stars explode into motion.

I can see why a string of large colored light bulbs caught her eye.
Everything comes around again.
Out of style will one day be back in style.
Discarded clothes and objects soon become vintage in the next generation.

We have red felt stockings hanging from our mantel.
They are the original stockings that my children had growing up.
Their names are on the band of white across the top.
I could never replace them through the years with something newer.

They were purchased at one of those stores that personalize things for you.
I remember when my husband and I got our first stockings as a married couple.
I remember the woman writing our name with Elmer’s glue.
The woman then put glitter on top of the glue and shook off the excess.

Stockings without our names were purchased again when we had our first daughter.
Our name stockings were wrapped in tissue paper.
In their place were stockings with Mom and Dad written in glitter.
Each child has their own red stocking with their name written in glue and covered with glitter.

I have seen needlepoint stockings and thought about getting them.
I have seen stockings that look like a cable knit sweater and thought about them as well.
Mom, you can never get us new stockings, was the unanimous reply.
These stockings are the best, they have all said at one time or another.

A catalog came in the mail that has a lot items that you cannot find anywhere else.
This time of year there is a large Christmas section.
Vintage toys and decorations are the words to describe what you will find on those pages.
Looking at that section brings me back to my own childhood.

Illuminated ceramic Christmas trees with tiny bulbs are sold there.
We have two of those trees that were made by my aunt.
Red felt stockings with the white band across the top are there as well.
We have seven of those stockings hanging on our mantel.

Vintage.
In the dictionary, vintage means, representing the high quality of a past time.
It can also mean, old-fashioned or obsolete.
I like the former definition: high quality of a past time.

This is what the LORD says: “Stand at the crossroads and look; ask for the ancient paths, ask where the good way is, and walk in it, and you will find rest for your souls. (Jeremiah 6:16)

Many people think that God’s Word is old, dusty, and irrelevant for us today.
That could not be further from the truth.
God’s Word is eternal; it is always applicable and always relevant.
According to God’s Word, there is a high quality placed on a past time.

There is a high quality placed on the ancient paths.
There is a good way and we are to walk in it.
It is not new and streamlined, rather eternal.
God’s Word is living and active and never goes out of style.

For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. Of the greatness of his government and peace there will be no end. He will reign on David’s throne and over his kingdom, establishing and upholding it with justice and righteousness  from that time on and forever. The zeal of the Lord Almighty will accomplish this. (Isaiah 9:6,7)

The ancient paths of the Promised One.
The story never changes and it never gets old.
The story is new and fresh, vintage and eternal.
It is amazing story, which nothing can compare.

The Promised One came to earth as a baby.
Jesus, God’s one and only Son is the Promised One.
The ancient paths lead us to Him.
Those same paths that lead us to Him will one day lead us Home.

You are at the crossroads.
Look for the good way.
Walk in it.
Find rest for your souls.

May this be the Christmas you find rest for your souls.
May this be the Christmas that leads you to Jesus.