Christmas is Coming

Christmas is coming quickly... just a little over two months away. I truly love this time of year… football, fall, yummy food, cooler weather, snuggly scarves, and of course, the holidays.

My ankle was hurting to the point where I couldn’t walk well this morning, so we stayed home from church. I was reading in Luke with my boy, and we started in chapter 1.

Reading about how the baby, who would become John the Baptist, Elizabeth was pregnant with jumped for joy when hearing Mary call out to her brought tears to my eyes. Even the unborn child recognized the mother of Jesus Christ and knew the significance of His birth.

Jesus was born perfect, as the Son of God, to a virgin. He lived a perfect life, and died a terrible death so that we, humans – sinners – could live eternally with Him in Heaven.

Christmas is celebrated in December, but no one truly knows the time of year Jesus was born. There are a few hints, but nothing significant in the Bible. And technically, many of our current Christmas traditions come from pagan solstice festivals. However, Christians after Constantine changed and Christianized pagan traditions to become their own version of the holiday.

Today though, Christmas is all about commercialism. Stores begin carrying Christmas items in August. There are “Christmas in July” sales, Black Friday sales, spend more, spend more, spend more.

Frankly, it is exhausting.

We have our own traditions in our home. I put up our tree in early November so we can enjoy it more. I play Christmas music like there is no tomorrow. We have Snow, the mischievous elf who appears on Thanksgiving night and hangs out until Christmas Eve when Santa takes him back to the North Pole. My son still believes in Santa, which I love, because it makes Christmas a little more magical. I cook Christmas Dinner and invite other single friends over so they have somewhere to go. I volunteer at NORAD Tracks Santa and talk to kids all over the world. We always pick Angels off of the Angel Tree at church – a boy the age of my son and a teenage girl for me – to purchase gifts for. We participate in Operation Christmas Child.

My boy is finally old enough to truly learn about giving to others less fortunate. I found a great idea last year that we will do this year. Random Acts of Kindness to do every day during December. I love it. I’m excited about it and will probably do something to add my boy’s teachers in as well.

My point in the rambling is this – Christmas is fun for kids, and it should be magical as well. They need that little bit of mystery in their lives to make them curious and excited about living. They also need to know Jesus – who He was, who He is now and who He will be eternally. Kids (and some adults) need to understand the reason for Christmas is not the ‘Dudley’ version of how many gifts do I get. It is about giving to others, some in true need, and some just because.

Don't forget the real reason we celebrate Christmas - it is the Birth of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.

Dating is Free Entertainment

There have been a few random things happening lately that make me laugh...and also make me feel like I was, for certain, born in the wrong century. The past few months have been odd. I had reconnected with a couple of guys I knew at different points in my life; both were completely wrong for me for different reasons. The first is a handsome Irish fella who wears a kilt- and being of Scottish heritage myself, I believe a real man can handle wearing a kilt! (Isn't there a single Christian man IN Scotland reading this???) The second is someone from a bit further in my past. He turned out to be quite the drama queen.. And more than a little strange.   

Things happen, people come in and out of your life for a season. Some seasons are shorter than others. Each one is supposed to be there, to teach us something or show us something about ourselves or about others. The men that come in and out of my life show me what I am, or am not, looking for in a husband. They have also shown me some things about myself that I must work on while I am in a relationship with a man.

The drama queen… oh where do I begin? It started with a text to ask me out to dinner. Then it changed to cooking dinner at his house (for a first date, without knowing him well at all – BIG NO NO!!!).  I did meet him for coffee and after talking about my Christian singles group and involvement in church, the cursing began. I mean that literally. I had not heard a curse word from him up until the point I mentioned my faith, and it was almost as if a switch was instantaneously flipped. Further conversations made me quickly realize this particular guy has some problems. One of the first things I should have taken note of was the comment, “when are you going to take me out?” Yes… he said that to me. I mean, he just sees me having dinner with my child… Thankfully this was not one of those long, drawn out things.

I was criticized by another person because I expected (the horror!!) an actual phone call to ask me out rather than a text. Apparently my standards are too high and it is too much to ask men today to call. My theory is that if a guy is my age or close, he didn’t grow up with a phone in his hand. SO, he should call me. And yes, I do have standards… get used to it. I know a lot of people who don’t have standards today and they are miserable because they keep choosing people who will use them or be abusive in some way.

I think we've lost something in this technologically connected world we live in. People would rather sit in front of a computer or text on their phones than actually have a personal conversation face to face.  There are some people I do not enjoy talking to, and would rather keep the communication electronic. And then there are others that I actually prefer a conversation with over the electronic communication.

Something to remember - the outer package doesn’t always mean the inside is as pretty as the outside. I’ve told many people that someone can look like the Channing Tatum’s or Scarlet Johansson’s of the world and have a horrible personality. Those people become physically unattractive pretty quickly while also failing to understand how they could have been at fault. After all, these types are physically attractive and that means they can do whatever they want and their victims just have to ‘deal with it.’

All of this just makes me wonder if my Prince Charming/Mr. Darcy is truly out there somewhere, waiting for me with his high standards in this crazy world.

 

 

 

Hope in the Darkness

So many times we hear different stories about people who come through very bleak points in their life with a new outlook and hope for a different future.

Through this current partial government shutdown, which is affecting many, many people I know (to include myself), I have words of hope. We WILL get through this. We will be stronger as individuals because we will know how to get by with less in a world of more…More…MORE.

1 Chronicles 29:14-16 (NASB)

¹⁴ “But who am I and who are my people that we should be able to offer as generously as this? For all things come from You, and from Your hand we have given You. ¹⁵ For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope. ¹⁶ O Lord our God, all this abundance that we have provided to build You a house for Your holy name, it is from Your hand, and all is Yours.

Everything we have or will ever have comes from the Lord, and the Lord provides for His children through everything. We are sojourners, just temporary residents here on earth.

Psalm 31:23-24 (NASB)

²³ O love the Lord, all you His godly ones!
The Lord preserves the faithful
And fully recompenses the proud doer.
²⁴ Be strong and let your heart take courage,
All you who hope in the Lord.

Our hope comes from the Lord… stay strong through the trials you face and never take your eyes off of Jesus.

Revelation 1:1-3 (NASB)

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

1 The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show to His bond-servants, the things which must soon take place; and He sent and communicated it by His angel to His bond-servant John, ² who testified to the word of God and to the testimony of Jesus Christ, even to all that he saw. ³ Blessed is he who reads and those who hear the words of the prophecy, and heed the things which are written in it; for the time is near.

The “time is near” for Jesus to return. Nope, I don’t know the date or the time. I do know God has promised us the return of His Son to take us to our eternal Home. Things are going to get worse before they get better. Some things are going to get far worse than the most awful horror movie we’ve heard of. There is still good to find in the most awful of times. Look for it. Share it. BE the good for someone else.

And wait patiently.

 

 

Seven times Seventy

Matthew 18:21-22 (NASB)

²¹ Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?” ²² Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

Over the past week or two the subject of ‘forgiveness’ has been put before me by more than one person, and in different settings. I have been holding onto anger over wrongs committed against me by someone and have refused forgiveness.

I WANT to hold on to the anger because it makes me feel justified – but I cannot. I am not justified in anger, even though the things done were wrong on many levels. Thankfully, I have a Heavenly Father who will seek payment for those sins, just as He will seek payment for mine.

At our Bible study last Friday night, a friend of mine was teaching on forgiveness. During some discussion, one person mentioned that when we do not forgive someone, it affects us more than it does them. Most of the time, the unforgiven person does not know or care if they have something held against them. I believe this to be 100% accurate – holding anger in at someone turns that anger into bitterness. Bitterness makes a person unbearable to be around. Bitterness can even affect your health if held on to for an extended period of time.

Seeing through the pain of lies and associated behaviors can cloud the vision of what is right and wrong for us. God tends to put people in our paths who can redirect us when we are unable or unwilling to see the truth for what it is.

I choose to forgive. Some others may not understand my decision and that is okay. That is why it is mine to make. Forgiveness does not mean an invitation back into my life – it only means I forgive your past actions. That is also a choice I have to make, as the person I need to forgive has not made true attempts to change any behaviors leading to this. God does not require us to be gullible when forgiving another. Learning from our mistakes is essential to growth in our Christian lives.

I have my own forgiveness to ask for, from God. For becoming this person these last couple of months, and ignoring what I know to be true. This video and song are amazing. The simplicity of what is being shown and how, in the end, we are made whole by forgiveness, is beautiful.