Spirit of Christmas

Christmas. The holiday of holidays. Some people spend a month in preparation for this one day. It can be quite hectic. Bake cookies, buy presents, wrap presents, attend parties, send cards, attend church. They reason, it's all is in the spirit of Christmas.

What exactly is the spirit of Christmas? Pondering this, I came up with several suggestions of what it should mean when mentioning the spirit of Christmas:

• Bake cookies - Sharing the bounty that God gives us is something we can do all year round not just with cookies at Christmas.
• Choose a gift - There is a sense of fulfillment when you pick out a special gift for someone. God picked out a special gift for each of us when He gave us salvation through Jesus Christ. And He gave us this gift because He wanted to; not because He had to.
• Wrap the gift - There is also fulfillment in wrapping the gift so that the person will desire to open it. Jesus spent several years in ministry, as recorded in the gospels, teaching, healing, and preparing His disciples. He wanted to make sure that we would be able to know who He was and what He did for us. He wanted to ensure that we could recognize the gift He had for us and that we would desire to have it.
• Attend parties - God created us to be social. He saw that none of the animals in Eden was fit for companionship for Adam. So He created Eve.   God created them to socialize with Him and each other.
• Send cards - What a wonderful way to encourage others but it doesn't have to just be at Christmas. God wants us to share the good news about Jesus all of the time not just at Christmas.
• Attend church - Is there a better way to spend Christmas than to worship God at church? God desires for us to seek Him daily, not just once a year. 

The many blessings that God gives us are not just at Christmas. He watches over us and cares for us daily. He even has the very hairs on our heads numbered!

So I challenge you not to have the spirit of Christmas but, the Spirit of God everyday. God is love and He wants us to know that love and to share it. That is something we can do everyday!

God Bless and Merry Christmas!

The Perfect Gift

Whew!! Trying to avoid the crazy hustle and bustle of the busy holiday season can be difficult. During some last minute holiday preparations, I came across this empty gift jar. At one time it held delicious chocolates; they didn't last long!!

Most people have received gifts like this one. You know, the kind that are a nice gesture from someone you didn't really expect would give you a Christmas present.

Our materialistic society leads us to believe that a gift is not only necessary, but it must be reciprocated. Even though I appreciate the gesture, I would rather spend time visiting with the gift giver over a cup of tea or during a walk.

Giving of yourself is the best gift anyone could give.

In fact, Jesus modeled this same concept when He came to Earth: to spend time with man, to teach man all about love and His triune divinity, to bear the guilt of all of mankind on His shoulders, and to die a horrible death so that each person who believes Jesus is Lord might be saved.

So the next time you are searching for the perfect gift, think about the wonderful gift described by the Apostle John and remember the best gift comes from the heart filled with love.

A Mother's Love

 A mother's love can never be vanquished

 for it is sustained by a lifetime of special memories that rekindle the warmth in her heart.

The joyous trepidation of the first time she cradled him in her arms.
The sense of purpose she gained from soothing his newborn cries. 
The courageous heart she mustered to chase away his night time fears.
The squeamish excitement of holding the worm he dug up to show her.
The terror she felt when he momentarily slipped out of her sight in a crowded place.
The anticipation of reading his favorite bedtime story again.
The exhilaration from the first bouquet of dandelions he picked for her.
The uncertainty of the first time she let him ride away on his bike.

These fleeting moments are a gift from God. A treasure stored up over a lifetime in a mother's heart. For a mother's love is constant and unconditional.  

A mother's love is forever.

The Eyes Have It

I started off this week feeling very alone. It all started Monday morning when I woke up only to the reality that Yep, today is Monday and my hubby is gone off to work out of town for the next 5 days. You would think that after 2 years, I would have adjusted to this situation. I thought about all of the things that I miss about him: his kind and loving eyes, his goofy sense of humor, his commitment to trying to improve our family life, his warm and loving embrace. Then, a thought came to me.

Well yeah.... of course you miss him that much and more.... you miss him cuz he is part of you.... you two were meant to be.

Then I began to think about the first couple that God so divinely matched. The book of Genesis not only tells the story of creation, but it tells of the significance of the first couple's relationship,  "and they become one flesh".

Wow, what an eye opener for me.... you see this is not the first time that my beloved and I have been forced to live apart. Funny though, the separation early in our relationship caused more emotional distance between us than the actual miles that separated us. Now, after more than 20 years, the distance has made us realize all the more how much we love each other.

I finally see us for who we are and (even more important) why God brought the two of us together. The road we have taken through life has had many twists and turns, quite a few potholes, and even some construction detours. The difference now is that we have become one. It doesn't matter whether we travel together or temporarily apart, we are heading to the same place. 

When we met, one of the first things that drew me toward my hubby was the kindness in his eyes. Now when I look into my hubby's eyes, I see all of the laughter and tears, joy and sorrow, love and understanding that we have shared over the years. When I look into his eyes, I can see that we see each other for who and what we are. We are one and that's what God wanted.

I thank God for my hubby. I will never grow tired of gazing into his loving eyes.

The Gift of Solace

My preoccupation with this place has become quite dialectic.
Snow, snow, snow... winter seems so long especially when a major snowstorm drops another foot of snow in the end of February. This makes me dream of longer, warmer days.... which makes me think of this place.

Then, I feel guilty for looking forward to going there because of a recent tragedy... it troubles my thoughts ... my heart goes out to those involved.

BUT, this bridge is a gateway to one of my favorite spots in the world... a place characterized by: the soothing sounds of the babbling creek, the welcoming splashes of colorful wildflowers, and the beckoning call of a rugged trail of soil, roots, and rocks.... this place of solace... somewhere to go to feel closer to God.

So, I reason that God knows the pain and struggles that every person endures.... He understands when no one else can because He loves us dearly... so much that He gave His one and only Son.

The point I make is that God is kind and loving. He knows and understands the struggles we face. He allows people and situations in our lives so that we can learn. So just like Paul encouraged the Galatians, I will pray that God may enable me to fulfill every good deed prompted by faith.

And... from now on, whenever I go to my favorite place, I will feel encouraged... I will say a prayer for that family and for any others that I know who need encouragement as well.

Til Death Do Us Part

This colorful silhouette emanates the love of this newlywed couple. Whenever I see a couple made for each other like these two, it makes me so thankful that we have a loving God who knew exactly what He was doing when He created man and woman. It also causes me to ponder the meaning of life and love. Jesus actually says quite a lot about the subject in Matthew 19:3-12 where He talks about marriage, sexuality, and divorce.
I became familiar with this passage years ago when I was wrestling with the guilt of a failed first marriage. God knew long before I even got married that my marriage wouldn't last. This is one of the reasons why Jesus suffered on my account. Many years later, God has blessed me with a longstanding marriage to a man I definitely do not deserve. Am I grateful? You bet! Do I have guilty feelings over the past? Nope, not anymore because I know that God has forgiven me for all of my mistakes. As God promises in Romans 8, there is no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.