This year I spent Christmas in Texas with my Dad and my hometown peeps. One friend I went to visit had a beautiful holiday light display in their yard. The brightly colored bulbs covered the trees and lined the driveway. As I drove up the circular drive I heard a strange pop, pop, pop as I ran over ALL of the lights with my car. I guess it was just my subtle way of saying Christmas is over! I went from there to visit another friend (since the last friend I visited was now busy replacing lights) and I stayed right through dinner until I had finished off ALL his Christmas goodies (uninvited of course.) Just my way of saying Christmas is over! Later, I made a special batch of my chocolate peanut butter candy. Before I could package it to give away, I tripped in the kitchen and threw it ALL on the floor. Just my way of saying Christmas is over!
For me, every Christmas is long anticipated and thoroughly enjoyed. I spend it visiting family and friends with gifts, meals and stories. The day after Christmas everything changes. I click off the Christmas music, take down the tree and put away the remnants of the season. I pack away all the external signs of what Christmas means. But these new stories, the bonds of laughter, the prayers and hymns shared stay with me. The spiritual gift continues into a new year with a special peace, like how a candle scent lingers long after its flame is extinguished. Once Christmas is over and all the decorations of the season have been taken down and put away (or, in my case, run over), I want Christ's sweet presence to remain for ALL of my days.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Tuesday, December 22, 2009
How Neighborly Of Me
I have been very busy this week getting ready for Christmas. I came outside yesterday and noticed the Christmas lights my neighbor had carefully placed on our bushes had fallen off. Being the self designated neighborhood police, I meticulously replaced them back to where they were originally. After dark I realized that the neighbor had moved the lights on purpose because some of them were burned out!! Now I'm repositioning them... again...under the watchful eye of a confused neighbor. This situation would not have been nearly as bad if he hadn't been the same neighbor whose grapevine I yanked down because I thought it was a weed..twice. Doing everything in duplicate (that is not my job in the first place) is keeping me very busy.
It is a Biblical Principle to do my best to love my neighbor as myself. It is a Principle of Survival that my neighbor does his best to maintain a safe distance. Maybe I will just love my neighbor period and leave myself out of it. Maybe next year I invite the neighbor over to see if we can decorate the neighborhood together, double the fun and not the efforts. First I want to finish trimming this grapevine.
It is a Biblical Principle to do my best to love my neighbor as myself. It is a Principle of Survival that my neighbor does his best to maintain a safe distance. Maybe I will just love my neighbor period and leave myself out of it. Maybe next year I invite the neighbor over to see if we can decorate the neighborhood together, double the fun and not the efforts. First I want to finish trimming this grapevine.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
It's that time of year again, that season when the jingle of bells and the clicking of credit cards is ringing in my ears as I shop, shop, shop until I drop, drop, drop. I actually love it. It’s The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year is continually looped in my brain as I wander through shopping malls looking for that special gift.
I try to be creative in my selections, which works against me some of the time. Like the year I gave my parents matching rugby shirts. Umm, first of all, who really wants matching clothes...and who really plays rugby…with their spouse? Another year I gave my dad a lamp with a face on it…apparently people don’t like to be stared at by their own furniture first thing in the morning! Why my family still speaks to me is a mystery. I should have taken the hint when they said; “We don’t really need anything unique this year." But no, I don’t take hints. I just keep going like some cranked-up elf on the ultimate quest to find that perfect present. I haven’t found it yet but I am definitely starting to exhaust the possibilities of what is NOT the perfect gift. And I won’t stop, stop, stop until I drop, drop, drop.
I’m not the only one confused by the gifting. Like when an artsy-craftsy person gave me a Santa head made out of a Clorox bottle. Okay...nice, I’ll keep it right next to... where I keep the Clorox! It certainly is…cheerful…with those jiggly eyes that roll around. Someone spent their valuable time making it and I can only hope they had fun doing it. They do get extra points for recycling… which I plan to do as well: Dad’s lamp will have a friend to look at.
Giving is a sweet way to show appreciation, but the Christmas season is so much more than that. What truly makes the holidays special to me is when I hear people freely singing praises to Jesus and telling the wonder of His birth. Intentional or not, it is amazing to hear strangers wishing strangers a "Merry Christmas", speaking the name of the Savior in the spirit of love and giving. Even those who seek to take Christ out of Christmas via political correctness gone astray cannot completely eliminate the real reason for the season. Jesus is still the gift and what we give Him in return is to remember others in our lives with love and appreciation, maybe not with gifts that can stare back at us but with simple gestures that show we care. To me, that’s what makes it the most wonderful time of the year.
I try to be creative in my selections, which works against me some of the time. Like the year I gave my parents matching rugby shirts. Umm, first of all, who really wants matching clothes...and who really plays rugby…with their spouse? Another year I gave my dad a lamp with a face on it…apparently people don’t like to be stared at by their own furniture first thing in the morning! Why my family still speaks to me is a mystery. I should have taken the hint when they said; “We don’t really need anything unique this year." But no, I don’t take hints. I just keep going like some cranked-up elf on the ultimate quest to find that perfect present. I haven’t found it yet but I am definitely starting to exhaust the possibilities of what is NOT the perfect gift. And I won’t stop, stop, stop until I drop, drop, drop.
I’m not the only one confused by the gifting. Like when an artsy-craftsy person gave me a Santa head made out of a Clorox bottle. Okay...nice, I’ll keep it right next to... where I keep the Clorox! It certainly is…cheerful…with those jiggly eyes that roll around. Someone spent their valuable time making it and I can only hope they had fun doing it. They do get extra points for recycling… which I plan to do as well: Dad’s lamp will have a friend to look at.
Giving is a sweet way to show appreciation, but the Christmas season is so much more than that. What truly makes the holidays special to me is when I hear people freely singing praises to Jesus and telling the wonder of His birth. Intentional or not, it is amazing to hear strangers wishing strangers a "Merry Christmas", speaking the name of the Savior in the spirit of love and giving. Even those who seek to take Christ out of Christmas via political correctness gone astray cannot completely eliminate the real reason for the season. Jesus is still the gift and what we give Him in return is to remember others in our lives with love and appreciation, maybe not with gifts that can stare back at us but with simple gestures that show we care. To me, that’s what makes it the most wonderful time of the year.
Monday, December 7, 2009
Might As Well Face It
My sister Sheri and I made our annual trip to the beach this Thanksgiving. It's the best time of year for me to go when the autumn sun is not so intense and there is the least amount of glare off my pale skin. Even in the Fall, I have to slather up in a white pasty mask of 60 spf sunscreen just to keep from blistering my ivory complexion. Now when I get a look (some might call it an incredulous stare), I can tell people are trying to sort out why an Irish-looking gal is wearing that Japanese Kabuki makeup…like some mime at the beach. Might as well face it, I'm not quite the bathing beauty I see in the magazines.
Sheri and I made our traditional chicken & dressing casserole for the big day, along with green beans, fruit salad, cranberry sauce and hot rolls. Way too much food for two people, but what's a girl gonna do? After all, Thanksgiving only comes once a year and I measure my gratitude by the pound. As I loaded up my plate I made my first helping STUPID high. I just looked at my sister and said, “Might as well face it” and I put the amount on my plate that I was really going to eat. Yep, I actually ate it all and then went back for more, repeating my new catch phrase with each course like a disclaimer. Stupid high extra dressing: Might as well face it. Stupid high dessert: Might as well face it. Stupid high coffee: Might as well face it. Time for a nap, might as well take that stuffed face to the pillow for awhile.
When I woke up, I decided I might as well NOT face the fact that the clothes I was wearing before the nap now no longer fit. Since it was Thanksgiving, I gave special thanks for the man who invented elastic. I thought I could take my Kabuki self to the beach and walk it off…well maybe if I walked for 16 hours..in a sauna belt: I'm not sure if my sister could even have faced that.
So, is there a spiritual message in all this stuffing and dressing? I’ll try to serve one up. Like how often I fill my plate stupid high with things I don’t really need and drown in the excess. How often I load heaven up more with prayers of help than with words of thanksgiving. Might as well face it, the Lord is always faithful to give me what I need when I need it, and in my experience, not much before then either. He saves me from myself and how I am thankful for that. Well, that and elastic.
Sheri and I made our traditional chicken & dressing casserole for the big day, along with green beans, fruit salad, cranberry sauce and hot rolls. Way too much food for two people, but what's a girl gonna do? After all, Thanksgiving only comes once a year and I measure my gratitude by the pound. As I loaded up my plate I made my first helping STUPID high. I just looked at my sister and said, “Might as well face it” and I put the amount on my plate that I was really going to eat. Yep, I actually ate it all and then went back for more, repeating my new catch phrase with each course like a disclaimer. Stupid high extra dressing: Might as well face it. Stupid high dessert: Might as well face it. Stupid high coffee: Might as well face it. Time for a nap, might as well take that stuffed face to the pillow for awhile.
When I woke up, I decided I might as well NOT face the fact that the clothes I was wearing before the nap now no longer fit. Since it was Thanksgiving, I gave special thanks for the man who invented elastic. I thought I could take my Kabuki self to the beach and walk it off…well maybe if I walked for 16 hours..in a sauna belt: I'm not sure if my sister could even have faced that.
So, is there a spiritual message in all this stuffing and dressing? I’ll try to serve one up. Like how often I fill my plate stupid high with things I don’t really need and drown in the excess. How often I load heaven up more with prayers of help than with words of thanksgiving. Might as well face it, the Lord is always faithful to give me what I need when I need it, and in my experience, not much before then either. He saves me from myself and how I am thankful for that. Well, that and elastic.
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