Lion and Lambs

So many people are concentrating on the destruction of property and land, and while that is important, it draws our minds away from the real human tragedy. Kudos to Uptown Girl for sharing with us a picture of reality. The pictures of the property made my jaw drop, the picture of lives lost, moved me to tears. If in fact the death toll reaches a half million, can any of us get our mind around the magnitude of that? The U.S. has many cities smaller than that. I urge everyone to keep those areas in your prayers, and if you can, consider a donation to the Red Cross.

Did I happen to mention that this big Christmas party is at my house? This is what happens when you buy the biggest house. It works this way for church groups as well, so in the interest of not wasting a good clean house, and in a definite moment of being in my left mind, I volunteered to hostess the singles New Year’s Day open house as well. Why does it take till several days after your mouth says sure, for your brain to realize what you have done? Truly, once all the preparation is done, I really enjoy our gatherings, it is just the pre-event mayhem that makes me question my sanity. (no comment from the peanut gallery!)

Our family’s big get together Christmas celebration is fast approaching. Sure we used to do it before December 25th like everyone else…until we learned a little secret. If you wait until after, all of “Santa’s” candy, decorations, tablecloths, paper goods etc are half price!! At our local drug store if you wait a couple of extra days, everything is 75% off. So you take a little risk with what will be available, we just hit several locations of the same chain and all our work is richly rewarded. How’s that for stewardship. That is a better way to look at it than to think that we are cheapskates. The other thing we do to save money is our gift exchange. It drives me nuts the way people will just buy anything because they feel they HAVE to get everyone something. One family I know is so bad they all exchange gift cards. I told them to just get out their twenty dollar bills and pass them to the left, much easier way to meet the same end. Many years ago, at least fifteen, my family decided and agreed to exchange home-made ornaments. I have a beautiful tree that is FULL of memories and sentiment. There are even several ornaments that were made by the young children in the families which adds to their beauty. Until my two children became older teenagers, it was a family project that we got together to create. Those times in themselves are wonderful memories. My only regret is that the ornaments are not all signed and dated. I am hoping to get started on mine tomorrow night. After all, I wouldn’t want to wait ’til the last minute.

I decided what gift I would give Him this year, He who is the ultimate gift. I have given Him this gift before, but then I became an Indian giver. So once again, I will give Him my television. With back to back Christmas movies every night I am afraid I have become quite hooked again. The thing can really suck your life away, even if you are watching “educational” things. How we learn to deceive ourselves! So once again, off goes the T.V. and on go the devotional tapes, the many quality teaching tapes I have from some of God’s greatest messengers. And now my time that I have been wasting away will also be more profitably spent in the Word. I hope He likes His gift, my time is the best that I can give Him.

Since the boys are at their dads today, I finally found time to do my Christmas cards. Don’t laugh, at least I beat the wise men this year, and that is a big improvement. I figure it is never too late to pass on love and blessings to those who mean the most to us. I wanted to share this card because it is one of my favorites:

Every time a hand reaches out to help another…
that is Christmas.
Every time someone puts anger aside and strives for understanding…
that is Christmas.
Every time people forget their differences and realize their love for each other…
that is Christmas.

I especially like this years card also, but if I post it today, it would ruin it for the friends who are receiving it…so maybe next week!

All my pre-birthday excitement was well deserved. It was ALL it was cracked up to be. Great sharing and laughter with close friends, including my sister, and of course more food than is right for any self respecting female. And no birthday would be complete without lots of warm fuzzies!

Then one of the events that I look most forward to each year is a date with each one of my sons. They are to choose the activity, and it has to be something I would like, and it needs to include food…of course. I told them that I would have to sacrifice the metal concerts. hee hee So today was date number one. My eldest took me to see National Treasure, which I really enjoyed. Imagine a full length adult movie without a token sex scene, and I can’t remember any cursing either. Then the food part…Chipotle. Always good…always too much food. I wonder if I am going to survive this season of feeding frenzies, at least with my same pants!?!? And I thought I could cut back between birthday and Christmas food. Time to raise the white flag I guess.

I think this year I will plan a few unbirthdays as well. That kind of bonding should not be limited to once a year!

Continuing on with my campaign to get rid of this way to shorten CHRISTmas. When people are in a hurry writing, they tend to put an X in place of the CHRIST, which is faster, but look what we are doing, crossing Christ right out of the holiday. Unfortunately, it doesn’t stop at writing. We get in such a hurry with all the plans, the shopping, the decorating, the baking, the wrapping, etc, that we cross Christ right out of the celebration that is supposed to be about His birthday, about His coming to save us. In other words, when we get tangled up in the lights, we miss the worship of the Light of the World. So each time you write the word Christmas, remember, it’s all about Him, and don’t X Him out of it. I don’t think He minds sharing, I think He evens enjoys seeing the Joy we receive from the celebrations. The important thing is when we sing CHRISTmas carols, we need to focus on and worship who they are about, when we give gifts, we need to remember the greatest gift of all, that He and His Father gave to us.

What can I give Him, poor as I am? I was reflecting on the story of the Little Drummer Boy. It’s a song that some don’t like because there is so much repetition, but is one of my favorites because of the message. What can I give Him? What can I do to bring this King, the Messiah, MY Savior pleasure? What would make Him smile this birthday? I wonder, with all the commercialism, does He look forward to His birthday’s as much as I do mine? Do more people get lost in the hoopla, rather than the reason? Or does He look forward to our worship, to new salvations, to the gifts we might bring? Come they told me…Do we still have time to come? Our finest gifts we bring. What can I give Him, I have no gift thats fit to give a King. Will He find our gifts fitting? The drummer boy asked with the monetary meaning of poverty vs. wealth. The wealthy man, who asked Jesus what gift would be fitting to buy his way into heaven, (Matt 19:16-23) had the means to buy almost anything, and yet he did not have the means to bring God pleasure because he loved his money more than Jesus. Shall I play for Him? The drummer boy offered the Christ Child the best of himself, all that he had. What can we offer? What is our best? We can give him our heart, our whole heart, a gift that has no financial bounds. Then he smiled at me. I believe if the story of the drummer boy were real, the baby would have valued that gift of song high above the costly gifts of the kings, for God knew where the sentiment of the gift came from, the boys heart. What do you have to offer this year? With what will you say Happy Birthday to our Lord?

This was on a Christmas card I received one year, and I have treasured it ever since, but I don’t know the author:

What can I give Him poor as I am?
If I were a shepard, I’d give Him a lamb,
If I were a king I would do my part.
What can I give Him?
I’ll give Him my heart.

There are two updates to the ongoing story of little Hayden. The first one is disturbing in that it implicates some form of child abuse as the cause of her brain damage. The second post gives little hope of any recovery or improvement to her condition, but we serve the God who is in the miracle business, so continued prayers on her behalf would still be greatly appreciated by the family.