Merry Christmas!
Well, I know I am late with this wish for everyone! But the season is not yet over. We still have the New Year! So HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
Hubby decided that we would go to the Black Hills, SD for Christmas. So I got two (2) nites in a nice Super 8 motel with a pool and hot tub and continetal breakfast. I did not have to cook or clean or drive. We tootled around the Hills for Christmas Day enjoying the grand Beauty that our God has created for our enjoyment and wonder. We did have to drive all the way into Rapid City for a place to eat on Christmas. We found a wonderful restuarant open called the Hunan Buffet on rt 16. Very nice atmosphere and decor and very good food. Very busy too!
We did not go to church but did invite Jesus to help celebrate the day with us. Since we had a wonderfully peaceful day I feel that Jesus did just as we asked. I hope that He enjoyed seeing the Creation through our eyes. I think I was influenced in asking Jesus along by a song played on our local Christian radio station KNWC. It was a letter from Jesus about not being invited to the parties or celebrations given because of HIS Birthday. About being left outside and unwanted. Hmmm it made me think. Why wouldn't we invite HIM to celebrations to do with HIS Birthday. Selfishness was the first thought. Commercialism, agnosticism, other religions,etc.
On Soap Box: I think that this holiday has been wayyyy to commercialized. It has lost the original purpose of the day being chosen; ie: to get the new Christians away from the Pagan celebrations. Seems to me that we are back to the Pagan celebrations anyway and still leaving The Lord Jesus out! The evil one still is coming between Jesus and His Church! I love the Holidays and the idea of celebrating Jesus' birthday but what does Santa Claus and Christmas Trees and lots of other things have to do with it??? I can see decorating with lights as Jesus is the LIGHT of the World. Maybe trees too as Jesus is the Tree of Life but Santa Claus was just a man who did a good deed in giving to others. Now he is a god to all our little children who write him letters and ask for everything they want. He is celebrated in parades and pictures and movies. Jesus said "Let all the little children come to Me." But now they go to Santa instead and sit on his lap and whisper their secret wishes in his ear when they should be doing that with Jesus! The tradition of gift giving that he brought is good but it has gotten way out of hand.
Now it is not so much a wish to give but a 'have to give' tradition. We are pressured from all directions to buy, buy, buy! 'No one will be happy unless they have this or that latest thing.' Bullcrap! We choose to be happy or not. Things will not make us any more happy and sometimes make us more Unhappy. I think I had a happier time the way we spent the holiday than most other years of doing the 'traditional' thing.
So what shall we DO about this. Maybe more people should skip the 'gift' thing other than something tiny and meaningful and do something with Jesus. Send someone on a trip that could not otherwise afford it. Make clothes for homeless and give them out. Do housework for some senior who can't do their own so well anymore. There are so many things to DO for people than just giving them the Latest Thing. Sometimes with your kids just to tell them NO is a gift. Do something as a family or couple that makes the time together memorable. Avoid all the buying frenzy! Save up for a very nice holiday instead of getting in debt to the credit card companies. They are the ones benefitting not you! Look around your area of the world for God's handiwork. It is alllll around you! I look at a snowflake or a blade of grass and think in Awe that My God Has Made That and He did it for Me. Is that not the Greatest gift. And even Greater is that He sent His Son to Earth to Pay My Debt that I owed for MY Sins. I earned that death not Him. Yet He paid it! Most Awesome! Off soapbox.
Well I did warn you in my bio that I am a Christian and have opinions! Agree or disagree that is your right and I will stand by that right too.
I hope that all are safe and well through the Holidays and celebrate them with meaning. Not just mindlessly following traditions or advertizing scams.
My brother got hold of us that his son and daughter had an auto accident that broke both axles on the vehicle and has pretty much totaled the car! The kid were ok. Like a miracle they only had a few bruises and scrapes. The next day they went siteseeing with the rest of the family that had gathered together. So thankful that they are fine!!!
Eve
Hubby decided that we would go to the Black Hills, SD for Christmas. So I got two (2) nites in a nice Super 8 motel with a pool and hot tub and continetal breakfast. I did not have to cook or clean or drive. We tootled around the Hills for Christmas Day enjoying the grand Beauty that our God has created for our enjoyment and wonder. We did have to drive all the way into Rapid City for a place to eat on Christmas. We found a wonderful restuarant open called the Hunan Buffet on rt 16. Very nice atmosphere and decor and very good food. Very busy too!
We did not go to church but did invite Jesus to help celebrate the day with us. Since we had a wonderfully peaceful day I feel that Jesus did just as we asked. I hope that He enjoyed seeing the Creation through our eyes. I think I was influenced in asking Jesus along by a song played on our local Christian radio station KNWC. It was a letter from Jesus about not being invited to the parties or celebrations given because of HIS Birthday. About being left outside and unwanted. Hmmm it made me think. Why wouldn't we invite HIM to celebrations to do with HIS Birthday. Selfishness was the first thought. Commercialism, agnosticism, other religions,etc.
On Soap Box: I think that this holiday has been wayyyy to commercialized. It has lost the original purpose of the day being chosen; ie: to get the new Christians away from the Pagan celebrations. Seems to me that we are back to the Pagan celebrations anyway and still leaving The Lord Jesus out! The evil one still is coming between Jesus and His Church! I love the Holidays and the idea of celebrating Jesus' birthday but what does Santa Claus and Christmas Trees and lots of other things have to do with it??? I can see decorating with lights as Jesus is the LIGHT of the World. Maybe trees too as Jesus is the Tree of Life but Santa Claus was just a man who did a good deed in giving to others. Now he is a god to all our little children who write him letters and ask for everything they want. He is celebrated in parades and pictures and movies. Jesus said "Let all the little children come to Me." But now they go to Santa instead and sit on his lap and whisper their secret wishes in his ear when they should be doing that with Jesus! The tradition of gift giving that he brought is good but it has gotten way out of hand.
Now it is not so much a wish to give but a 'have to give' tradition. We are pressured from all directions to buy, buy, buy! 'No one will be happy unless they have this or that latest thing.' Bullcrap! We choose to be happy or not. Things will not make us any more happy and sometimes make us more Unhappy. I think I had a happier time the way we spent the holiday than most other years of doing the 'traditional' thing.
So what shall we DO about this. Maybe more people should skip the 'gift' thing other than something tiny and meaningful and do something with Jesus. Send someone on a trip that could not otherwise afford it. Make clothes for homeless and give them out. Do housework for some senior who can't do their own so well anymore. There are so many things to DO for people than just giving them the Latest Thing. Sometimes with your kids just to tell them NO is a gift. Do something as a family or couple that makes the time together memorable. Avoid all the buying frenzy! Save up for a very nice holiday instead of getting in debt to the credit card companies. They are the ones benefitting not you! Look around your area of the world for God's handiwork. It is alllll around you! I look at a snowflake or a blade of grass and think in Awe that My God Has Made That and He did it for Me. Is that not the Greatest gift. And even Greater is that He sent His Son to Earth to Pay My Debt that I owed for MY Sins. I earned that death not Him. Yet He paid it! Most Awesome! Off soapbox.
Well I did warn you in my bio that I am a Christian and have opinions! Agree or disagree that is your right and I will stand by that right too.
I hope that all are safe and well through the Holidays and celebrate them with meaning. Not just mindlessly following traditions or advertizing scams.
My brother got hold of us that his son and daughter had an auto accident that broke both axles on the vehicle and has pretty much totaled the car! The kid were ok. Like a miracle they only had a few bruises and scrapes. The next day they went siteseeing with the rest of the family that had gathered together. So thankful that they are fine!!!
Eve
posted by Eve @ Wednesday, December 28, 2005
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