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Revisiting the Christmas Movies

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It’s that time again. By that, I mean it’s time to dust off the Christmas movies and watch them all again. For some reason, it doesn’t feel right to watch them before Thanksgiving, but starting at 12:01 am I can officially start. Not that I ever start at 12:01 am. I’m just saying I could.

I have my list of annual must-see Christmas movies and I have those that I’d like to watch but the world won’t end if I don’t get around to those.

So far, I’ve seen Elf, The Polar Express, and The Santa Clause, so it’s a good start.

I prefer the older black-and-white movies like the ones they show on TCM, like It’s a Wonderful Life, The Bishop’s Wife, Christmas in Connecticut, and A Holiday Affair. Not to say that I don’t like the old color movies like White Christmas. I like ’em all.

I have all the major television specials like A Charlie Brown Christmas and all the Rankin-Bass classics. Hopefully, I can get around to watching those this year because they always leave me feeling warm and fuzzy inside. Kinda like the tryptophan effect without actually consuming all those turkey calories.

I hope you have your favorites, too. I hope you have your family traditions for Christmas. Most of all, I hope you remember that Christmas isn’t really about presents and wrapping and decorations or even those great old movies. Christmas is about the child born in a stable and laid in a manger almost 2,000 years ago. That is what Christmas is truly all about.

 

Thanksgiving for the Other 364 Days

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It’s Thanksgiving. I think I ate my weight in turkey, dressing, and all of the other usual Thanksgiving food groups. As I write this, I am in a semi-food coma, complete with tryptophan-induced euphoria. Life is good.

I would be amiss if I didn’t take time to list what I’m thankful for on this day of all days, so here goes:

1) I’m thankful for the noble sacrifice so many turkeys made so that I could eat my weight in deliciousness and probably have to go up a size or two in pants.

2) I’m thankful for having the day off from work so I could revel in my tryptophan high and slip into my usual food coma. Plus, I seriously doubt I would have been able to accomplish anything productive after stuffing my face with with much good food.

3) I’m thankful for all the Thanksgiving-themed episodes of Friends they’ve been showing on TV Land, especially the one with Joey’s thanksgiving pants.

4) I’m thankful that my afore-mentioned vanilla pumpkin pie cheesecake (see the previous blog) turned out to be not only edible, but quite tasty. One might even say scrumptious.

5) I’m thankful that I got to see all my family gathered together for at least one more year. If I got nothing else for the rest of the year, that alone would have been worth it.

That’s my list for Thanksgiving Day 2014.

I Made This!

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I made a vanilla pumpkin pie cheesecake today. With my own hands, no less!

It even has layers. Layers, people!

I only say all this to tell you that you can do more than you think you can sometimes.

I didn’t say that if you put your mind to it, you can do anything. As hard as I try and as bad as I want it, I will never be able to dunk on a regulation basketball goal. Never. Even if I wear Michael Jordan’s Air Nikes.

I can however be all that God meant for me to be when He made me. I can fulfill the purposes He had in mind when He dreamed me up in His infinite mind.

That in my mind is way better.

Oh, and pictures to come on this spectacular (hopefully) cheesecake concoction.

 

My Commentary on Current Events

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“Returning violence for violence multiplies violence, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars… Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that” (Martin Luther King Jr.).

I admit it. I don’t really keep up with the news. I confess that I don’t really know much about the case involving Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO. I’m not going to pretend to know what happened and make a snap judgment, as I see so many doing.

I will say this. Violence only begets more violence. I don’t see how burning down businesses helps anyone. I truly don’t understand how burning down a church is anything but senseless terrorism.

I know that Martin Luther King, Jr. once said that hate only breeds more hate, and that you can’t fight hate with more hate but with love. I know I’d rather see more forgiveness and less retaliation in people’s vocabulary.

I can’t say what I would have done had it been my son or daughter who was killed. I honestly don’t know. I hope I would pray that cooler heads would prevail and that no one else would have to go through the agony of loss.

I know this. Love wins. Ultimately, the love of God will prevail. It’s not wishful thinking, but a promise. I have read the last chapter of the Book and I know how it ends. Love wins.

 

 

Thanksliving

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thankful

There truly is always something to be thankful for. Even on Mondays.

When you stop looking at what’s wrong with your life, what you don’t have, and start counting your blessings and finding reasons to be thankful, it changes your outlook. It changes you.

I like myself better when I live out of gratitude instead of comparison or envy.

As much as I look forward to all the food on Thanksgiving, that’s not the best part. It’s not what’s on the table that matters nearly as much as who’s around the table. And besides, people don’t go straight to my hips.

This year, I’ve decided to not just celebrate Thanksgiving, but also Thanksliving, which is a deliberate act of living out of a sense of gratitude.

As one of my new favorite writers says, eucharisteo (that is living out of thanksgiving and joy) always precedes the miracle. I hope so. Still, even without the miracle, gratitude and thanksgiving are the best ways to live.

“The very quality of your life, whether you love it or hate it, is based upon how thankful you are toward God. It is one’s attitude that determines whether life unfolds into a place of blessedness or wretchedness. Indeed, looking at the same rose bush, some people complain that the roses have thorns while others rejoice that some thorns come with roses. It all depends on your perspective . . . .

It does not matter what your circumstances are; the instant you begin to thank God, even though your situation has not changed, you begin to change. The key that unlocks the gates of heaven is a thankful heart. Entrance into the courts of God comes as you simply begin to praise the Lord”(Francis Frangipane).

 

‘Tis The Season . . . Almost

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Thanksgiving is 4 days away. 4 days, people!

I have a hard time comprehending that, even though I have a short work week coming up.

After that comes the Christmas season and Advent and all things tinsel.

I hope that I won’t get caught up in all the commercial hype and get carried away by all the glitter, but remember that Christmas is about the arrival of the Christ child over 2,000 years ago.

I hope I will instead prepare my heart to receive the infant Jesus and remember that it really is His birthday we’re celebrating.

I hope I won’t get so caught up in the Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays debate that I forget that this Christmas spirit isn’t about one day out of the year, but about all the days of the year. I personally would rather have someone who says “Happy holidays” and is kind and considerate as opposed to someone who says “Merry Christmas” and is rude and impatient.

I’m looking forward to reading my Advent devotionals and seeing the candles lit and being reminded again that Christmas is really about the birth of Hope.

Plus, I’m looking forward to wearing my brand-new tacky Christmas sweater.

 

Choices

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“The Teacher explains our power to choose:

‘There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened’” (C. S. Lewis).

I agree. I do think that choices are important. On a side note, it does seem to me that sometimes people put as much consideration into choosing a marriage partner as they do in choosing a phone case or a color scheme for their kitchens. Sometimes less. But that is another topic for another day.

Choices do matter. Failure to make a choice is a choice.

The verse in Deuteronomy essentially says that the choice is between life and death, so choose life. Joshua tells the rest of the Israelites to choose whom they will serve, whether it be the gods of the other peoples or God. He then closes with these words, “But as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord.”

I’ll admit I don’t fully understand the whole sovereignty of God vs. man’s responsibility. I won’t even attempt to address that. But I will say that the choice is still there. I do believe that Jesus never turns away anyone who truly wants to find Him and never abandons those who follow after Him with all their hearts. Jesus is still worth whatever the cost.

 

Ahhhh, The Weekend

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Part of me is always glad to see Friday. For me, Friday equals sleeping in the next day. And I do so love my sleep. Especially when Lucy the Wonder Kitty curls up on the pillow next to mine and purrs herself to sleep. I like that.

But I’m beginning to realize that every day that I wake up is a good day. Every day that I live through is a good day. Even Mondays.

The verse says that this is the day the Lord has made and to rejoice and be glad in it. That was the favorite verse of one of my old pastors, Bro. Livy L. Cope, and I still think of him whenever I hear or read this verse. In fact, I can almost see him as he used to stand behind the pulpit and proclaim that verse over us.

There’s a reason he liked the verse so much. It’s a reminder that you and I won’t find God in our past if all we do is relive glory days and bemoan missed chances and past mistakes. We won’t find Him in the future, either, if all we’re about is obsessing about possible doomsday scenarios and wondering about potential outcomes to all our problems.

God is here in the present. God is waiting for us, here and now, ready to speak to us and ready to show us all the blessings that He has for us right now. Blessings we will miss if we’re too busy living in either the past or the future. Most often, these will be the blessings that we can only see if we look with eyes of gratitude and joy.

True joy comes in seizing the moment, doing that carpe diem thing. True joy comes from being grateful for what you have and who you have.

But there’s still something special about Fridays. And sleeping in.

Some Thoughts on Waiting

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Tonight’s guest blogger is Henri Nouwen. I found some thoughts of his on the process of waiting that I thought I’d share with all my loyal readers out there. Here’s one.

“Waiting is essential to the spiritual life. But waiting as a disciple of Jesus is not an empty waiting. It is a waiting with a promise in our hearts that makes already present what we are waiting for. We wait during Advent for the birth of Jesus. We wait after Easter for the coming of the Spirit, and after the ascension of Jesus we wait for his coming again in glory. We are always waiting, but it is a waiting in the conviction that we have already seen God’s footsteps.

Waiting for God is an active, alert – yes, joyful – waiting. As we wait we remember him for whom we are waiting, and as we remember him we create a community ready to welcome him when he comes.”

Waiting isn’t passive. It’s actively seeking to prepare for the next step, the next part of God’s plan for you. It’s preparing your fields to receive the coming rain, to borrow a very good illustration from the movie Facing the Giants.

Here’s another good quote about actively waiting with patience:

“How do we wait for God? We wait with patience. But patience does not mean passivity. Waiting patiently is not like waiting for the bus to come, the rain to stop, or the sun to rise. It is an active waiting in which we live the present moment to the full in order to find there the signs of the One we are waiting for.

The word patience comes from the Latin verb patior which means ‘to suffer.’ Waiting patiently is suffering through the present moment, tasting it to the full, and letting the seeds that are sown in the ground on which we stand grow into strong plants. Waiting patiently always means paying attention to what is happening right before our eyes and seeing there the first rays of God’s glorious coming.”

That Peaceful Easy Feeling

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Here’s something that I learned yet again. Or you could say I was reminded yet again. Peace is not a feeling. At least not primarily.

Many times, people (including me) think of peace as the kind of calm similar to when you finish eating your favorite meal and you’re full, but not too full.

But that’s not peace. At least I don’t think so.

I think peace is the assurance that the outcome is in God’s hands. It’s knowing the future that God promised is so certain that you live as though it were already present.

Peace isn’t a zen-like absence of any worry or doubt. Peace can exist in the midst of worry and doubt, because real peace isn’t the absence of mayhem but the presence of Jesus with you in the midst of that mayhem. It’s not knowing how everything will work out, but knowing with confidence that it will.

It may sound trite, but it’s true. Peace isn’t a feeling or a state of mind. Peace is a person– Jesus. He truly is the Prince of Peace.

That’s where I am. I’m trying not to equate peace with contented cows in a pasture. Sometimes, it looks that way, sometimes not. I just know that for me, peace is wherever Jesus is, and if I’m with Jesus, I’ll have true peace.