Week Three of Advent: JOY, to the World

Luke 1:46-47, 49 KJV “And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord, And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour. For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.”

Joy To The World!

We would like to think that during the Christmas season, joy would be a given. You’d go shopping for the holiday meals that you’ll prepare for the family, you’ll run into friends from church or school, exchange pleasantries and all will be right with the world. That is until the cashier goes to the intercom and announces over the loudspeaker “PRICE CHECK!” 

Suddenly your joyful experience takes a turn. The twenty people in line behind you all begin rolling their eyes, throwing their arms in the air, and grumbling about the stores' cashiers and service. Complaining along with anger has now overshadowed the season all because the stamp of a price fell off your top-of-the-line ham you were purchasing.

“Excuse me,” you whisper, “Can’t you price check in that little book of prices you have there?”

Through snapping gum the cashier barks, “No ma’am, these are new and not in the books yet.” She blows a bubble and it pops as if to say ‘this is all your fault for wanting to have a joyful experience’.

Now you yourself are becoming disgruntled. You just wanted to be prepared for when the family came rushing through the door with their red noses, gifts in hand and smiles on their faces on Christmas day. Looking back at the line behind you, there certainly is no smiles on those faces. The price arrives via a manager who has to personally tap in the code and she now decides to program the cash register for others who might be buying the same ham. 

By now the people are becoming vocal, all because you wanted a ham and a joyful experience on Christmas day. This is not Christmas day so you ever so slightly feel the anxiousness growing inside and are a bit angry that this has to happen NOW, not to the lady or man behind you but to you on your joyful shopping excursion. 

“Can we move it along now?” You tried not to sound snarky but the manager gave you a sword through the heart look.

“You’re the one who bought the ham lady,” she snapped back, obviously overworked and underpaid.

The cashier finished up, placed all your bags in the cart, now for the credit card to go through. A problem with the computer once again has the line grumbling and storming off to another crowded register while some stayed, unaffected by all of the bitterness going on around them. There they are you thought, the ones who really know what the joy of the season means.

The transaction finally goes through and you try to salvage some joy in the whole event after the cashier says, “Thank you and have a nice day. NEXT.” 

“Merry Christmas,” you say and it was as if you spit out a vulgar foreign language. 

“I don’t celebrate Christmas, NEXT!” She was now trying to shoo you out of her lane. Now it was YOU who were offended. What did she mean she doesn’t celebrate Christmas, how can someone NOT celebrate Christmas? You look around the store at all the flashing lights, filled to the brim shopping carts, kids running and screaming, and people with stress running down their faces. There was no joy in this flurry of expedient shopping. Joy was not here in the hustle and bustle of a crowded store with people last-minute Christmas shopping and missing the actual joy in what Christmas is all about.

Being aroused from your daydreaming, the young lady behind you with a small smiling child in the seat of the shopping cart with a few tv dinners and some baby food says, “Excuse me, ma’am,” as she tries to go around you, the daydreamer. 

You look at her. Her dark hair unkempt and a little scraggly, her coat weathered and worn. The smiling child with his puffy coat and stocking feet dangling through the holes looks at you with the brimming eyes of innocence.

You ask her, “Why did you stay in line with those few things in your cart?”

“I’m in no hurry,” she says, “I have food for another week, my son is happy, I have a roof over my head and shoes on my feet. There’s no reason to be hurried. He’s coming whether they like it or not.” She again tries to go around you.

You stop her. “Miss, I’d like to give you my cart full of food, is that okay?”

Tears brimmed her wide brown eyes, “Ma’am? You don’t have to...,” she went on to say tears now overflowing her eyes as you put your cart full of enough food for a family of eight in her hands.

You begin putting her little bit of food in your cart and offer to walk her to her car. She thanks you over and over again, placing her giggling child in your full cart. “God Bless you ma’am, God bless you, and Merry Christmas.” 

You begin daydreaming again amid the hustle and bustle realizing at that moment that finding joy in the season isn’t about the hurriedness, it isn’t about the blinking lights or the numerous expensive price tags on the gifts under the tree, joy isn’t even about the perfect family meal. Joy is about being content with what you have at that very moment, a roof over your head and shoes on your feet. And you know why? In a politically correct world trying to change CHRISTmas? HE IS COMING whether they like it or not! 

Startled by a bump in the now empty cart from a rushed shopper, you look for the young lady you gifted. She was nowhere to be found. Your face reddened and you smile feeling a rush of joy filling your heart once again knowing deep down, the reason for the season. He IS coming, whether they like it or not! 

Merry Christmas to ALL. May you find JOY in YOUR heart this Christmas season! 

Hebrews 13:2 (KJV) “Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares.”

Merry Christmas Friends!

Luke 11:13 “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children: how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?”

My Spiritual Family: Merry Christmas

Oh come all ye faithful and lend an ear

To the sounds of the season with joyous cheer

People are laughing, the children playing

The angels are dancing, singing and praying.

Look at the sky see the blazing sun

Christmas day is for the unearthly One.

The Spirit of Him resides in us all

It’s up to us to run with the ball.

It is our choice to give or receive

The source that causes all to believe

Love is the element that breeds within

The true Light aglow of all that has been.

Awaken on Christmas understanding the reason

Of all that holds hope this holiday season.

My Spiritual family a blessing from above

Rained down on me in a show of true Love.

To my family of virtual friends, you have filled me this year with the utmost support and to YOU I wish a most blessed Christmas Day. My prayers will shower over you this Christmas season as the only gift I have to give. I love you all!

God Bless you all! 

Matt. 2:11 “And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh.”

Honor Thy Mother

Ex. 20:12 "Honour thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee."

Honor Thy Mother

This weekend coming up is Mother’s Day. I don’t usually celebrate these days but Mother’s Day has some importance since mother’s all over the world will be celebrated for giving birth and being a mother. Think about it, you would not be here without your mother.

Like any other inquisitive person I had to find out why we celebrate mother’s day in the first place. I was wrong in my assumption that we celebrated the day because we were celebrating Mary giving birth to Jesus or some other religious aspect. I learned something new today and want to share what I learned with you.

Info from my google feed:

Where does Mother’Day come from?

It is celebrated on different days across the world but is generally observed between April and May in the northern hemisphere. The modern holiday of Mother's Day was first celebrated in 1908, when Anna Jarvis held a memorial for her mother in Grafton, West Virginia.

Why do we celebrate mother’s day?

Celebrations of mothers and motherhood can be traced back to the ancient Greeks and Romans, who held festivals in honor of the mother goddesses Rhea and Cybele, but the clearest modern precedent for Mother's Day is the early Christian festival known as “Mothering Sunday.”

Who came up with the idea of Mother’s Day?

Mother's Day started as an anti-war movement. Anna Jarvis is most often credited with founding Mother's Day in the United States. Designated as the second Sunday in May by President Woodrow Wilson in 1914, aspects of that holiday have since spread overseas, sometimes mingling with local traditions.

Interesting facts about the Dark History of Mother’s Day.

When did Mother’s Day originate?

In 1914, Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation designating Mother's Day, held on the second Sunday in May, as a national holiday to honor mothers. Although Jarvis was successful in founding Mother's Day, she became resentful of the commercialization of the holiday.

***

I think you get the idea. Mother’s Day was all about honoring mothers and here in America we chose to see the almighty dollar and commercialized the day to the hilt. 

I have always just written my mother (and father, Father’s Day) a card on this day honoring them with respect with words from my heart. I think that meant more to them than any money (that I never had) to give them.

While my siblings showered my mother and dad on their respective holidays with money ($100 or $50 with an expensive Hallmark card), flowers, or food (A dozen steamed crabs excited my mother and are always pricey), my mother and father always looked forward to the poem I would write that would either make them laugh but more often than not, make them cry. 

As my mother was going through the personal belongings of my dad after he passed she found poems of mine that my dad had in his drawer, his wallet, or used as a bookmark throughout the years. I cried tears of joy and tears of sorrow when my mother told me that my dad kept many (if not all) of my poems close to him. How much of the money, food or flowers did they still have, none, but my poems held weight, my words had meaning!

So as you celebrate this upcoming Mother’s Day, don’t think of the flower, money or card you can give her, think of the words you’d like to say to her, (it doesn’t have to be a poem) and write to her. Whether your mother or mom, or significant mother is alive or deceased, write to her. Trust me on this one, your words will mean more than anything to you AND mainly to HER, the mother you’re honoring. And maybe one day in the future you’ll find your words tucked in a special place of hers that she cherished.

If your mom is deceased take the words to her gravesite or read them aloud to her. Let her know that these are the words you wished you had said while she was alive basking in the gifts but not your words. Don’t let Hallmark be your words this Mother’s Day let YOU be your words this Mother’s Day!

Have a most BLESSED week my friends!

2 Sam. 22:50 “Therefore I will give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and I will sing praises unto thy name.”

Poetry Sunday ~ My Talent

Matt. 25:15 “And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey.”

* ~ * My Talent * ~ *

God asked me to use the talents

That He has blessed me with

The sharing of the Word I hear

The truth and not a myth.

I sent the Word into the world

A message delivered to me

It was a ripple on the lake

For all the world to see.

The words they entered in my ear

And out of my fingers bled

My gift of writing words to you

Is where my soul was led.

God was pleased when he saw

My talent not gone to waste

The gentle words about His Son

I fed the world a taste.

Some people sit idly by

Saving earthly treasures

Their talents, gifts and so much more

With all their worldly pleasures.

Rise up you sleeping people

For the new world that awaits

The life that’s left behind you

As you enter heaven’s gates.

Matt. 25:23 “His lord said unto him, Well done, good and faithful servant; thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things: enter thou into the joy of thy lord.”

Poetry Sunday ~ A True Christmas Story

Written in 1984 by me. Still holds true to this day! This was my gift to the family.

 Job 10: 12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

 A True Christmas Story

A tale was told one Christmas eve,
Tis' better to give than to receive.
But I have no gift, my pockets bare,
I am but a poet, my poem I'll share.
I rose from my bed on Christmas day,
The sun was peeking down where I lay.
I crept down the stairs so I could see,
Had Santa left gifts under my tree?
I wasn't surprised, left unamazed,
I stood at my empty tree and gazed.
No gifts to give, my heart did ache,
But I would go on for Christmas' sake.
I threw on my clothes, rushed out the door,
Just what is all this excitement for?
I have no gifts to give to thee,
No presents were left beneath my tree.
So how can Christmas be happy and gay?
What is the secret that makes this day?
I swung open the door, to my surprise,
My family was sitting before my eyes.
Greetings exchanged, hugs of embrace,
Smiles that lit the entire place.
"We're glad you're here, accept this gift.
Maybe then your spirits will lift."
I saw in their eyes a special glow,

That sunk my heart, and let me know,
That they were giving with deepest love,
For God had signaled from above.
The spirit of Christmas is a radiant gleam,
That shines through the soul, in a warming beam.
I have felt that warmth throughout the year,
By spreading laughter, joy, and cheer.
But a chosen day was set aside,
For all our arms to open wide.
So the gift I give has no ribbons or bows,
I'll give you peace that warms and glows.
I'll tell you I love you, I'll make you smile,
I'll see that your visit was worth the while.
I returned to my house, I plugged in my tree,
There sat a star gazing down at me.
I looked at the star with wondrous sight,
For God had appeared that Christmas night.
I was given the secret of Christmas eve,
Tis' better to give, than to receive.

How Do I Love Thee...

Heb. 2: 4God also bearing them witness, both with signs and wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to his own will?

***

I’m a writer and let me tell you a little something about writers, we are passionate people through and through. Even in our relationships we don’t ‘just love’, we love passionately. And please understand, I don’t mean sexual people who devour one another, I mean we love, heart and soul, passionately.

Passionate defined:
1. having, compelled by, or ruled by intense emotion or strong feeling; fervid:
2. expressing, showing, or marked by intense or strong feeling; emotional:
3. intense or vehement, as emotions or feelings: passionate grief.
4. easily moved to anger; quick-tempered; irascible.
 
There was another definition that said something about arousing sensual something or other, but these definitions fit more with what I’m talking about here.
 
When I sit down at the keyboard and think of something to write, sometimes it just flows like the river Jordan, smooth and blessed; while other times I’m sitting here writing about things that don’t even pertain to writing, so that gets quickly put into my journal.

I’ve been blessed to be able to love passionately. A lot of people go through life and never really know what it is to truly love. Take for example a relationship I was in for 20 years of my life. It was a marriage, but it was a marriage of pity. I pitied the man who was abused, unloved, or loved in an odd sort of way. Lies were the norm as it was his way of expressing the passion that he learned all his life. He didn’t know trust and when there is no trust, there is no love buried within.

I passionately sought out writing as I moved passed the emotion of pity. Eight years away and the man could still draw pity from me, but now I feel something I didn’t know was in me, number four up there. 4 > easily moved to anger; quick-tempered; irascible.

Yup that’s it. I’m passionate through and through, even when moved to anger. Here, my writing is no longer frowned upon. That is what I believed for twenty years, that writing was to be done on paper, computers were evil, and internet ‘friends’ spawned from the pits of hell. All lies that I was led to believe, until the good Lord above whisked me away from that hell and showed me that there was a life out here waiting for me to become passionate about.

You see, God created me to be this passionate woman, and when I wasn’t adhering to what gifts He blessed me with, He placed me in an environment, where my writing, my friends and my passion would be embraced.

I’m a stronger woman for all my struggles, a better writer who is loved and appreciated and I am truly blessed.

If you’re not a passionate person...then maybe writing isn’t for you.

***
Acts 14: 15 And saying, Sirs, why do ye these things? We also are men of like passions with you, and preach unto you that ye should turn from these vanities unto the living God, which made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and all things that are therein:

The Season of Gifting?

Prov.15:27 He that is greedy of gain troubleth his own house; but he that hateth gifts shall live.
***

I remember so many times as a child getting through the crowds at Christmas time, trying to hail a cab with my mother because we had so many bags and boxes we just couldn’t fit onto the overstuffed bus!  Pushing through the throng of shoppers, waiting in long lines, pressing through to get that one special gift!

My mother would take herself broke to give to others. Always on Christmas eve, running at the last minute to get just one more ‘special’ gift. She’d pay dearly all year long for having a giving heart. Did it cloud my view of what Christmas was all about? No, it opened my eyes to the unnecessary attachments we hold to the gift giving season.

Have we as a society gotten away from the real reason we even have a Christmas or has the world colored our vision so much so that we feel the need to give give give? I remember AFTER Thanksgiving, the stores would decorate, the streets would become a bastion of light shows, the trees, the street signs would all welcome this gift giving season with open arms.

Now the Christmas holiday is ushered in right after Halloween, forcing us to think that if we don’t get an early start, we won’t ever be able to get that perfect gift for the ones we love. The season is shaded by giving gifts, even if that means taking yourself broke. Buying and spending, all in the name of love? So are you telling me, love has a price tag on its head and if I don’t give you a gift, I don’t love you?

How clouded is that theory? Commercialism will not suck me dry. It will own no part of my soul. When I give, I give year-round, I give of myself, my time, something treasured from my heart that I know will impact a person for years (seconds, minutes, days?) to come. I don’t spend money at Christmas! I buy my son a gift, beau a gift, and everyone else receives my presence.

The only reason I celebrate Christmas, the pagan holiday, is because tradition almost demands it of me. While others are out buying, shopping, feeling good about themselves, sometimes they overlook the reason they are giving in the first place.

Are they doing it to make themselves look good? Others feel good? That is all well and good, but wouldn't a batch of homemade cookies, or hand-knitted scarf, or a simple poem, picture or other treasure from the heart mean more than a gift certificate from Macy's? Top-notch perfume? The 'perfect' purchased gift? Think about the answer you just thought!

Think about it a minute. If everyone truly gave from their heart and soul, (meaning, not spending a dime on the 'show') the stress of the season would be relinquished! Money could be given to HELP people, and EVERYONE would have a warm feeling during this day of celebrating Christ’s birth, and all that His presence meant to the world.