The Echo of Change

Echo, echo, echo…

Life is an echo

What you send out, comes back.

What you sow, you reap

What you give, you get

What you see in others exists in you

Remember, life is an echo

It always gets back to you

So give goodness!

~ Zig Ziglar

This is the year of change. I don’t say this because it is January 1st, I say it because it is an actual fact that has been burning inside me for a few months now. So many people wait for the New Year to make resolutions, only not keep them and then feel the disappointment fester when they fail. I’m not making a resolution here; I feel a life change coming around the corner.

As I climbed into bed last night around ten, I thought of New Years that have passed away like the fallen confetti, gone but not forgotten. I would stand squished between friends and family around Baltimore’s Inner Harbor waiting for the 12 o’clock firework show with a beer in my hand and smoking weed (because with 250,000 people no one could tell where the smell was coming from).

Then as I grew older my light show was sitting in my warm home at the window (no alcohol or drugs), with my niece who loved to come to my house on New Year’s Eve to spend the night and stay awake to watch the fireworks. I lived so close to the Inner Harbor that you could hear the revelers whooping and hollering. Cars would blare horns, kids would clang pots and pans and I just sat still with a smile watching the splendid light show.

As I made my way to Texas in later years, New Years Eve took on a different shape and form. I never anticipated fireworks and often I was in bed before the 12 o’clock ball drop. Not much for New Years rockin’ eve, I had grown and matured. Life became more subdued, no longer did the bottle hold me prisoner. I no longer felt compelled to mark my New Year with booze.  

Now as I mature further as an old fuddy duddy, I don’t understand why people, some who never drink, decide that on New Year’s Eve to take some wine or champagne and drink to the New Year. I think conformist follow what other people do in carrying on traditions. Since I’m not a conformist I see no point in celebratory events to mark the flipping of a calendar page.

I had to do some research and see why; why on earth do we ring in a New Year. Just as I suspected, it is a celebration handed down through other gods. It is solely based on superstition and the human race needing to be a part of ‘the world’ follows along.

I wonder if I’m alone in not wanting to be a part of the ritualistic and occult practices? I wonder if anyone sees nonsense in the eating of beans for good luck, having a drink at midnight to bring on a prosperous new year and other ritualistic traditions handed down by the Babylonians.

My dad used to eat pickled herring on New Years Eve; I used to think clinking a bottle would give me a promise of a good year. They were false illusions that I’ve come to realize over the years. Will my year be hellish if I don’t participate? Will the gods curse my year of growth and change? Are we to follow omens and the occult?

Is it just me who wants to turn the New Year into a flipping of a page as my consuming practice on January first? I knew I was weird but I think I’ve gone and taken it to new heights in my transcending timeline called life. I’m different and I’m okay with that.

Like I said yesterday, my life has been and always will be more spiritual than following rituals and traditions of the past. I like to start my own traditions being as different as they are.

Deut. 18: 9-14 “When thou art come into the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee, thou shalt not learn to do after the abominations of those nations.

There shall not be found among you any one that maketh his son or his daughter to pass through the fire, or that useth divination, or an observer of times, or an enchanter, or a witch,

Or a charmer, or a consulter with familiar spirits, or a wizard, or a necromancer.

For all that do these things are an abomination unto the LORD: and because of these abominations the LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee.

Thou shalt be perfect with the LORD thy God.

For these nations, which thou shalt possess, hearkened unto observers of times, and unto diviners: but as for thee, the LORD thy God hath not suffered thee so to do.”

I know many people will put their spin on scripture, picking pieces out to call truth and bend that truth to fit nicely and neatly into their life so they feel justified in doing what they’re doing. I do the same thing. Yes, I’m a sinner and yes I do wrong, but this is going to be the year of change in me as I prepare my soul for my eternity. My previous years have been based on growth. This year I learn from that growth and change. The echo I release to the world will be one of hope and love. I will not be a part of the negativity that so many cling to on a daily basis as their compass in life.

This is not a resolution per se, this is growth and with growth, just like the seedling, comes change. My echo will be heard. 

Have a blessed year growing with God!

Christmas Celebration

Rom. 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.

Why do we celebrate Christmas?

The first Christian celebration of Christmas was December 25, 336 AD. The very earliest of Christians like Peter and Paul and the people of that time did not celebrate Jesus’ birth on December 25^th. I may have been right in assuming that in fact Jesus was born in late April. 

Notice the final paragraph on that page.

Christmas seems to be a pagan holiday twisted and turned into this commercialized vehicle and I seriously don’t know why I celebrate it except that for the fact I have been conditioned and brainwashed into celebrating just because ‘everyone else is doing it’.

Through researching Christmas as you can imagine, I came upon a plethora of pages and links that I clicked until my eyes burned. As with any religious searches on the internet it is no wonder people come up confused with what is fact and fiction. 

When I grew up and became the religious freak that I am, religious celebrations took on new meaning to me. The rebel in me did not celebrate the Holy Days like everyone else; it was my way of not conforming to what the world tried to program in me. Sure I have a tree but to me it is a symbol of life and death and to commemorate a holy day that has been celebrated for centuries. The lights signify the Light within. Ornaments are a display of memories throughout the years. Giving became a year round ritual of the giving of all of me, but on Christmas it became a ritual of what people ‘expected’. Please know, I am conformed by the Holy Spirit.

I often hear people say ‘Remember the reason for the Season’, but do they themselves even KNOW the reason for the season? Have they done ANY research as to why we call the day the ‘Day of Jesus’ birth’? Do they even care?

In my eyes, the people of the world have conformed to the world, they’re happy with being led around by the falsity in life. I’m okay with that but don’t expect ME to conform to the worlds programming.

The Christmas tree IS a holiday tree. Are you putting it up to commemorate Christ? Did Christ have a Christmas tree? Or is the Christmas tree just a traditional politically correct term that you expect the entire world to follow?

We’re so caught up in our own pre-programmed belief system that when the truth comes along it looks like a foreign plague that we cannot and will not be a part of. This year as the world celebrates Christmas, I will be reminded of the TRUE reason for the Season.

Luke 2:7-14 “And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.”