The holidays are coming very quickly. Choir practices for Christmas musicals, planning Thanksgiving dinner, planning family get togethers for Christmas, gift purchases, sending out cards and all else which comes up to end another year. It is always a hectic time and you wonder if you will get through it.
Don’t get me wrong, I do like the holidays. It is always a great time of celebrating the birth of our Savior. Where would we be without that blessed birth? We would not be where we are for those of us who are Christians. I never tire of the story of His Coming. It is so full of miracles beginning with the Immaculate Conception and the angel’s announcement to Mary and Joseph being told in a dream. It is also full of simple things like his birth in a stable, not exactly what we think of now with the sterile birthing rooms including the doctors, nurses, and a lot of the time family is also present. Would most people in these days be willing to lay their new born child in the manger where the animals ate? Not highly likely with all the focus on cleanliness nowadays. Christ came quietly into this world with only his parents and the animals after being refused space in any inn in Bethlehem. It wasn’t until later other people came to acknowledge His birth beginning with the shepherds who were told by the angels as found in Luke Chapter two. Then followed the Magi, or wise men from the east, bearing their expensive gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh. In some ways I wish we could concentrate on these things. Our schedules around this time of year become full of the things I mentioned before. You look at the calendar and wonder how can fit one more thing in.
This is where you have to determine you WILL have a time of quiet where you do concentrate on the simple things, on God’s wonderful gift of the season and what He did for all of us. You may have to hide your cell phone, computer, and other electronic gadgets to accomplish this but it will be worth it in calming your soul and finding a time of peace during this season. I have often thought about what God must think about what we have turned this time of the year into with the never ending ads for the “perfect gift” for loved ones while battling the crowds at the store to find it. Along with the making sure things are perfect when friends and family come over, decorating our homes and all the rest. The classic special for the season, “A Charlie Brown Christmas”, comes to mind where Charlie is searching for the true meaning of Christmas. Nothing is going right for Charlie and there is little cooperation from the other kids as they prepare the annual Christmas pageant. Finally in utter frustration Charlie throws up his hands and declares, “Is there anyone who can tell me what Christmas is all about!?” Linus, blanket in hand, comes out and says, “I can Charlie Brown”, and proceeds to recite the Christmas story from the Book of Luke, chapter two. When finished Linus states simply, “That’s what Christmas is really all about, Charlie Brown.” The story in all its simplicity is what matters.
In the midst of all the hubbub, take time to sit back with a cup of your favorite tea or coffee, Bible in hand, and reread the Christmas story in one of the Gospels. Take the time to reflect on the true meaning for the season and have a grateful heart. I enjoy watching others opening their gifts and enjoy opening mine and greatly appreciate them all but keep the simple story in mind.
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Tuesday, November 3, 2009
Catch Up Time
It has been number of weeks since I have written on here. It has been a busy time as usual with the October Scout training blitz and other things. I did kind of regret bowing out of helping with one of the training sessions, in fact, one of the biggest which happens during the year, Pow-Wow. This is an all day affair with many classes happening to give Cub Scout leaders ideas to take back to their units. It is a very full day. The alarm clock “blinks” (I use a flashing light alarm as I can’t hear a regular alarm) all too early so we can arrive in Muskegon for set up. Terry and I have done Den Chief training for a number of years which teaches Scouts to help out with Cub Scout dens by leading games, songs, helping with keeping order during meetings and other things. This also helps them get some of the leadership position time they need to get their Eagle rank.
This year I chose, with Ter’s encouragement, to once again attend the “Breathe” Christian writer’s conference. It was once again an enjoyable experience and I got much more out of it this year than last. I left about 10:30 Friday morning so I could have time to check into my hotel before heading for the church where the conference was held. I had a good experience with this particular hotel last year so I reserved a room again. When I got my belongings up to the room I was greatly surprised to find I had an even nicer room than last year. It was huge with a nice desk, very large bed, and a couch. After getting my things settled I headed south of town to the church to make it in time for the welcoming session. There were a number of books given away, with a lot of mention of C.S. Lewis. I’ll have to catch up on my reading of his works. They are really Christian classics. Then our breakout sessions began. There was a lot of good advice on getting your writing career started. We had a break and I was late for my next session which was about building suspense in your writing. The authors, who are husband and wife, write more adventure thriller type books using their law enforcement careers as background. You can use the advice from the suspense workshop for almost any type of writing to keep your readers interested. I did buy two of their books. Then it was off to supper.
After supper we had our keynote address from the man who helped write, “Ninety Minutes in Heaven.” This is a very exciting book giving people the story of a man who actually was declared dead for ninety minutes after a horrific accident. He gives a vivid description of his time in Heaven. The author gave insight into his time of being a “ghost writer” or being the one actually writing the book for someone else versus writing where taking full credit for all aspects of a book. It was very interesting. After a short discussion time, it was back to the hotel for the evening. The next day was full of workshops. I especially enjoyed the humor writing session. The time went quickly. We ended with the authors answering our questions during a panel discussion. It was very interesting, particularly the discussion on using the networking site, Facebook. Some were really against using it, others saw it as a valuable tool. They really left it up to each person to make up their mind on the subject. They didn’t mince any words about the ups and downs of publishing. After this it was time to head for home. I had checked out of the hotel before coming to the last day of the conference. I will confess to wishing I could have stayed another night just to get my thoughts together about the conference instead of having to jump right back into “normal” life. I really understand authors getting a hotel room and cloistering themselves away to write. There are many distractions at home with just day to day life with cooking, cleaning, and other activities. There was much encouragement from all of the authors. My only regret is I didn’t get any of my writings printed off of my computer to bring for evaluation. I also wish I had a laptop computer to write when I am away from home with so many hotels having internet access.
It has been back to things as normal. One thing that has really jumped out at me is how the Lord seems to be speaking to me about my tendency to beat myself down all the time. This seems especially true of the book we are studying for our ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) right now. We are using the book “Having a Mary Spirit” by Joanna Weaver in our class and I would recommend it to any woman. It book encouraging all to truly surrender to the Lord’s leading in all areas of life. All too often we allow the weight of the world to pull us away from true commitment to Christ, just allowing Him to lead us in all ways. I want to stop the self flagellation for every little mistake and the reliving of them. This book is a great follow-up to “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” also by Joanna Weaver. This book takes its basis from the story of Jesus coming to visit the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10: 38-42). Martha complains to Jesus about Mary not helping with all the meals and other preparations. Instead Mary is spending her time at the feet of Christ learning from Him. Christ tells Martha she is too worried about the physical preparations for things and Mary has chosen the better thing to sit at His feet and learn. The book discusses the way things are now with our busyness of having our schedules full to the maximum of accomplishing things. We should have our time of just focusing on Christ and His Word. We are all under pressure to keep moving, cram one more thing into our waking hours. We need our time to think about Christ and let Him permeate our thoughts and spirits. We should feel absolutely no guilt about taking this time for Him. I will confess to when I read my Bible in the morning I usually jump right up and get to work so breakfast will be ready so Ter can go to work. I should just sit quietly and consider the passage I have just read, pray and truly commit the day to God for His Glory. Instead it is jump up, start breakfast, pack Ter’s lunch on the days he goes to Lansing, and get right to it for the day. I don’t know if I’ll have to start getting up a little earlier to accomplish this but I’m sure my day would be much more fulfilling putting it in HIS hands.
This year I chose, with Ter’s encouragement, to once again attend the “Breathe” Christian writer’s conference. It was once again an enjoyable experience and I got much more out of it this year than last. I left about 10:30 Friday morning so I could have time to check into my hotel before heading for the church where the conference was held. I had a good experience with this particular hotel last year so I reserved a room again. When I got my belongings up to the room I was greatly surprised to find I had an even nicer room than last year. It was huge with a nice desk, very large bed, and a couch. After getting my things settled I headed south of town to the church to make it in time for the welcoming session. There were a number of books given away, with a lot of mention of C.S. Lewis. I’ll have to catch up on my reading of his works. They are really Christian classics. Then our breakout sessions began. There was a lot of good advice on getting your writing career started. We had a break and I was late for my next session which was about building suspense in your writing. The authors, who are husband and wife, write more adventure thriller type books using their law enforcement careers as background. You can use the advice from the suspense workshop for almost any type of writing to keep your readers interested. I did buy two of their books. Then it was off to supper.
After supper we had our keynote address from the man who helped write, “Ninety Minutes in Heaven.” This is a very exciting book giving people the story of a man who actually was declared dead for ninety minutes after a horrific accident. He gives a vivid description of his time in Heaven. The author gave insight into his time of being a “ghost writer” or being the one actually writing the book for someone else versus writing where taking full credit for all aspects of a book. It was very interesting. After a short discussion time, it was back to the hotel for the evening. The next day was full of workshops. I especially enjoyed the humor writing session. The time went quickly. We ended with the authors answering our questions during a panel discussion. It was very interesting, particularly the discussion on using the networking site, Facebook. Some were really against using it, others saw it as a valuable tool. They really left it up to each person to make up their mind on the subject. They didn’t mince any words about the ups and downs of publishing. After this it was time to head for home. I had checked out of the hotel before coming to the last day of the conference. I will confess to wishing I could have stayed another night just to get my thoughts together about the conference instead of having to jump right back into “normal” life. I really understand authors getting a hotel room and cloistering themselves away to write. There are many distractions at home with just day to day life with cooking, cleaning, and other activities. There was much encouragement from all of the authors. My only regret is I didn’t get any of my writings printed off of my computer to bring for evaluation. I also wish I had a laptop computer to write when I am away from home with so many hotels having internet access.
It has been back to things as normal. One thing that has really jumped out at me is how the Lord seems to be speaking to me about my tendency to beat myself down all the time. This seems especially true of the book we are studying for our ABF (Adult Bible Fellowship) right now. We are using the book “Having a Mary Spirit” by Joanna Weaver in our class and I would recommend it to any woman. It book encouraging all to truly surrender to the Lord’s leading in all areas of life. All too often we allow the weight of the world to pull us away from true commitment to Christ, just allowing Him to lead us in all ways. I want to stop the self flagellation for every little mistake and the reliving of them. This book is a great follow-up to “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World” also by Joanna Weaver. This book takes its basis from the story of Jesus coming to visit the home of Mary and Martha (Luke 10: 38-42). Martha complains to Jesus about Mary not helping with all the meals and other preparations. Instead Mary is spending her time at the feet of Christ learning from Him. Christ tells Martha she is too worried about the physical preparations for things and Mary has chosen the better thing to sit at His feet and learn. The book discusses the way things are now with our busyness of having our schedules full to the maximum of accomplishing things. We should have our time of just focusing on Christ and His Word. We are all under pressure to keep moving, cram one more thing into our waking hours. We need our time to think about Christ and let Him permeate our thoughts and spirits. We should feel absolutely no guilt about taking this time for Him. I will confess to when I read my Bible in the morning I usually jump right up and get to work so breakfast will be ready so Ter can go to work. I should just sit quietly and consider the passage I have just read, pray and truly commit the day to God for His Glory. Instead it is jump up, start breakfast, pack Ter’s lunch on the days he goes to Lansing, and get right to it for the day. I don’t know if I’ll have to start getting up a little earlier to accomplish this but I’m sure my day would be much more fulfilling putting it in HIS hands.
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