Thursday, December 22, 2005

'Twas a Good Year


This was a very good year for me. Even though it went by so very quickly, faster than any other year I can remember. Yes, I know it gets faster when your going downhill! However, as speedy as it was it was a great year for relationships, a good year for personal growth, a good year to feel very blessed, a good year for some very fun excursions (Oregon, Boston, Atlantic Canada, Tetons), a good year for learning; it was just a good year. What an adventure! I am really looking forward to what next year brings.

Monday, December 19, 2005

Christmas

Here's a bah humbug post. There has been so much going on when it comes to conversations about Christmas in the papers, on the radio and such. There is the "war on Christmas" that many Christians are fretting over because it looks as though secularists are seeking to take away the freedom of people of faith to express the most sacred aspects of their faith in public. Well, Christmas is not a sacred aspect of the christian faith. To be sure, the fact that Christ was sent into our world as Emmanuel, "God with us" is of prime importance, but the celebration of Christmas and all of its trappings doesn't seem to celebrate that at all. Even if it did, have we been given a mandate as followers of Jesus to celebrate his birth? The only mandate I remember is to remember. To remember his body and blood given for us so we could have a relationship with God. We are to remember whenever we eat and drink until he comes back.
Chistmas is fun and has a great intent, but I'm not willing to go into battle to defend my right to have a nativity scene or to say merry Christmas in public. I imagine that the real battle needs to be fought on a different level, that is, am I willing to love people and to listen to them and care for them with no strings attached?

Monday, December 12, 2005

A little color


It seems that I'm in a rut recently. I just feel rushed, like there is too much to do or that there are too many demands. I know that I have been challeged to relax more and do what I can, but without allowing the busyness of life to overwhelm my sense of contentment and blessing. Right now life is good. I need to be reminded of this often because I so easily forget and get in that rut.