Community Chat

[gloriajean]

Hello my friends! It's been a nice, peaceful day! I got a nap in, Ollie was good and didn't bother me - didn't bother Sammy either. We had him here overnight last night. Father Jerry came at 5 - Fish for supper - that Linus speared the other day with his brother. He fried the fish and I made the rest! Here Father Jerry comes with a bottle of wine and some fruit cake! Wow! I made some Tom and Jerry's - he liked it!! Especially my homemade kind. Then we were invited to our neighbor's for a neighborhood Christmas party - didn't have to bring a thing, these are our new neighbors next door! She sure makes a lot of crafty things, and bakes too, wow! They put on a feast! And we got a gift to take home! Some pine cones with those little candles etc. and she said because they have such awesome neighbors!!

It is you, not where you are or what you have, that makes the difference.

Lord, may I always blossom where I am planted.

Scripture for the day:

"I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God

will hear me." ~Micah 7:7

Meditation for the day:

We can admit our own helplessness. God will hear our prayer. Our own need

can be recognized, then we can ask God for the strength to meet that need.

But once that need is recognized, our prayer is heard above all the music of

heaven. It is not theological arguments that solve the problems of the

questing soul, but the sincere cry of that soul to God for strength and the

certainty of that soul that the cry can be heard and answered.

Prayer for the day:

I pray that I may be humble enough to realize my need and ask for help. I

pray that I may feel certain that God will hear and answer my prayer.

CHRISTMAS:

1ST CORINTHIANS 13 STYLE

If I decorate my house perfectly with plaid bows,

strands of twinkling lights and shiny balls,

but do not show love to my family,

I'm just another decorator.

If I slave away in the kitchen,

baking dozens of Christmas cookies,

preparing gourmet meals

and arranging a beautifully adorned table at mealtime,

but do not show love to my family,

I'm just another cook.

If I work at the soup kitchen,

carol in the nursing home and give all that I have to charity,

but do not show love to my family,

it profits me nothing.

If I trim the spruce with shimmering angels and crocheted snowflakes,

attend a myriad of holiday parties and sing in the choir's cantata

but do not focus on Christ,

I have missed the point.

Love stops the cooking to hug the child.

Love sets aside the decorating to kiss the husband.

Love is kind, though harried and tired.

Love doesn't envy another's home

that has coordinated Christmas china and table linens.

Love doesn't yell at the kids to get out of the way.

Love doesn't give only to those

who are able to give in return

but rejoices in giving to those who can't.

Love bears all things,

believes all things,

hopes all things,

endures all things.

Love never fails.

Video games will break,

pearl necklaces will be lost,

golf clubs will rust.

But giving the gift of love will endure.

author unknown

SEASON'S MEETINGS

Author Unknown

Each year we ring in the holiday season by attending dozens of holiday

meetings. This Christmas committee, that planning event. Then we still

have to make the rounds to every store in the metro-plex. 'Tis the

season for weeks of ulcer inducing meetings and shopping, then

wrapping for about 72 straight hours. Christmas morning I find myself

sitting around the tree with a glazed look and half a roll of tape

stuck in my hair.

I stack three stories of gifts in front of each child. Within ten

minutes we're up to our eyeballs in wrapping paper. I have five

children. That's five three-story gift stacks and about 1200 yards of

wrapping paper. Last year it took us three days to find the cat.

I was scanning for Christmas sales when I ran across an Internet ad:

"100 FREE HOURS!" That's it! That's what I want for Christmas! Not the

Internet service--just the hours. My holiday calendar could make grown

men weep.

Even if we can't have a chestnut or two roasting on an open fire, it

seems we should at least be able to find time for some popcorn popping

in the microwave. Visions of sugarplums? I don't think so. There

hasn't been a silent night around our place since the season began.

Maybe we're being sucked in to the idea that we need to "super size"

the holidays the same way we're tempted to upgrade every fast food

lunch. We convince ourselves that to have a socially complete

Christmas, we need to super-size our schedules--adding more, spending

more, eating more. I'm popping Tums just thinking about it.

But let's take a look at the big Christmas picture. Jesus didn't come

into the world so that we could enjoy a nice story about a reindeer.

He didn't come so that our kids could put on a cute play.

Christ was born so that through his sacrificial death, we could be

reconciled to a holy God. Emmanuel, "God With Us," came to pay our sin

debt. Christmas is not for making us overworked and overwhelmed, but

for celebrating how we have been made overcomers.

The season becomes a real celebration when we learn to rest in the

faithful hands of the One who has overcome the world. Guess what we

find when we rest in him: Peace! Jesus said in John 16:33, "...in me

you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of

good cheer, I have overcome the world." The Lord has done the

overcoming on our behalf. He's the one who

gives peace. The only thing we truly need to work for is the resting

ability.

If your holiday schedule is keeping you up nights and you'd like a

little sleep in heavenly peace, maybe 'tis the season for saying some

"no's"--for sanity's sake. As for that Internet ad, if someone could

actually give me those extra 100 hours, what would I do with them?

Would I cram them to the brim with more activities? The truth is that

we have loads of time--24 hours every day. Focusing 24/7 on the God

who provided Christmas is the way to find a fulfilling holiday

season.

I've decided to take time to stop and smell the poinsettias- -and find

the cat.

THE GREATEST GIFT OF ALL

Author Unknown

It's just a small, white envelope stuck among the branches of our

Christmas tree. No name, no identification, no inscription. It has

peeked through the branches of our tree for the past 10 years or so.

It all began because my husband Mike hated Christmas---oh, not the

true meaning of Christmas, but

the commercial aspects of it overspending ... the frantic running

around at the last minute to get a tie for Uncle Harry and the dusting

powder for Grandma---the gifts given in desperation because you

couldn't think of anything else.

Knowing he felt this way, I decided one year to bypass the usual

shirts, sweaters, ties and so forth. I reached for something special

just for Mike. The inspiration came in an unusual way. Our son Kevin,

who was 12 that year, was wrestling at the junior level at the school

he attended; and shortly before Christmas, there was a non-league

match against a team sponsored by an inner-city church, mostly black.

These youngsters, dressed in sneakers so ragged that shoestrings

seemed to be the only thing holding them together, presented a sharp

contrast to our boys in their spiffy blue and gold uniforms and

sparkling new wrestling shoes.

As the match began, I was alarmed to see that the other team was

wrestling without headgear, a kind of light helmet designed to protect

a wrestler's ears. It was a luxury the ragtag team obviously could not

afford. Well, we ended up walloping them. We took every weight class.

And as each of their boys got up from the mat, he swaggered around in

his tatters with false bravado, a kind of street pride that couldn't

acknowledge defeat.

Mike, seated beside me, shook his head sadly, "I wish just one of them

could ave won," he said. "They have a lot of potential, but losing

like this could take the heart right out of them." Mike loved kids ---

all kids --- and he knew them, having coached little league football,

baseball and lacrosse. That's when the idea for his present came. That

afternoon, I went to a local sporting goods store and bought an

assortment of wrestling headgear and shoes and sent them anonymously

to the inner-city church.

On Christmas Eve, I placed the envelope on the tree, the note inside

telling Mike what I had done and that this was his gift from me. His

smile was the brightest thing about Christmas that year and in

succeeding years. For each Christmas, I followed the tradition --- one

year sending a group of mentally

handicapped youngsters, to a hockey game, another year a check to a

pair of elderly brothers whose home had burned to the ground the week

before Christmas, and on and on.

The envelope became the highlight of our Christmas. It was always the

last thing opened on Christmas morning and our children, ignoring

their new toys, would stand with wide-eyed anticipation as their dad

lifted the envelope from the tree to reveal its contents. As the

children grew, the toys gave

way to more practical presents, but the envelope never lost its

allure.

The story doesn't end there. You see, we lost Mike last year due to

dreaded cancer. When Christmas rolled around, I was still so wrapped

in grief that I barely got the tree up. But Christmas Eve found me

placing an envelope on the tree, and in the morning, it was joined by

three more. Each of our children, unbeknownst to the others, had

placed an envelope on the tree for their dad.

The tradition has grown and someday will expand even further with our

grandchildren standing around the tree with wide-eyed anticipation

watching as their fathers take down the envelope. Mike's spirit, like

the Christmas spirit, will always be with us.

May we all remember Christ, who is the reason for the season, and the

true Christmas spirit this year and always. God bless---pass this

along to your friends and loved ones.

Padre Pio on Christmas

So plentiful, O Christians,

are the lessons that shine forth

from the grotto of Bethlehem!

Oh how our

hearts should be on fire

with love for the one who

with such tenderness was

made flesh for our sakes!

Oh how we should burn

with desire to lead the

whole world to this lowly cave,

refuge of the King of kings,

greater than any

worldly palace, because

it is the throne and

dwelling place of God!

Let us ask this Divine

child to clothe us with

humility, because only

by means of this virtue

can we taste the fullness

of this mystery of Divine

tenderness.