The season to take time…. really all year

Black Friday… what a horrible name for the day after Thanksgiving….  I took that day off.  In the evening after a day of quiet I turned on the news.   Freeways stacked …..  parking lots full…. lines upon lines…. no one killed as last yearI . 

And I thought … why… what are we doing?  What need are we trying to fill?   Then I realized that I cannot answer that question for others… only myself…

I want a closer relationship with my Lord Jesus Christ…. I want him…  to know, to love, to worship, to be a friend, to be his child…

I want peace… the peace that passes all understanding…  I first understood that at my mother’s funeral when her terrible suffering was over… I knew exactly where she was and I was at peace…. I had done everything I could… And I was at peace…

I want to experience that level of peace ….   and to do that I realize my life has to have a center.. my life isn’t about things, wealth, acquiring… it is about the two greatest commandments – or it should be about them – and they are that we are to love the Lord God with our whole heart and we are to love our neighbor as ourselves.  Those two cover all of life….

So this Christmas… I am going to try to do that… I am going to try to put my neighbor, family, students and who ever else before myself…

And I am certainly going to express my love for the Lord with my whole spirit and heart..

I am slowing down to the essentials… be reality of life… its core….

Simple foods close to the Earth…..

Reading the Bible….

Reading other good books….

Ministering at the rehab where my mother was for a while….

Taking time to make contact with all my family and friends personally… not an email… I’ll send the card… but I want to hear their voice….

Toys for tots…..

Spirit of Christmas toy drive….

Quiet times by the fireplace….. just thinking….. listening

Quiet time in the woods….

Petting my dog and letting my little cockatiel sit on my shoulder more…..

Please read this brilliant post by Ann Kroeker…. Something to ask ourselves.  Ann gets it right… Spend some time at her blog… wonderful stuff.