I am mostly a humbug when it comes to Christmas, but my greatest joy is giving gifts.  If you asked Hannah what she wanted from “Santa Claus” she would tell you, “I want a park in my backyard.”  Her eyes would light up and she would look out the back window for where she wants her park to be.

Last week, her dream became a reality.  My dad was in town and put together her swing set.  The joy of Christmas for me was to see her face shine when she saw her park for the first time.  She played while, listing of all of the things there are to do on her swingset.  She was elated to finally have a park in her backyard.

Josh, on the other hand, has been wanting a dog for two years but we didn’t have a fenced in yard in Nederland.  He was always discourage because we wouldn’t get him a dog.  In fact, he said when he dies he wanted us to put on his tombstone, “All a boy needs is a dog and a mother who will let him have one.”  Well, this year he has a mother who will let him have one.  We now have a fenced yard and we decided to buy him a dog.  He was shocked when we let him know and he has been a new kid since.  He even, cleaned his room without us asking.  Sonya said, “If that is all it took we would have bought him a dog a long time ago.”

This is my greatest joy at Christmas.  Giving.  I love to see the surprise and the happiness of others when they receive a gift.  When my kids are happy it makes me happy.  Overall, Christmas is about gifts.  God gave us a gift in His son Jesus.  It delights the heart of God when we receive that gift.  That is the purpose of Christmas!

This evening before church I was unloading the dishwasher and Hannah wanted to help:)  Well, she wasn’t wanting to help, she was just wanting to grab everything.  She would pull out the breakable glasses…I would tell her to “STOP”.  Next, she would try to climb on the dishwasher door, I would say, “DON’T”.  Then she would go for the steak knives.  “NO!”  It was an endless cycle of crying out, “Stop, Don’t, No!”  We went round and round until I was exasperated.  Flustered to the core!

As I was a frustrated, I thought of how God feels sometimes.  We are older than two year olds but yet it seems that we get into stuff all the time that we shouldn’t.  I can imagine God saying the same things to us. “Stop, wrong way.”  “Don’t do that!  It is not good for your soul.”  “No, that is off limits.”  How often does God get flustered with us because we keep doing “no-no’s”?  Into everything and going down the same paths that He always tells us we shouldn’t go?  Getting into things that we know is wrong.  Yet God continues to steer us, correct us and try to tighten the reins so that we will not fall away. 

God is a God of grace and mercy but I often wonder if He gets flustered by the way His children acts.

“For however devoted you are to God, you may be sure that he is immeasurably more devoted to you.”

-Meister Eckhart-

Maybe it is my personality type but at times I have struggled with procrastination.  Never on the big things, but on the smaller tasks that seem, well, small.  I work good under pressure but sometimes that can be a fault.  I have endeavored for years to overcome this quirk of mine, so I bought a book on procrastination.  (Eat That Frog, by Brian Tracy) The sad thing is I never finished the book on procrastination:)

Yesterday, I was reading about the great poet Coleridge.  In this writing it was describing the man’s genius but that he never reached his fullest potential because he lost focus.  Let these words sink in:  “It has been said of him: ‘He lost himself in visions and work to be done, that always remained to be done.’  Coleridge had every poetic gift but one–the gift of sustained and concentrated effort.”

We must focus on what we believe God has placed within our hearts to accomplish.  We cannot allow our vision of what needs to be done to continue to be undone.  I have determined in my life to no longer procrastinate the important things in life.  It requires discipline!  Discipline to accomplish great things for God.  Let us pursue the vision God has for our life and do it without procrastination.

Please pray for a couple named Larry and Theresa that God would bless there upcoming marriage.  They are asking for freedom from a spirit of rejection and that God would reveal to them the depths of their own hearts so that they can start their marriage off right.

Just wanted to give a shout out to my mom.  It is her 58th birthday.  I am thankful for her birthday because if she hadn’t been born, I wouldn’t be here.  Happy Birthday Mom!

I love Panera Bread! Not just the sandwiches but the atmosphere. It is a great place to eat as well as to have coffee. Last week my dad, Josh and I went to Panera Bread for lunch and ordered a sandwich and chips.  As I often do, I like to read the back of packages and I noticed something that caught my eye on the bag of chips. THE EXPIRATION DATE. The expiration date read Jan 3009. Holy Preservatives! I have seen some long expiration times but never a thousand years. I began to read the list of preservatives but I did not see embalming fluid on there. I told Josh that if those chips last a thousand years, we may never die:) I want to have whatever can make a bag of chips last a thousand years.

There is a preservative, however, that lasts longer than a thousand years. It is Jesus Christ. Eternal Life through Him. Everything in this life fades away (even Panera Bread chips) but with Christ we are imperishable. We will live forever in Christ. We may leave this life through death but He guarantees us a special preservative in Heaven. Heaven is a place where we will never die and there are no expiration dates.

Sometimes you can gain alot of wisdom from comic strips.  I am a huge fan of Charlie Brown.  As a matter of fact, I identify with alot of things he says.  Yesterday’s Peanuts Strip reveals alot of Charlie Brown’s Wisdom in dealing with conflict.