Christmas

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Loving One Another

Continuing the series on What to Give God for Christmas…

Jesus didn’t stop with telling us to love God with all our heart and soul and mind and strength. He wants us to love other people as much as he loves them. That’s a tall order! How do we go about loving others?

There are as many ways to love others as there are others to love. This is where we get to be a bit creative.

By all means, do something special for those on your Christmas list. One of my love languages is “gifts” so I can appreciate how well a carefully chosen present will convey the love of the person giving it. Even here, there are ways to help others while blessing your friends and family. I always check out the gifts on fair trade websites, especially for those hard-to-shop-for people; these organizations are a good source of handmade, one-of-a-kind items. For starters, I recommend Trade As One. I’ve been more than pleased with both their products and their service. (See last year’s post on fair trade.)

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I Have a Little Dreidel

dreidel

We’ve owned a dreidel for years, but I’ve never had a clue what to do with it. It seems that we’ve been missing out on some fun. A dreidel is actually the essential piece of a gambling game! Traditionally, the game is played for chocolate coins rather than real money. Still… chocolate!

If you read my post on Hanukkah, you know that there was a period of time just before that event took place where practicing the Jewish religion was illegal. Of course, that didn’t stop the Jews from teaching their children about their heritage, and about the God who chose them to love.

According to tradition (and Wikipedia), the children would be out in the woods, learning the Torah, and hiding from the authorities. However, that looks a bit suspicious, so when anyone came along, they would quickly pull out a top and spin it. Now they just looked like innocent children playing a simple game.

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Loving God

In my last post I talked about God’s Christmas wish list, and how our love for him is top priority. Here are some more ways to love God.

Trust and Obey
Another gift God appreciates is our faith. Do we trust Him? My friend Cynthia, who writes an excellent blog about prayer, recently wrote about something God told her:

When I meet you the way you ask Me to, you are blessed. You receive My grace-gifts, and you feel blessed. But when I don’t meet you the way you hoped yet you continue to trust Me anyhow—then you bless Me. You give Me your trust-gift, and I feel blessed.

Giving God our trust totally makes his day. So does our obedience. Obeying God tells him that we love him. Consider John 14:23: “Jesus replied, ‘Anyone who loves me will obey my teaching. My Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them.'”

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What God Wants for Christmas

What do you want for Christmas? As small children sitting on Santa’s lap, we quickly learned to rattle off a long list of our desires—mostly things we’ve seen in ads on TV. Now that we’re older, we still have our lists, posted online at the request of family members trying to assemble a Christmas shopping list.

As the primary gift shopper in our household, I was scanning these lists when the thought occurred to me… what does Jesus want for Christmas? After all, it’s his birthday!

I was reminded of a passage I read recently—found in both Matthew 16:23 and Mark 8:33—where Jesus tells Peter “Get behind me, Satan! … You do not have in mind the concerns of God, but merely human concerns.” I wondered, what are the concerns of God? What could He, the owner of the cattle on a thousand hills (not to mention the rest of creation) possibly lack? Or, if you’re not the practical gift type, what could we give Him to make Him happier?

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Anticipating Jesus

Do you celebrate Advent? Growing up outside the church, I looked forward to Christmas because of the cookies we’d make, the decorating we’d do, and, most of all, the pile of presents I expected to receive Christmas morning. Christmas was great, but it had nothing to do with a baby born in Bethlehem.

Once I became a Christian, Christmas took on new meaning, but I still didn’t really understand Advent. After all, the word isn’t even in the Bible. We attended a Presbyterian church for a while, and they lit candles and said some prayers those four Sundays leading up to Christmas, but I didn’t know how to “own” Advent for myself. (One thing I did know: it probably didn’t require a Smurf Advent Calendar!)

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Mountain Plover Photography

We interrupt this regularly scheduled blog for a word from our sponsor—my photography business, Mountain Plover. If you’re looking for a gift that can’t be found in stores, or you would like to decorate your own space, check out some samples below, then click over to my website, Mountain-Plover.com. I take great delight in capturing some of the beauty of God’s creation, and hope that my photography helps others to glorify Him as well.

I usually sell my prints and blank cards in person, either at a speaking engagement or at a one of the craft boutiques so prevalent this time of year. However, I’m also happy to ship greeting cards and matted prints anywhere in the United States. (Overseas? Contact me.) I’m still a one-woman production line, so please order by December 10 to ensure delivery by Christmas, although I’ll do my best if you order after that.

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Merry Christmas!

It seems that every neighborhood has a few residents who go all out for Christmas. They must spend days putting up elaborate displays to ensure that theirs is the most illuminated house on the block.

We only hang a string of white “icicles” across the front of our house, so one of our Christmas traditions is to drive around and enjoy the lights around town.

This year I offer these photos as my Christmas card to you, my readers (all three of you). Thank you for sticking with me through good articles and not-so-good articles. Your willingness to read my thoughts, and even comment sometimes, is your gift to me. May your Christmas be filled with the Light of the world.

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Savior

It’s Christmas. And I’m on a diet.

Due to a genetic tendency toward insulin resistance, I’m not supposed to eat certain foods… white flour, white rice, white potatoes, white bread, regular pasta, corn, and yes, sugar in any form. That includes brown sugar, molasses, honey, and agave nectar.

Most of the year, I’m pretty good at this. After all, my health is at stake. Eating these things leads to wild fluctuations in my blood sugar levels, headaches, mental fog, and ultimately diabetes. I really don’t want to go there!

However, as the fall approaches, it gets much more difficult to avoid temptation. Starting in mid-September, our family celebrates birthday after birthday, culminating on December 23 with our son-in-law Jeremy. All those birthdays include some sort of special dessert.

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Spending Influence

A friend of mine posted a link to the following article on her Facebook page:

Made in America Christmas: Are You In?

The average American will spend $700 on holiday gifts and goodies this year, totaling more than $465 billion, the National Retail Federation estimates. If that money was spent entirely on US made products it would create 4.6 million jobs. But it doesn’t even have to be that big. If each of us spent just $64 on American made goods during our holiday shopping, the result would be 200,000 new jobs.

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Getting Gifts

The gifts were wrapped and stacked under the tree, but my friend seemed strangely uninterested in the ones with her name on it.

“Oh, I don’t pay attention to which gifts are for me. I think of it as a family thing… we exchange gifts. I don’t get excited about getting presents.”

My first thought was, “I sure do!” I love to receive gifts.

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