10. Reflections

The aged.

The sick.

The afflicted.

The weak.

The widows.

The ones who raised children that are now influencing our world. The ones who held jobs that changed our town for the better. The ones who worked hard in whatever they did whether it was the farm or whether it was overseas missions.

They were great musicians. Medical professionals. Inventers. Teachers. Parents.

They were smart. They were wealthy. They were strong.

They have buried their spouses. Some have buried their children. They lived through the Great Depression. They lived history we can only read about.

They were once sharp, but now you might have the same conversation three times in ten minutes.

They might not remember where they live.

They might not see that family very often that they worked so hard to raise.

The vibrant social circle that they once had, has left them in the dust.

They have moved to a place where few leave.

They are the poor in spirit. The ones who are weak. The ones Christ has called us to care for.

These are the ones where all you have to do is listen and you have brightened someone's day. Pour that hot cup of coffee. Find out what they like best and give them a small piece of their life back.

This video made me weep. It can be very lonely to grow old. To grow weak. To be sick. To be widowed.

Perhaps if you have not seen the loneliness, the tiredness, the grief of a lifestyle lost, you will not know of what I talk.

Every day of life is important I believe, so why not visit the aging? You lose time, but gain the opportunity to bless someone's day.

This woman is the poor spirit yet she words with such joy. With a joy that only God gives as she nears the end of the road of life. And its beautiful.

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=963860903631132&fref=nf

7. Favorite book of 2014...

This may sound odd, but sounding odd, I think goes with my personality.

Favorite book,

Hosea

Why the book about a unfaithful woman and a man who had to love unconditionally despite her behavior?

One word,

Redemption

I am the one who strays, strays again, and again, but God's love never stops. I scratch my head at why God used a harlot to demonstrate his point to his chosen people, but the illustration is a wise one.

When someone has betrayed you again and again its awfully hard to love them. Someone you who poured everything into, but instead he slaps you in the face.

I just cannot imagine loving someone. Cherishing someone and listening to their heart. Giving your heart to them and than being rejected.

God loved his people, he cherished them, he knew their every need, so the illustration of a man loving his unfaithful wife is more powerful than words can say.

That is Grace. That is Mercy. That is Redemption.

This is who our God is, one who loves the unfaithful and gives more grace. And its a reminder that I need to often remind myself of.

This is why I picked the an odd book written over 2,000 years ago as my favorite book for this year.

6. T is for...

Technology

One thing I am very thankful for this year is technology. Sometimes it makes me want to scream and pull my hair out, but otherwise technology is a beautiful thing.

I literally shutter whenever I think about typing out my papers on a typewriter. This girl is not known for good grammar skills. Just the thought of painstakingly retyping papers gives me the chills.

I'm probably the most grateful for technology when I don't have to do homework, but rather when I'm using it to connect with a friend. Sometimes in life you need a bit of encouragement fast and technology enables that encouragement.

Technology lets me see the updates of family and friends are around the world.

Never has it been easier to know how to pray for someone. But sometimes I have to ask myself if the technology has enhanced my prayer life or hindered it?

Its the good, the bad, and the ugly.

Technology doesn't have to be ugly, it doesn't have to distract me from the important matters of life.

Its my choice of how I use technology. To encourage, to terror down, its all my choice.

Technology can be the best blessing or the worst curse. Its my choice.

Dear Christmas: Five minute Friday

Dear Christmas,

You came so unexpectedly this year. I'm not sure where the months went but all of the sudden people were putting up trees and talking of buying gifts. And dear Christmas let me be honest with you, I was not excited to see your arrival which might show the age of my years, but I just cannot help it.

Its hard to be excited about Christmas when people are sick and dying in Africa.

Its hard to get excited when children are dying because they believe in God.

People are rioting in the streets and you wonder where the peace on earth as gone too.

So dear Christmas I just cannot find a lot to be excited about but I can find a lot to be sad about.

This is why the Savior came. Long ago things were probably just as dismal if not more so, but peace on earth came to man in the form of a Savior.

Little children died after Jesus was born. There was mourning and weeping. Trouble did not stop, but there was hope. Hope of a Savior who would one day forever remove the pain and rule the world.

We still have this hope and so this Christmas in the midst of this chaotic world I would celebrate the assurance of Christ.

4. Red

This time of year everything seems to be red. You hang red balls of shine on the tree and hang a wreath with a big red bow on your front door.

Red is the color of Christmas, but I think it holds more than festive brightness.

Red is the reason we celebrate Christmas. Red blood that was shed on the cross. At Christmas we celebrate the incarnation and focus on the joyous fact that a Savior came.

Blood as morbid as it might sound is the center of Christmas.

When Christ was born He came into this world just as any other baby did and it was beautiful. Birth is messy and a bit disgusting, but we see birth as beautiful and breath taking.

Some thirty years later when Christ was nailed to the cross, beaten and tormented there was nothing beautiful. Only pain and anguish, but three days later the blood was gone and the punishment for sin had been paid for.

Beauty came out of the shed blood of Christ. The birth of Christ was messy but, it was the most beautiful thing.

Red the color of Christmas. Red the color of redemption. Red the color of love. Red the color of beauty.