Christmas Message from me...

Hi there everyone.
Seriously I just want to simply wish you all a very Merry Christmas and all the best for this holiday season! May God bless and keep you and bring you happy, healthy and whole into a brand new year.

I am so honoured that many of you return again and again to see what I have to say! I truly hope it continues to help you on your journey in some way?

Looking forward to another year with you very soon.
Expecting my first post to be early in January after short break to try and recharge and hang with my little family in the sun.
In the meantime, I have linked some past Christmas favourite posts if you want to check them out...

New

Finding your answers

Records do fly

Love to you all...

Simplify

When I think of that first Christmas I don't imagine decorations and lighting displays. I can't imagine frosty the snowman or rudolf with his shiny nose issues.
Bigger, brighter, better were not the central theme or mantra of the time!

What I can picture in my mind is something highly meaningful, if not totally understood.
From the accounts in the Bible, I can picture for myself a small family taking in those first moments after a lady has just given birth. Coming to terms with the implications of becoming a new family.

If you were like the Shepherds or Wise Men who came to visit Mary in that makeshift maternity ward previous known known as a cow shed. I think you would taken by the simplicity of the whole thing...
Nothing special, clean and even organised about this first Christmas at all.

Now jump some 2015 years later give or take a calendar adjustment here and there...and now you and I face our own Christmas Season.
If there is anything from the first I can take to the latest it is this...
Simple is how it started and maybe simple is what is needed now for it to be special, for it to have meaning for me in 2015?

I am a huge fan of lights and trees, food and festivities!
But ultimately I want something simple.
That is why lunch with some friends on Christmas Day means so much to me.
The simpleness of sharing a BBQ and singing some Christmas Carols is also high on my list each Christmas Eve.

Someone once said "Big Is Good" while encouraging us to spend in their store.
Today I say "Simple Is Best" while encouraging you to find meaning this Christmas for yourself.

Something to think about...

"Dear God - thanks for this one thing..."

I have watched with much pride a family navigating a very difficult time in their life...
Why am I proud? Because they have handled themselves a little differently from many these days.

Instead of getting on Facebook and have a rant every single day about how it is not fair. Instead of seeking to apportion blame. They have with dignity and maturity updated us all on their faith journey and always thanked God for even the smallest glimmer of hope.

They have reminded me that even in the middle of whatever is wrong, you can always find something to thank God for.
I see something spiritual happen when you do this. It brings faith more and more into the middle of your trial.

No matter what you and I may be facing right, I bet you a free dinner that there is something you be thankful to God for. Some glimmer of hope you can hang on to.
Gratefulness is so attractive to us in the natural. I would go as far as to say God finds its even more attractive.

Please don't lose sight of God in your trial. Focus on Him more than the trial itself. And you will find faith welling in your soul.
Maybe you could stop right now and finish this prayer with me?
"Dear God - thanks for this one thing [ you fill the blank ]"

Something to think about...

Check Please...a reality check...

When you visit someone who is really ill in hospital it is truly a reality check. What I mean by that specifically is that it reminds you and all those involved what is truly important.
It is a reminder of this fragile gift of life we each have been given.
It is also a reminder that we probably shouldn't waste our lives on things without meaning...

It some parts of the world you get your final bill when finishing a meal at a restaurant by raising your hand and carefully saying "check please".
And in some cultures they add something to that 'check please' moment, they include a tip, that little something extra that get's added.

So adding that idea to where I started today, I think we can add a 'tip' to our 'reality check'.
What little extra can we add to our 'reality check' so that life has more meaning?
Paul talked about a big 3 - faith, hope and love.
We can always add to our life and experiences with those closest to us by applying faith, hope and love.
Don't forget to seek God together (pray together).
Hope for great things in Him. Encourage each other with what only God can do.
Love Him and those around you with everything you have.

That has been my reality check today...

Something to think about...