Rather Merry

 

The choice to be glad that one is alive is always ours, we just must simply make it.

Every Christmas season is the same.  We all rush about here and there trying to get ready for the big day.  In the process I often find myself left in a huff and sometimes a bit agitated.  

The remedy, at least my suggestion, is to make a new list.  Here it is…

·        - Make a real effort to be kind to everyone

·         -Smile more

·         -Take a deep breath and take in all the festive holiday aromas

·        - Look at more Christmas lights

·         -Be quick to forgive and quicker not to hold a grudge

·        - Think of each member of your family as a gift from God

·         -Listen to the song HOW MANY KINGS by the band DOWN HERE

·         -Embrace everyday as a chance to be better than yesterday

·         -Thank God for every breath you take, for none are truly guaranteed

·        - Make rather merry and enjoy this time of the year

I love the part in the famous Christmas movie, A CHRISTMAS CAROL, when Bob Crachitt tells Scrooge the reason he was late getting to work the day after Christmas.  His reply was simple- I was making rather merry. 

How many of us can be found guilty of such a sentiment.  Sadly, I believe not enough.  Yet, during this season may we all take a deep breath and reflect on why God sent His Son to live among us in such a humble way, as not to bother us, if we were not interested. 

Christmas is the time of year when God sends us a Christmas card by sending Jesus to save our very souls.  If God did write a card it would simply read this: I think the world of you, I hope you think the same of the gift I gave you…

May each and every Christmas find us with enough sense to throw caution to the wind and make rather merry.

Swavel

 

Safe At Home

Dorothy and her ruby red slippers were absolutely right- there is no place like home.

There is just something about having something to call your own, something you can call home.

For example, here are some phrases about home…  Home, home on the range where the deer and the antelope play.   Home is where the heart is.  Home is where your story begins.  I’ll be home for Christmas.  Home for the Holidays.  And of course the goal of each runner in baseball is be SAFE AT HOME. 

About two weeks ago, my wife and I became homeowners, not that we had elaborate plans to do so.  However, it is cool for the most part, but it comes with both advantages and disadvantages.

Disadvantages:

·         Can’t find things, because of the move

·         No parking for friends

·         We must pay for unexpected expenses

·         Must pay mortgage monthly or will be on the outside looking in

Advantages:

·         No one can tell us we have to leave at a moment’s notice

·         Can decorate how we like

·         We have something we can call ours

·         Stability is nice

Now, I know nothing is really all mine.  It has been said, that the Lord gives and the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.  And I believe all good things come from the hand of God.  So, although it is nice to own a home I know I can’t possibly do life on my own.

This sentiment can best be summed up by a plaque I got my wife for her birthday and something new to hang in our house: OUR HOUSE IS JUST A LITTLE HOUSE, BUT GOD KNOWS WHERE WE LIVE.

Safe at home only truly exists when God draws up the blueprint and then constructs it in His own good time.

Swavel

Tasty Treat

We all die, but have we all truly lived.

It is common knowledge that ice cream is a comfort food. 

Why is it when someone dies, someone you know really well, you begin to reflect on your childhood.  On Oct 9^th my grandmother, at the age of 96, passed away and it got me to thinking.  Especially about moments and experiences you shared together with that person you really loved. 

Among other things, I remember the things that she had at her house to eat.  The one tasty treat that sticks out most in my mind has to be the ice cream sandwiches.

When I was a kid there was nothing like going to my Grammy’s house and the first thing my brothers and I would often do was go into her basement.  The basement door was about ten feet from the side door of the house where would enter and it was the first thing on our minds.  As we cracked the door open we would run down the wooden stairs and onto the concrete floor.  And then race over the deep freezer and struggle to get the heavy door open. Then to our glee, those ice cream sandwiches were sitting there just waiting for us to arrive. 

Now, ice cream sandwiches are not my favorite treat, however there was a just certain euphoria that overtook me when I picked up the box and got a sandwich out.  Then I would sit on her couch to eat it and always got a gooey mess all over my fingers.  There was just something about knowing there was something special waiting for me each time we came to visit.  

But the thing I remember most about my Grammy was how she accepted me for who I was- her grandson.  There was a time in my elementary school years when I had an issue.  Each summer I would have a chance to have a vacation at her house for a few days.  However, when it came time to go to sleep I would get homesick and call for my parents to pick me up.

It became a real source of embarrassment for me a kid, but something I grew out of in junior high.  However, whenever it was mentioned in passing around her over the years she would never put me down for it.  It was just something that happened, water under the bridge and my status as her grandson would protect me from any further harassment.  

Tasty treats can remind us of people who whose memory has left a good taste in our minds.

Swavel 

On Blocks

 

 

It is not my business what others think of me- Charles Harling

Perception is not always reality.

Far too often in life we let others dictate who we really are.  Or we allow what others remember us to be, sum up who we are now. It is easy enough to do.  Often we grow to believe that the perception of who we are will never change. 

For example, years ago in my youth I was often labeled as someone who was irrational and flighty.  Unwisely, I had once eaten a whole stick of butter as a lunch time challenge at a summer camp.  And on a youth group trip in Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado, I epically threw up in the car causing the rest of the occupants to immediately vacate.

Yet, it does not tell the whole story about me.  Many today still remember as that crazy teen.  Changing the past is not something we can do. The past is good in that we learn from it and then take that knowledge and move forward with it.

However, if we allow people to label us, it more or less puts our ability in the present to be taken seriously - ON BLOCKS.  Just like a car that has been hoisted up on cement blocks unable to move.  Although, when we invite God into the equation of our lives, our past simply no longer can hold us hostage.

The truth is that no one knows us more intimately than the God who made us - flaws and all.   In my life God has done many miracles.  Things that are just supernatural and that as long as I held his hand worked out beautifully.  Yet if I had told God I was a failure and that I was no good to Him, I would have missed out.  And that truly would have been a crazy thing to do.

The only time our lives are truly on blocks is when we don’t give God the keys to drive…

Swavel

Deep Down

 

Never doubt the fact that God doesn’t make junk.

Do you remember the catch phrase, what’s in your wallet?  Well, it got me to thinking, so I pulled out my wallet and started looking.  Here are a few random items that I found:

- Library card

- Wedding picture of my wife and I (with me sporting a motorcycle cop mustache)

- Pictures of all my kids

- Spare key for my bug truck

- Shortcut directions on how to get to Wild Wood, NJ

- Webster‘s definition of the word  faith

- A business card for a Seeing Eye dog organization

- And lastly, a wallet size picture of Bob Griese, hidden behind the pics of my kids. 

The reason this oddity is there is that for a short span of his football career Bob Griese wore eye glasses under his football helmet, even though it looked a little out of place.  For quite a while, as a young kid, I thought I bore a resemblance to him, because I too wore glasses.  Not to mention, he played for the Miami Dolphins who happened to be my favorite team and still are.

For a lot of my childhood I did not care for my looks, like many of us growing up do not during our formidable years.  So, for a NFL player to vaguely look like me, in my distorted view, gave me hope that I wasn’t so bad off after all.

 As parents, my wife and I often have told our kids repeatedly it is much more important what you look like on the inside than the outside.   Even more significantly it is of the utmost  importance that our souls be right with God.  Not that we look cool.  So, I carry Bob Griese around in my wallet as a reminder that it is OK to look a little dorky.

Deep down inside of all of us, we are hoping that we possess some sort of real worth.

Swavel