12/8/2013 0 Comments AnswersIt's in everyone of us To be wise Find your heart Open up both your eyes We can all know everything Without ever knowing why It's in everyone of us By and by -----Songwriter David Pomerantz This is a time of seeking answers. The answers are easy like the meaning of life and who created the universe. We all know them. We just seem to have forgotten. This is the time when we are called to reflect upon who we are, where we have been and where we are going as the annual rebirth of light and love comes again. We call this time "Advent". It is the time when we wait again for a sign from above like a star in the eastern sky. This star will point the way. What we forget is that we know the way. We just need to be still and listen. The still small voice of the one we call the Christ will speak out from its dwelling place deep in our hearts. The answers are all about us.
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12/7/2013 0 Comments Paper SnowflakesWhen I was a kid, one of the things we did in school and/or at home was make paper snowflakes to hang in the windows or to string from the celing or in general stick them anywhere we thought they'd brighten the place up. This was of course all part of getting ready for the holidays. Snowflakes were associated with the holidays. After Christmas they would all come down along with the rest of the holiday decorations. By then people were tired of winter and didn't want to be reminded there were still (at least back east and in the midwest) a couple more motnhs of winter weather ahead. Making paper snowflakes was and still is a very creative endeavor. Folding into triangles, cutting slits and holes that when the paper was unfolded became part of the fanciful design of the snowflake. Like real snowflakes, it was rare that eny two were exactly alike. One other thing I remember about making paper snowflakes in class is the lesson that went along with it. We were reminded that we were all like snowflakes. We were unique individuals who only come along once and then melt away into history just like the snows of winter. A heavy thought for young minds, but the point eventually was taken in as we snipped another snowflake to hang on the Christmas tree. Click here for complete instructions and examples on how to make your own paper snowflakes: http://www.almanac.com/content/how-make-paper-snowflakes 12/5/2013 1 Comment Charlie Brown Christmas TreeBeauty is in the eye of the beholder. Linus Van Pelt: I never thought it was such a bad little tree. It's not bad at all, really. Maybe it just needs a little love. Charlie Brown saw something in the little tree with just a few branches and drooping over. Charlie Brown: I guess you were right, Linus. I shouldn't have picked this little tree. Everything I do turns into a disaster. I guess I really don't know what Christmas is all about. [shouting in desperation] Charlie Brown: Isn't there anyone who knows what Christmas is all about? Charlie Brown saw there was more to Christmas than lush everygreens decorated with shiney glass balls, icicles and twinkling lights. And he came to see that sometimes the least among us needs us more than we need to satisfy our image of perfection. On this journey through advent, it is important to look to that which might not otherwise catch our eye. Surely we can appreciate all the lovely things of Christmas such as houses covered with brightly colored lights, frosted window panes, and the glow of fires in their hearths. But there are the lesser things that need our attention to realize their true beauty. That is the miracle of advent: to find those things and bring them into 12/4/2013 1 Comment Anticipation“Anticipating pain was like enduring it twice. Why not anticipate pleasure instead?” ― Robin Hobb, Renegade's Magic “..that sanguine expectation of happiness which is happiness itself” ― Jane Austen, Sense and Sensibility I think sometimes we forget to stop on enjoy the anticipation of what is to come. The advent of the birth of Christ is one of those times. We get so wrapped up the busyness of the season, we forget to be in the moment reflecting on how it feels to know there is something so good on the horizon coming our way. Like Hobb says above, we spend much time anticipating pain and less time anticipating pleasure. For me, the anticipation of an event is much more tantalizing than the actual experience of the event. Children sleep with visions of sugar plums in their heads on Christmas Eve. The art of anticipation is practicing patience, observing ourselves and those around us and being aware of how and what we are feeling, doing and experiencing. It is not only an art, but a discipline. That is what we learn during seasons such as Advent. It is learning who we are and what the true meaning of Christmas is 12/3/2013 0 Comments Openness"When a door closes, another opens," Alexander Graham Bell. Its about being open. Open to change. Open to growth. Open to inspiration. In this season of advent, we are open to the coming of the Light of the World. Truth shall be revealed, not only in the story of the birth of a little child in Bethlehem, but in each of us who hear the story. It really doesn't matter if you are Christian or not. It is the meaning behind the story that opens your heart if you let it. The Light chases away the darnkness...if we open the door to our heart. When we decide to be open to the possibilities of Life, the universe indeed opens to us. In this season of the advent of the multi-faceted holiday of Christmas, and all it's many meanings to those who hear it, we should celebrate openness. Living in the question makes the answer all the more clear. "It just struck me that Jesus never celebrated Advent, he never had to 'await and anticipate the coming of the Light'. It seems that there is a great and foundational lesson in this fact. Why do we await and anticipate what we carry within us?" Jennifer Hawley-Zechlin, Facebook friend. Today on a rather dreary Monday, I have watching the light of the sun in its as the day drifts by. It has gone from shining bright in a clear blue sky to gauzy through the incoming clouds to a golden glow in the late afternoon at the sun begins to decline. Tonight lights will shine to guide the way on streets and sidewalks. Newly hung Christmas and Hannukah lights will twinkle merrily in anticapatory celebration of the fifth day of Hannukah and the oncoming Christmas holidays. Light plays a crucial part in our daily lives. Even blind people feel its warmth upon their faces. As Jennifer says, we carry the light of those who have gone before us, within us. We just need to remember to, as the old song goes, "this little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine." It comes from deep inside filtering out through our eyes, our interactions with others, our soul. We may try to suppress it or not be aware of it sometimes, but it is always there, a light that reveals in us to others just who we are. Today I celebrate light, both the light that is already here, within us, around us and the light that is coming one day to reveal all. Today is advent for me is about light, pure and simple. During this season of advent, I will be 'blogging' about the themes of advent leading up to the event that changed the course of history for believers and non-believers alike. Hope is an ache in the heart that longs for the promise of knowing God. It is what keeps us walking down the path on our journey toward whatever will be our destiny. We move forward in hope of a brighter day, a better tommorrow. It is during advent that we have hope renewed and practice our own rituals that maintain the flame of hope, burning bright within us. This passage was read during the lighting of the first advent candle this morning at my church: "The poet, Emily Dickenson, wrote: 'Hope is the thing with feather the perches in the soul.' The psalmist declared: 'I put my hope in you all day long.' Hope is more than wishful thinking. Hope is the Spirit of God dwelling within us, reminding us we are never alone. Hope is our active commitment to be God's faithful people, whether we walk an easy path or face fiery trials. When we light the candle of Hope, we embrace God's presence among us, yesterday and today and always." |
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