So, 2012 is marching quickly upon us. I'm wondering what this even numbered year will present for me, for the country, for my family. I'm hoping that my visions of death in a car will be squashed, that my small group will have more direction, that I can be a leader, and lead by example.
I hope that I can be more understanding of my friends situations, who are in what I call ridiculous relationships with boys who ultimately suck, and by suck, I mean suck the life out of my friends. I hope that I can say the right things at the right times, and avoid touchy subjects at inopportune times.
With these hopes, I also ask that my friends can be more choosy, that they can each realize that they are worth more than they currently project.
I ask for a better relationship with my mother, and a bigger set of balls than I've ever had, not to proudly display, but to modestly back up my good intentions.
For 2012, I wish that Sarah gets into a good school, and can be a leader, and when the time is right, she will follow the right people and make the right choices.
It's not the amount of pictures that we took in 2011 that sums up what effectively marks the close of a year, nor the parties we attended in the month of December in celebration of Christmas or Hanukkah, or whatever it is that you give praise to. It's not the amount of friends you may have or not have on Facebook that represent us.
At the end of the day, at the end of the year, it's not what we thought was important that actually was. It wasn't the amount of money that we lost in a risky stock market trade that your friend promised was the goldmine, but really turned out to be the black hole. And it isn't that stunning diamond ring your honey surprised you with, when he got down on the very same knee that he broke playing ice hockey in 7th grade, when the new orthopeadist said he might have a slight limp, but thankfully, he didn't. It's the love that fuels us to do nice things for eachother. It's not the gifts. It's not the wrappings. It's the motive and the love.
As, I'm sitting here surrounded by beautiful packages, decorations that shine, lights that twinkle and music that is somehow not irritating still even though it has permeated every public arena and radio wave for the last month straight, relentlessly, I'm sitting here thinking that these small things are a culmination of what is to come.
These are the little details that God wants us to find solace in. These simple ways we find peace are just one more way that God shows His love for us.
I've always known, as most people probably have, those who believe in a greater being, be it Christian or otherwise, I've always known that God presents himself in the little things. That's what keeps us coming back. I can't speak for everyone, clearly, but the bells and whistles, the lights on Broadway, the cool breezes on a scorching summer day when you're impatiently waiting in line at the farmer's market, and the gramma in front of you wants to debate the price of a bag of tomatoes, the random twenty you found in your front jeans pocket when you needed to pay for parking and you had no cash in your thin little wallet- it's those things that keep us reeling.
I hear people say all the time, "I hate all the hustle and bustle of Christmas. It's not about spending a grip of cash you don't even have to spend." I may be guilty of saying it myself. I think it could be argued that we have all felt that way at least once or twice during the Christmas season.
But I realized tonight, that even though we may spend money we don't have, and we run around, fighting over parking spaces, burning up perfectly good food in our kitchens because that neighbor decided that she wanted to make a cake, and was missing the not 1, not 2, not even 3 eggs that a good cake recipe calls for, but 4 eggs, and realized that she was too lazy to go to the store, but not lazy enough to take on the rum cake, and she wouldn't leave your front porch because yelping about the other neighbor had somehow become the number one priority- in front of the cake, it's for a reason. We do these things, these out-of-our-wayisms, these seemingly never endingisms so that we can make others happy. That is the richness of life. That's what God intended for us.
He wants us to celebrate how much He loves us, by showing others how much we can love each other. And what a better time of the year than Jesus's birthday?
Praise God.
I wish that we could all take a moment to realize that all this stress and busyness is not all in vain. We do these things to make others happy. And that's the fat of life. That's what He wants.
Next time you are doing something for someone else that you really don't want to do, begrudgingly, try changing your attitude. Take the role of servant. Do it with JOY in your heart. The true blessing is that you are now BOTH the giver and the receiver. You are now receiving the other person's burden. And you are giving out a break to someone else. Don't we all need a break?
Praise be to God. Merry Christmas everyone.
I hope that I can be more understanding of my friends situations, who are in what I call ridiculous relationships with boys who ultimately suck, and by suck, I mean suck the life out of my friends. I hope that I can say the right things at the right times, and avoid touchy subjects at inopportune times.
With these hopes, I also ask that my friends can be more choosy, that they can each realize that they are worth more than they currently project.
I ask for a better relationship with my mother, and a bigger set of balls than I've ever had, not to proudly display, but to modestly back up my good intentions.
For 2012, I wish that Sarah gets into a good school, and can be a leader, and when the time is right, she will follow the right people and make the right choices.
It's not the amount of pictures that we took in 2011 that sums up what effectively marks the close of a year, nor the parties we attended in the month of December in celebration of Christmas or Hanukkah, or whatever it is that you give praise to. It's not the amount of friends you may have or not have on Facebook that represent us.
At the end of the day, at the end of the year, it's not what we thought was important that actually was. It wasn't the amount of money that we lost in a risky stock market trade that your friend promised was the goldmine, but really turned out to be the black hole. And it isn't that stunning diamond ring your honey surprised you with, when he got down on the very same knee that he broke playing ice hockey in 7th grade, when the new orthopeadist said he might have a slight limp, but thankfully, he didn't. It's the love that fuels us to do nice things for eachother. It's not the gifts. It's not the wrappings. It's the motive and the love.
As, I'm sitting here surrounded by beautiful packages, decorations that shine, lights that twinkle and music that is somehow not irritating still even though it has permeated every public arena and radio wave for the last month straight, relentlessly, I'm sitting here thinking that these small things are a culmination of what is to come.
These are the little details that God wants us to find solace in. These simple ways we find peace are just one more way that God shows His love for us.
I've always known, as most people probably have, those who believe in a greater being, be it Christian or otherwise, I've always known that God presents himself in the little things. That's what keeps us coming back. I can't speak for everyone, clearly, but the bells and whistles, the lights on Broadway, the cool breezes on a scorching summer day when you're impatiently waiting in line at the farmer's market, and the gramma in front of you wants to debate the price of a bag of tomatoes, the random twenty you found in your front jeans pocket when you needed to pay for parking and you had no cash in your thin little wallet- it's those things that keep us reeling.
I hear people say all the time, "I hate all the hustle and bustle of Christmas. It's not about spending a grip of cash you don't even have to spend." I may be guilty of saying it myself. I think it could be argued that we have all felt that way at least once or twice during the Christmas season.
But I realized tonight, that even though we may spend money we don't have, and we run around, fighting over parking spaces, burning up perfectly good food in our kitchens because that neighbor decided that she wanted to make a cake, and was missing the not 1, not 2, not even 3 eggs that a good cake recipe calls for, but 4 eggs, and realized that she was too lazy to go to the store, but not lazy enough to take on the rum cake, and she wouldn't leave your front porch because yelping about the other neighbor had somehow become the number one priority- in front of the cake, it's for a reason. We do these things, these out-of-our-wayisms, these seemingly never endingisms so that we can make others happy. That is the richness of life. That's what God intended for us.
He wants us to celebrate how much He loves us, by showing others how much we can love each other. And what a better time of the year than Jesus's birthday?
Praise God.
I wish that we could all take a moment to realize that all this stress and busyness is not all in vain. We do these things to make others happy. And that's the fat of life. That's what He wants.
Next time you are doing something for someone else that you really don't want to do, begrudgingly, try changing your attitude. Take the role of servant. Do it with JOY in your heart. The true blessing is that you are now BOTH the giver and the receiver. You are now receiving the other person's burden. And you are giving out a break to someone else. Don't we all need a break?
Praise be to God. Merry Christmas everyone.
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