A Christmas Miracle to Encourage You

Today Larry was running errands. He stopped at Gander Mountain to have the scope on his cross-bow sighted in. As he was leaving the store, a young lady approached him and asked if he would help her to raise the hood of her car as her car would not start. Of course Larry couldn't just raise the hood of the car and not help with whatever might be the problem under the hood. It seems that her battery was not fully engaged with the cables, and with a little jingle, jangle Larry has the battery connected and the car running like new.

During the course of his conversation with the young lady, he asked her if she was from Columbus. She said that she was, but that her parents had just moved to Kentucky last week, and this was the first time she'd had to handle car problems on her own (save your commentary about safety issues, this is a story about miracles you know). Larry asked her where her parents had moved to in Kentucky. She said she would tell him the town, but that he probably had never heard of it. Grayson, she said, Grayson, Kentucky. Larry told her that indeed he did know this small town and promptly asked her is her parents had moved there to teach at the college located there. To her surprise she said yes, they had taken jobs at Kentucky Christian University and would begin teaching there the first week of January. Larry said that he knew the college well, since it was the college that our daughter had graduated from!

Here's the miracle part: When her car broke down, the young lady had prayed for someone to help her, hoping they somehow might have a connection to her or her family! Call it a coincidence, call it six-degrees removed, call it whatever you like, but I prefer to call it a Christmas Miracle!

- author, Cindy Daniels

Encouraging Decorations???

Have you decorated your house or church building for Christmas yet? Is this the year, you promised yourself you'd buy a pre-lit tree so that you wouldn't have to untangle all of those pesky little stands of lights? And now, there are LED lights for a "green" Christmas (for those of you who love all things about Christmas lights, click here.)

Where do you stop unloading boxes of decor? Is this enough decoration, or should I add a little more? Should I buy more? Newer, prettier? Artificial or organic? Should I give away some of the stuff I've had for years so I won't feel so guilty when I buy more? Oh my goodness - Stop the Christmas madness!

Why do we go to all of the fuss and muss? Is it for us? Our neighbors? Maybe our friends? No, I've got it, it's all for the little people in our lives! We drum up excuse after excuse, and we wear ourselves out physically, and sometimes spiritually, trying to "do the season right." I know, I've been there!

Every year I have a theme for my mantle. I've had some pretty crazy themes through the years, A Crystal Christmas, Our Town, Babes in Toyland, Simple but Elegant, All Things Greeen, A Christmas Village, etc., etc., etc. I was having a hard time this year deciding on a theme for my mantle. Maybe it's because each year I'm more prone to do less decorating.

So tonight as I put a few simple decorations on my mantle, this years' theme came to me, Back to the Basics. When you look at a portion of my mantle, I hope that you'll be struck as I was that the central focus of Christmas is really all about celebrating the birth of Christ. Anything more is just icing on His birthday cake! Joy to the world the Lord is come!

- author Cindy Daniels

Send some pictures of your Christmas decorations, especially your mantles. It will be fun to share with others their Christmas traditions.

Encouraging Friendships

My goodness, time buzzes by when you're living life! Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving. we sure did! Here are some pictures of our Trash Can turkey and the Master Chef. Don't knock it if you've never eaten it!
I've been thinking a lot lately about the holidays. Doesn't it seems like this is the time of the year when we reflect most on our lives and the past year? I know I cry a little more when I'm watching movie classics like "Christmas Shoes" and "It's a Wonderful Life". I reminisce as I trim the Christmas tree, remembering the year I received certain precious ornaments, as I lovingly place them on our tree. And, I feel the urgency to send just the right card to those who've touched our lives in some special way this past year.

We run ourselves crazy trying to find just the right gift (isn't shopping on line great? For those of you who haven't ventured there yet, it's really not so hard, and a lot easier on the feet!) We bake cookies (for the first time all year), we string tangled lights, we visit in the homes of those we've not visited with all year...

Last year, we decided to break the madding cycle of "doing it all in December". We decided to spread our hospitality throughout the year. With so many new families coming into our church, neighborhood and work these days, we thought we would begin opening our home before the holidays. We invited people over for brunch, went out for pizza, shared an auction experience, barbecued hot dogs and even cooked "Trash Can" Turkey, all the while getting to know folks we didn't know very well. But, you know what, now we know them a lot better. Why, because we invited them to our home so we could spend time with them.

We've hear it over and over again - what's the most important gift we can give to others? Well, it really is time. And, at this busy "time" of the year, maybe we can shop a little less, buy our Christmas cookies, instead of baking all of them, and become a minimalist when it comes to holiday decorations. In doing so, I believe you'll gain a lot more holiday spirit. You might even encourage some one's Christian walk by spending your time on them.

Try spreading out the time you spend with others - don't stop with December. Begin now scheduling time in January to meet with friends, or folks you don't know very well. There's no better way to get to know someone than to have them into your home. For those of you who want to spruce up your home before you begin to invite others over - forget it! Your house will never, ever look like HGTV!

And, when you reflect on 2009 at this time next year, you'll be glad you invested in people and not things!

- author, Cindy Daniels