Gifts from the Heart!

Forgiveness:

                This may appear to be the hardest gift to give, or the one that may cost you most, but you will be surprised to find yourself benefiting from this more than anyone else!

                Is there someone that you are having a hard time with, or is there something in your past that you are holding onto? You have been forgiven of so much, can you not forgive someone else? Or think of it this way: When you stand before Christ (who has forgiven you of all your wrong doing,) and have to explain yourself, will He be glad or proud of you for holding onto these negative feelings? Everything takes on such a trivial air in the light of Christ and eternity!

                The fruit of forgiveness is peace, contentment, relief.

                The fruit of unforgiveness is bitterness, resentment, indignation.

                Can you see how YOU are the winner? Try it! It may seem difficult, but with practice, you’ll find that forgiveness can benefit you more than you ever imagined!

What should I Give?

Gifts from the Heart!

Three Gifts you can give to anyone this season. They cost you nothing, yet they are priceless!

Friendship:

In the hurry of our culture and a climate of looking out for yourself, true friendship is rare. Extend friendship to someone who you know will appreciate it. You can choose to befriend a cashier where you shop or a work associate. Often we’ll see the same people throughout our daily routines. Choose someone who looks like they could use a smile, and each time you see them, begin a dialogue. You would be surprised how much you can learn about someone a little bit at a time.

                Extend friendship to your children. As much as I am not a proponent of being “buddies” or “pals” with your kids, you can still maintain your authority while opening yourself up as a human being to your kids and letting them see the person inside of the parent.

Faith:

                There are so many people in America today that are searching for answers and true satisfaction. Share with them your faith. It’s not hard, and you don’t have to have a degree, just share your own story. How did you first hear about Jesus? How did you come to realize your need for a Savior? How did you reach out and trust Him, and accept Him as your own Redeemer? – Tell someone!

                I once taught a Sunday School class of 1^st through 3^rd grade kids. We were learning about God’s plan of Salvation, and I wanted it to be common to talk about things of the Bible. I asked them to talk to their parents, and to find out their parent’s Salvation story.

                It is sad to note how few children knew how their own parents came to trust in the Lord!

Share yourself with someone special. As you open yourself up to them, you'll find yourself receiving more of a blessing then you thought you were giving!

Remember...don't forget!

Remembering Christmas Packages Past!

So we’re getting to mail out my first Christmas packages of many Christmases to come. This is our daughter’s first Christmas away. She was married in May, and they are living in Ohio. (We’re in Florida.) And although I’m not a grandmother, my mind goes back to many years growing up when my Grandparents would send us our gifts in the mail.

What excitement there would be while my mom would open up the packages and one by one she would pull out wrapped gifts, and she would read off whose name was on the tag!

I don’t think there’s a kid alive that can’t tell a box that contains a pair of pajamas – I know we were always pretty sure! That didn’t detract from our excitement, though!

The unique wrapping paper, the special bows, even the smell inside the box held its own nuance!

As much as I would like to give my children my own happy memories, it’s futile. I love to tell them about my childhood. I hope it lets them try to picture me as a child, and I want them to know something about their Great Grandparents that have passed on. But I can’t give them my memories, no matter how hard I try.

What I can do is try to help them make memories of their own. Help them rewind and replay a special night or happening that your family might enjoy. As they retell their view of what happened it will help them to build a stronger memory of it. And of course, TAKE PICTURES! Nothing jogs the memory like pictures.

So this season… Don’t forget to remember!

SCRABBLE!

Scrabble, Anyone?

One thing I remember was that my Mom would usually find the time during holidays to play games with us kids. Now there were 4 of us, and she probably didn’t have much spare time. And maybe she played games with us throughout the year, but I remember it mostly during the holidays.

She liked scrabble best. She was good with words, she liked to read and was a good speller. So she liked Scrabble. She also taught me how to play Backgammon. To this day I don’t completely understand that game, but I can hold my own (after re-reading the rules). Of course there was Checkers and Chess, Monopoly and Sorry. But usually we would play Scrabble.

Now, I was a kid. My vocabulary couldn’t hold a candle to hers. She was a librarian! OK, So you know there was really no competition for her. But we played.

Sometimes she would win, sometimes I would win. It was fun, because she would praise my ability to come up with words, and I was always proud because my mom was so smart!

One time we were playing and talking and I remember clearly that she said to me.

“Kathy when you play games with your kids, don’t always let them win.”

(Now, it never occurred to me that she ever let me win!)

“Why?”

“Because they’ll need to know, that in life, you don’t always win. And being grown-up is also knowing how to lose.”

There is not one time, not one. That I play a game with my kids, that I don’t remember that.

As adults, we don’t always win. We may apply for a raise, or enter a cooking contest, or just try to learn something new, and we don’t always achieve success. Defeat is a part of life. Everyone experience it. I’m glad my mother taught me that it’s important that we lose with grace!

It's Christmas!

This is the Christmas season! No doubt about that!

Do you know what Christmas is about? Do you know the story of the little baby in the manger scene? It’s a true story. And it’s the reason that Christmas is a season of love and joy and giving.

This season, make sure that you share the true story of Christmas to your children! Make sure that they know why we are celebrating Christmas!

Christmas is the celebration of the birth of a baby. Not just any baby, but a promised baby! This baby was God’s Son, come down from heaven to live a life without sin, without doing anything wrong, so that when the time was right, He could pay the awful penalty of sin that human beings have accrued.

If you want to read the traditional account of the Christmas story in the Bible, it is found in Luke 2: 1-18

Or you can follow this link to the story and a printable version.

http://www.blueletterbible.org/Bible.cfm?b=Luk&c=2&v=1&t=KJV#top

Jesus Christ was born. He lived a perfect (sinless) life. He offered himself freely to be the payment for our sin debt. He shed his blood on the cross of Calvary to pay for our sins. And his payment was accepted by God in heaven!

He gave his life, and rose again to secure for you an eternal home in heaven. What a gift!

To receive God’s free gift of Salvation, and to be able to personally experience the joy of Christmas and to understand the original gift of Christmas, all you have to do is accept His gift!

Tell God that you believe in Him and in His Son, Jesus Christ. Tell God that you want to accept his free gift of salvation! Sure, it’s simple! God made it simple – so that even a child would easily understand how to accept this precious gift!

˜

For God (the creator)

So loved (possessed such strong affection)

The world (the inhabitants of the earth – His creation)

That He gave (to offer without expectation of payment)

His Only (There was no other person that could do what He did.)

Begotten Son (not an adopted or created son)

That Whosoever (in order that any, all, every, whomever)

Believeth  (to accept as fact and to rely on it’s truth)

In Him (in this Son ~His Death in our stead~ His resurrection)

Should not perish (doesn’t have to die and go to our present destination, hell)

But (a wonderful word that shows another option)

Have (to posses, own, obtain)

Everlasting life! (Live forevermore in Heaven, with God – Our Creator!)

\John 3:16/

Christmas in my Shopping Cart!

I don't care how old you get, there's always a little bit of the child that we once were!

Today,  while picking up some last minute groceries, I see the "ribbon candy" that I know my husband likes. I put it in the cart, and here him exclaim, "It's Christmas!"

If you think back, and notice this year, most of the things that we enjoy about the holidays are not the expensive gifts, or the money spent. It's the little things like "ribbon candy" that remind us of other days, and bring back such wonderful memories.

Remember this as you're planning and doing things for your kids this Season!

It's not the money or the toys that they will take with them into their adult years, it's their memories of family and loved ones!

Make memories with your children. Take the time to laugh with them. Bake cookies, play games, tell stories! The popular word is "engage" with your kids. Connect with them! You'll be glad you did, because before long, they may be hundreds of miles away, with their own family and their own decorations. But you'll both have the memories that you took the time to create this year!