Let me begin by wishing you a Happy New Year. I hope that the beginning of a new year brings you joyful anticipation of the many things a new year can bring. There are many opportunities that await us in 2008. Will we grab hold of those opportunities with joy or see them as just more demands on our already overfilled lives?
The answer to that depends upon our attitude. And believe it or not, we are responsible for our attitude and can change our attitude if we so desire. Our attitude is not the result of the prior events of our lives. Our attitude is the result of how we have decided to respond to the events of our lives. Bad things happen to everyone. So do good things. Which ones we decide to focus upon leads to our positive or negative attitudes.
May the coming year find you focusing on the blessings you have received, so that you will have the patience to grow through the more difficult times.
Grace & Peace,
Donns
"What is Advent anyway? I just celebrate Christmas!" That is the common response whenever there is a discussion of the Advent season. We have been seeing Christmas decorations and hearing Christmas music in some stores since August. For many people, Advent is just the name we call the weeks leading up to Christmas day and is synonymous with "Christmas Shopping Season".
What Advent should be for Christians is a time of preparation and hope. In order for us to truly understand what the coming of the Christ child means for us, we need to spend some time reflecting on who we are and who God is. We cannot truly celebrate Christmas until we recognize how much we need Christ. In our secular world, we celebrate our self-sufficiency and labor under the fallacy that our power and privilege are the result of our own efforts.
We like to forget that we are created beings, just a little higher than the animals and just a little lower than the angels. We have dual natures. We have bodies which age and fail us and eventually die, but we also have eternal souls with a higher purpose than accumulating wealth and prestige and security for our mortal existence.
It is only when we consider our eternal nature as "souls inhabiting a body" that we can truly comprehend the meaning of Christmas. What is the promise that Christ brings to you this Advent season? The answer may be different for each of us, but we must take time to prepare our hearts and ask the question.
May each of you be blessed with a yearning for Christ as you anticipate Christmas this year.
Grace & Peace,
Donna
