OLD PAST, NEW APPROACHES

 Here we are again....a day shy of New Year's Eve.  I stand amazed at how quickly time flies these days.  

I wanted to share a short (imagine, me short?) thought as the old year passes and the new year begins.  It's truly just one day at a time just as it's always been, we just add a different year in our dating of items.  So the same thing applies.  

Here's my thoughts, courtesy of Isaiah and 1 Thessalonians (words from the "old" and "new" testaments:

Consider....

SEASON OF GIFTS

Tis the season for gifts!  Beautifully wrapped gifts with snowman paper, gold foil paper, red and green paper, and festive paper signifying the Christmas season.  Gifts also come in many sizes from large to small.  Some are bagged in beautiful bags topped with tissue paper.  The ways for wrapping gifts is endless.  

As for my gift buying this year, I have mastered the art of online shopping.  With a hip replacement recovery still going on, my ability to shop on these two legs is so very limited still.  So far it's worked.  The Husband has learned to look daily for random deliveries.  Often he successfully finds them.

Today at church I was given a gift to open that was left for me somewhere in the choir loft by my anonymous gift giver.  After church, The Grandbaby happily brought it to me.  Her first words were, "Can we open it?"   I knew it was from this person as the gift wrap had birds on it.  Each gift in years past from this anonymous giver has been bird related.  This person knows my love of birds.  When I saw the gift wrap with the birds today, I almost didn't want to open it....so much care given to the wrapping.  "We" did open it to find a puzzle, colorful with beautiful flowers and yes, you guessed it....birds!   Of course, The Grandbaby said, "Wow, Neema, 1000 pieces!"  Yes, I love puzzles and yes, that one will take me a while.  I might even have the gift of patience when I'm done.   

If my anonymous gift giver is a blog reader, consider this a heartfelt thank you for the gift.  I find myself full of warm, fuzzy feelings as I look at the birds and today I was somewhat reminded again of how God takes care of the birds so how much more does he love me?  And with that, I am reminded of the treasure and gift of friendship, even though that gift giving friend remains anonymous.  So, if you are a blog reader, thank you, friend!

The sermon today was on the five senses and I was reminded of those and what they mean to me as a Christian.  Then there was a bit of a talk about the greatest gift ever given and I was thankful for my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

This reminds me also that the best gifts are the gifts of the heart.  You know those, don't you?  Gifts of love, friendship, joy, mercy, grace....the gifts are endless.  As I watched the church's live nativity last night and watched those I love portray Mary and Joseph and all those other nativity characters, I thought of how the real people all must have felt on that night so long ago.  It brought a tear or two or three to my eye.  Sweet young Mary....how scared and awed she must have been at the same time.  And Joseph, did he wonder how he would manage with this young wife and this special baby?  The shepherds, so lowly and poor and probably very smelly....how did they feel to see the angels and hear the good news, then go quickly to find this baby.  Oh, the awe that there must have been!  Lives changed in the quiet and still of the dark, dark night.  That dark night lit up by a shining bright star.   Such wonderful gifts!

One of my cousins went to be with Jesus last night.  The Cousin was right under me in the lineup of age ...a paternal cousin.  He was 11 months younger than me.  He had become sick.  He would call me weekly and just talk.  I found myself looking at old photos of the two of us as we played together often at my Granny's when we were little.  He always seemed to sort of have a hard life, but now he walks on a street of gold and has seen Jesus face to face!  What a great gift that is!

In this season of gift giving, let us always be thankful and say so to those who gift us material things.  Let us always be thankful and say so to those who gift us gifts from the heart.  And let us never forget to be thankful for the greatest gift of all--the gift of Jesus, God's only Son!  

Happy birthday, Jesus! 

Consider....

SEASON OF HEALING

Yes, you are right.  Healing is a big deal to me these days.  I'm slowly healing from my hip replacement but I'm not gonna lie you, it's slow.  I am walking mostly on a cane and 30+ minutes a day in increments  of time up my driveway and back.  They are slow walks, but walks.  I'm take it.

That got me to pondering about healing.  I looked up the word "healing" and Mr. Webster says it's "the process of becoming sound or healthy again".  That led me to look up the word "sound" and he says it means (in the context defined in healing) "in good condition; not damaged, injured, or diseased".  

There are so many seasons in our lives.  If you are a regular reader of this blog, you will know I say that so often, simply because it's the truth.    In thinking of seasons of healing, we immediately go to the physical.  When we are sick, we want to get better.  When we are in recovery from surgery as I am, I want to get better quicker.   It's not a road that is pain free either.  When those we love are sick, we want them better.  I have learned, though, that there are times when our seasons of healing are of the ultimate kind....be it from an incurable disease, an aging disease, you get the idea.  

Often when we experience the seasons of ultimate healing, then we go into a season of grief and need healing from that.  I imagine most of us have experienced this season of grief and the healing involved.  Many say that time heals all things and that is partly true.  I say that the Lord helps us with those kinds of grief healing.  He knows our griefs and our sorrows and He loves us.  Love goes a long way towards that kind of healing.

I thought of healing from anxieties, worry, and stress.  Do you know those kinds of "diseases"?  Boy, I do. Often I mentally let those things eat at me, pull at me, and mess with my mind so much that I have to ask healing for those.   Granted we must do our part by learning to not be anxious, learning to not worry, and learning to not stress.  The scriptures speak of that.  I think a way of healing from these problems is to consult the scriptures.  I might would start with Philippians 4:6,7 and Matthew 11:28-30.  

Sometimes we even need a season of healing from our ego.  I don't know about you but sometimes I think I'm a pretty good person.  And sometimes I am but I don't need to get so high and mighty and prideful that I forget humbleness.  So yes, a season of healing from my ego.  

So yes, seasons of healing are necessary for profitable living.  Think about it.  I'm sure you can come with some healing of your own that you might need.  My list is endless.  Healing for impatience, annoyance, and other mental things like that.  I think healing for these things take the right kind of medicine--love, joy, grace.  I need those doses in abundance.  

There we are, it wasn't exactly the post I thought it would be but one nonetheless.  I will ponder a bit more and in the meantime you consider.....seasons of healing.