Merry Christmas, everyone! Well, Merry belated Christmas, as it is almost New Years. However, I hope it was good nonetheless. I hope that Santa Claus left lots of fun memories, and great laughs. I also hope you took time to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Jesus, the Savior, is born TODAY! Hallelujah! I just can't fathom that experience. Born in a manger, no room for the inn for the SAVIOR OF THE WORLD. It's just so crazy to me.
To me, Christmas means celebrating Jesus' birth, but also enjoying the company of my family. I love my family so much. They are kind of my lifeline. I thrive off my family, and always look forward to spending time with them in some way. My immediate family (being my older brothers) always seem to be weirded out by my love for family time. Whenever we go to reunions or get togethers, they always tend to leave before the party is over, and groan before we arrive in the first place. I mean, sure they enjoy seeing family as much as I do, they just don't like being social for more than, well, 20 minutes a day, tops.
However, as I already said, I thrive off my family. They provide such great memories and wonderful laughs that I never miss a family reunion, and am one of the last ones to leave. I love seeing my grandparents and aunts and uncles in the same room having a good time fellowshipping with one another.
It used to be that on Christmas, I would really celebrate it three times. We would wake up super early (or, at least I thought it was super early) and open the presents from our parents and Santa ( :) ). Then, after a quick breakfast we would scurry out to my dads side of the family and spend the afternoon there with so much laughter and hilarity I could hardly stand it. Of course, it took me until just a few years ago that I was able to actually understand the jokes, but I laughed regardless. From there, we would head home just for a quick stop to grab the other presents to exchange at Christmas on my mom's side of the family.
I'm the third oldest grandson on my mom's side of the family, so it was always a lot of fun over there. My mom is the oldest of three kids, and therefore her kids are the oldest of the grandkids. I have three younger girl cousins and one younger boy, add that to my two older brothers and that totals the 7 grandkids of my Grandma and Grandpa Phillips. Anyway, since I am near the older group, a lot of the jokes and activities are geared toward my understanding and I laugh a lot. (Not that I don't laugh on the Henry side, I just understand the jokes a lot better on the Phillips.)
These memories are the best for me. Both my dads side and my moms-- I always loved Christmas because we always had lots of family and lots of fun. But-- lots of things happened in my family over the years, including the death of both my Grandma and Grandpa Phillips, and now it's just not the same. We don't get together as much on my moms side- especially for Christmas. It used to not bother me all that much, because I would always say "There's next time" or "Maybe we'll hang out as family on a different time" But my mom and her siblings don't really get along very much it seems, and it always seems like its a HUUUGEEE burden for us to get together. I guess it really started to bother me when I noticed the same burden trickling down to my brother. I recall him asking "So.. Are we going to pretend to do Christmas with (family members of Moms side) this year?" I mean, yeah I know that Grandma and Grandpa aren't here anymore for us to see during the holidays, but is it really that much of a stressful time just to see your family? I love seeing them..
I don't know. This is a much different blog than my others, and I kind of feel like I'm complaining. And don't get me wrong, I understand the pain they are going through and sometimes don't want to be around my family either. But, ESPECIALLY at Christmas, couldn't we make the effort to see each other? That's all I ask..
And so it goes..
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Sunday, December 18, 2011
Late night thoughts..
"Nobody knows what we're for, only what we're against when we judge the wounded. What if we put down our signs, crossed over the lines, and loved like YOU did?"
Yet again I am finding myself newly convicted by lyrics of a song. Remember that face-plant moment I talked about in one of my previous blogs? Well it happened again. People out there are "wounded". Not necessarily in the literal sense, although the could be, but I think that what this lyric is implying as "wounded" is the people who are emotionally wounded. These are the ones who are succumbing to the sinful nature and appearing as if they don't care about it. And it seems that a lot of times Christians, especially me, judge people too awfully, and too quickly.
I know that for me, I oftentimes pass judgment on others just by sight. Instead of getting to know their true story, and simply loving them as Jesus would love, I avoid them and let them continue to go about their lives. Perhaps I would be the only Jesus they see, and I passed up the opportunity because I was uncomfortable, judgmental, rude.
Can you imagine what a powerful statement it would be for the body of Christ if we stopped worrying about our own comfort and instead went out and fought for what God intended us? What if we stopped judging others, and really did love like God does? Love so much that people RAN into the arms of Jesus. Can you picture the overwhelming results we would receive if we stopped worrying about the standard way of doing things, and instead went out on a limb-guided by Jesus' loving hands- and loved the loveless, the Sinners that the song continues to talk about? Wouldn't it be amazing if we stopped dividing ourselves from the rest of the world, stopped looking down on the world, but instead stepped into the world in order to try and save it, actually "put down our signs, cross over the lines, and love like JESUS did? Christ's love is powerful enough to do that, so why don't we show it?
And furthermore, the song goes on to say "Open our eyes to the world at the END of our pointing fingers." We should stop blaming the world for the sin, as we are sinners too. We're really no different than the sinners we are condemning and judging. The only real difference is the only difference that matters. We have the winning answer! We have Jesus' love and grace! He's on our side! Why not show that to the world? It's so easy to obtain, and we have it!
Anyway- it's my New Years resolution to be Jesus to whomever I encounter. I'm going to try and "be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry," as James 1:19 encourages us to be.
And so it goes...
Yet again I am finding myself newly convicted by lyrics of a song. Remember that face-plant moment I talked about in one of my previous blogs? Well it happened again. People out there are "wounded". Not necessarily in the literal sense, although the could be, but I think that what this lyric is implying as "wounded" is the people who are emotionally wounded. These are the ones who are succumbing to the sinful nature and appearing as if they don't care about it. And it seems that a lot of times Christians, especially me, judge people too awfully, and too quickly.
I know that for me, I oftentimes pass judgment on others just by sight. Instead of getting to know their true story, and simply loving them as Jesus would love, I avoid them and let them continue to go about their lives. Perhaps I would be the only Jesus they see, and I passed up the opportunity because I was uncomfortable, judgmental, rude.
Can you imagine what a powerful statement it would be for the body of Christ if we stopped worrying about our own comfort and instead went out and fought for what God intended us? What if we stopped judging others, and really did love like God does? Love so much that people RAN into the arms of Jesus. Can you picture the overwhelming results we would receive if we stopped worrying about the standard way of doing things, and instead went out on a limb-guided by Jesus' loving hands- and loved the loveless, the Sinners that the song continues to talk about? Wouldn't it be amazing if we stopped dividing ourselves from the rest of the world, stopped looking down on the world, but instead stepped into the world in order to try and save it, actually "put down our signs, cross over the lines, and love like JESUS did? Christ's love is powerful enough to do that, so why don't we show it?
And furthermore, the song goes on to say "Open our eyes to the world at the END of our pointing fingers." We should stop blaming the world for the sin, as we are sinners too. We're really no different than the sinners we are condemning and judging. The only real difference is the only difference that matters. We have the winning answer! We have Jesus' love and grace! He's on our side! Why not show that to the world? It's so easy to obtain, and we have it!
Anyway- it's my New Years resolution to be Jesus to whomever I encounter. I'm going to try and "be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry," as James 1:19 encourages us to be.
And so it goes...
No one knows what we're for only against when we judge the wounded
What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
What if we put down our signs crossed over the lines and loved like You did
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners
Open our eyes to world at the end of our pointing fingers
Let our hearts be led by mercy
Help us reach with open hearts and open doors
Oh Jesus, friend of sinners, break our hearts for what breaks yours
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