90 Days of Christmas: Day 76, The Traditions Of Old

     There comes a point when people simply don't engage within the Christmas festivities, and that alone is a reason why some people struggle to get into the Christmas spirit. Have you ever thought about what exactly makes the Christmas season? Now a days it seems to be very different then the ones we hear about within the classic songs that are played on the radio. Burl Ives, Andy Williams, and Johnny Mathis all sing about things of Christmas, but they all seem somewhat distant. In the song A Holly Jolly Christmas, Burl Ives sings about saying hello to friends you know and everyone you meet. Yes, we say hello to our friends when we see them walking to streets or within a store. But do you just randomly say hello to some random stranger? Maybe a simple smile and head nod? Or perhaps better yet, has someone ever done so to you? I believe that saying hello to random strangers and wishing them a Merry Christmas is something that could easily brighten their day! How many hang up mistletoe, or offer up a cup of cheer to others? Now mistletoe is used as a fancy decoration, or a center piece, almost like a poinsettia. Now the actual history of the mistletoe is very interesting to say the least, as it was used in Christmas as a symbol of the evergreen within a house, never to touch the ground, and well as holding ties into a belief of divine love and fertility, hence the whole kissing under it was born. As for a cup of cheer (Tea), was a way of saying to sit back and relax. Now a days, a cup of cheer could be eggnog, coffee, tea, or anything else that may be relaxing at Christmas.

     Now Andy Williams sings about a few more old time traditions of Christmas, some of which seem a bit off. Scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of the Christmas' long ago is the line he uses. Now this is a very old tradition, one of which started back in the old Victorian times. When you would get a group of people together around a fire on Christmas eve, they would tell ghost stories. It was in fact a tradition that sparked Charles Dickens to write A Christmas Carol. In fact, there were plenty of books like A Christmas Carol that were written for the purpose of telling them on Christmas Eve. We also have a song by Johnny Mathis, We Need a Little Christmas, where he more or less sings about decking the halls. Decking the halls is just simply decorating your house for Christmas. He explains in the song why he needs to decorate early, and get things going. All of things that he explains is a good way to help raise your Christmas spirit. 

    So all of this is to say that you should go and give these songs a listen to this week, as well as to find your very own traditions for this up coming Christmas season! 

90 Days Of Christmas: Day 83, Enjoying The Ambience

     With Christmas comes a certain ambience that is very relaxing. I mean, have you ever spent one night during the Christmas season to just sit with candle lights, Christmas lights, and a soft Christmas track playing softly in the background as you sip of coffee/eggnog/tea? To me, that is one of the best moments of the Christmas season! It's a single moment that you give yourself to just sit and enjoy the little things of Christmas. There's no rush to buy things, bake things, run around with a bunch of shoppers. It's just you, relaxing and enjoying ambience. Nothing beats the small amount of time you have. 

    Now I have heard some people don't like the snow, or the pure fact that Christmas comes with winter, which brings permanent darkness. (That whole go to work in the dark, go home in it as well factor...) I don't buy it. what makes the ambience even better is the snow. It covers the ground creating a blanket of white, igniting a small nightlight if you will for the darkness. Have you ever noticed that before? Snow is a pretty sight to see! In the daylight under the sun, or a night under the moon, you are given a special treat of beauty that you don't get to see everyday. (Unless you live in Antarctica...) It's a sight and wonder of God's beauty. A reflection of His promise to make us clean. It comes with the very promise of Jesus. While not everyone gets that White Christmas, it's no wonder why people want it to be associated with Christmas. Snow and the darkness is the very symbol of Jesus to us. The soft glow of snow in the dark is like the hope that Jesus brings us. Even when you're cold in the darkness of your life, God sent His Son to provide us with a soft hope and light towards Him. 

    Now all of that was to simply say that snow is a key part of the ambience of Christmas. Now as all of my posts leave you, with songs to reflect upon and help get you into the mood of Christmas. Here are the tracks you should listen to to help bolster your own Christmas Spirit. Rosie Thomas - Snow Day, August Burns Red - Sleddin' Hill, and a two pack combo, both by Trans-Siberian Orchestra. First Snow and The Wisdom Of Snow.

90 Days of Christmas: Day 86, Joy

         I've been considering recently the idea behind my joy for Christmas. I always have it when September hits, and it stays with me until January. I can't really explain it, as I know for a fact that I would have this joy without presents, snow, cookies, meals, and everything else that went along with the Christmas Season. When it comes down to it, I choose to be joyful. I mean, I could simply claim that it's because of the birth of Jesus, but that doesn't really mean much for joy. You see in scripture versus about joy, or how the joy of the Lord will be our strength, and so on. But if it was that simple, we would always be at peace. But we're not. We choose to ignore to peace that He brings, as well as His joy. So as much as it is Jesus the reason for my joy, it's not.

      Christmas is a choice. Your joy and excitement is something that you choose over something that just happens to come your way. Now I'm not saying saying all of your days will be good days upon choosing to be joyful over Christmas, but you will find that you can handle the joy-killers a whole lot better when you make an effort to be joyful for Christmas.

     But a good question to ask is how one stays joyful, or helps enforce their choice to be joyful! I find a few ways ways that may or may not help. Music is a big part of Christmas. There are plenty of songs that I could easily recommend for you to give a listen to to help you jump start your joy. Elton John - Step Into Christmas is a good starting point. It's upbeat, positive, and may put a little more into your joy about Christmas. Phil Wickham - Christmas Time is another, as it helps paint a good picture of Christmas. Brandi Carlile - The Heartache Can Wait is a great one for those who just feel down in the dumps around Christmas time. There is also Faith Hill - Where Are You Christmas for those whom just need a good vent song. Leigh Nash - Maybe This Christmas is a song of mine that I absolutely love when I feel down in the dumps and apprehensive about my future. And the final one is Relient K - I Celebrate The Day, as it puts Christmas as a whole into full perspective!

    Either way, I think that by someone giving those short list of songs a listen could easily find themselves in a better joyful mood about Christmas! So go and listen to the six songs I suggested, and you might start feeling a hope of joy rise up within you!

90 Days of Christmas: Day 90, Let Go

Okay, so with so many people recently letting me know that they feel disenchanted with Christmas, or that they somehow lost the spirit and magic of the season, I feel like it's my sole duty to know jump start this blog to keep the spirit of Christmas alive within those who may have lost it. Now as a side note, I also know that my ability to maintain this daily will be hard, so it's going to be sporadic in posts.

     So as I begin, I'm starting off with a simple one, let go! Too many times as we get older, we tend to focus upon the stress that comes with Christmas, and the chaotic lifestyle that wraps itself around this time. As we grow older, life does tend to hand us more stress in our daily lives, and  with the coming of Christmas, this does increase. And sometimes I hear that its easier to let go of this stress when you have kids, which gives more reasons to get into the spirit. But anyone who has kids, or works with them can most likely tell you that stress is almost doubled when kids are apart of your Christmas life. (More money spent, more baking, more work all around.) But I will give some credit here to kids. When you have them or work with them, they do help you get into the Christmas spirit easier through a sheer fact of their own excitement of it! Kids are not without stress, and while it's no where near your level, but to them, it's the entire world has been dumped upon them! Think back to how you thought when you were their age, getting ready for a test before Christmas break could have been the most terrifying and stressful thing you've have ever encountered in your short life!

     So now that we've cleared that up just a bit, we need to come to a point of understanding that the spirit of Christmas isn't bound to your stress levels, or your circumstances. It's bound within you! It comes down to what you you choose to let take center stage during this time. So choose to let go of the stress that comes with Christmas and instead focus upon the simple nature of what Christmas really is.

    I am going to try to leave a different song for you to seek out and listen to at the end of each post. A song a day to help you get closer into the mood. This week for day 90, Loreena McKennitt - The Bells of Christmas. Search it up and give it a listen.

You, God, and someone else

I have recently been considering the whole "Holy Anger" and what it means to us as Christians. The more I have sat down and pondered upon it, and gave some research into it, i have found that we have a tendency to use the term incorrectly. I have been placed in situations over the past few years where I have to seek after Godly advice. The problem with this is the very fact that I have to turn to someone who could end up being placed in a situation themselves. To leave out names, my most recent adventure left me in a spot of feeling that God had indeed nothing to give me. I felt it was time to move on. And the more i dove into the word and spent time in God's presence, I felt it was confirmed. The problem was, when I openly announced this, I was then greeted by what was labeled as "Holy Anger."

The situation left a big tear in a decent relationship, and almost certainly left me to ponder over a single question. "Did God lead me into a place where He would abandon me?" The anger I faced left me feeling like I was a failure and made the biggest mistake of my life. However, as I look back on it, I have since come to the conclusion that I was not abandoned, and even more so, that I did not encounter Holy Anger, but rather just anger. Why would I say that? Because the anger I saw during that time was not backed by any scripture.

Your emotions tie into the way you see things. It's human nature, and one that is hard to climb over. When you feel anger in a situation, your advice that you give in that situation ends up being nothing more than poison. Too many times we get into these mentalities that if we simply use scripture, it will over-speak our emotions. That's never the case. Emotions carry with them a great current within ourselves and it does end up overflowing out of our mouths. The anger I faced did so much damage that it left me in a position of wondering if God lead me down the wrong paths. Essentially I began to question my very faith if it was real. The person who spoke to me never meant for their words to come across that way, but they did just the same. We need to keep that in our minds as we speak to each other. Scripture doesn't cover our emotions, but rather amplify their damage. Had I been told that they were just angry with me, and they not attempted to speak into my life with scripture, their words and outcome may have been greatly different.

In conclusion, we need to understand that our emotions can be damaging to someone else and we need to keep them in check.

Redskin Preseason Rant.

Well, since my other blog locked me out, I guess i'll transfer everything to this one, which isn't much used right now. Sadly, this entry will be nothing more than a rant that will offend certain people. Namely Redskins fans.

To start off, I spent the last football season in Wisconsin/Michigan. My choice of games watched were limited. Since I had family that rooted for the Lions, I choose to watch their games when I could. It was horrible to watch, as I could find every fault with the team, until one game when the Lions had no choice but to put Drew Stanton in as their starter. That game held the most impressive QB work I've ever seen out of the Lions. It's such a shame that he won't ever be more than a backup for anyone. But then again... Matt Cassel broke that ideology when he was traded out of New England to go to Kansas City as the starter. If at this point, you're thinking that those cases have nothing to do with the Redskins, then maybe you should take the wool off your eyes. As it stands, we now have multiple QB's signed to backup money, yet get to live out their second season that was originally promised to most of them. Or perhaps maybe you would prefer us to bring in another McNabb? Let's be honest, no big name QB's actually have a chance to do well in Washington until our O-line is fixed: And it's not.

I'm also pretty sure that most of the Redskin roster could come under fire for bad play and not living up to their contracts, yet let us look at an angle that none of you really want to. Graham Gano, currently the Redskins kicker: Currently beating out Shane Graham. Most thought his rookie season last year was worth dropping him for. (Yes, I don't count four kicks from two seasons before to actually be worth adding to the mix of his career.) But let us consider this, why is he under fire again? Because he was relied upon WAY TOO MUCH because we had an offense that couldn't put the same numbers up as him? From Field Goals alone, Gano put up 72 points for the Redskins alone. Shall I add the extra points? That puts him up to 100 points last year. That's more points then anyone else on the Redskin roster! Yes, he wasn't as consistent as we'd like to see him be, but it was far better then the rest of the squad! Hell, Trent Williams last year was horrible. Why isn't anyone ranting to have his butt kicked off the roster? Shall I go down the list of those that had similar years? I doubt anyone would really want to read me tearing into someone like Chris Cooley who dropped more then 5 easily catchable balls!

And for all of those who want to see Mike Shanahan fired, I only have one thing to say. Really? The man is still attempting to purge the load of crap that was on our team from prior coaches. I won't make a judgement on the man until after next season when it should be all of his actual guys playing on the field. In short, I feel that many Redskin fans are simply put, not worth having an opinion, especially one that is full of double standards. If you hold one player to the fire for something, they all must be placed there.

Long Pilgrimage

Well, it's been about four months and I'm now on the way out. I'll soon be in Michigan waiting out the storms. Hopefully, a job will pan out for me with a church in Holland and if not, I'll wait up in the north for a bit longer until I make a pilgrimage back to Maryland. I had really prayed for it all to work out, but it just didn't. I know this isn't something great to read after all the good and amazing stuff, but it is what it is and I have to honor what God called me to.