Christmas is love

I got another mass email today. It contained another urban legend even though the contents declared it to be fact. It told me, as a Christian, how I was to think and act. The very thoughts and actions in direct opposition to the message and teaching of the Bible.

Rather than respond, I reacted. I wrote what I thought and felt. It is interesting to me that this email came in just after I finished reading a Dan Pearce (Single Dad Laughing) blog. (I encourage you to read it too). It has become a You Tube video that a diverse group of people are posting or liking on Facebook. I was obviously moved by Dan’s thoughts. And I like to think I was honest in sharing my convictions too.

As you read my response, I encourage you to be the love of Christ this Christmas season to everyone – not just those live like you, who agree with you, who look like you, who believe like you, who speak the same language as you, who vote like you, or who cheer for the same team as you. Give the gift of grace to everyone you can. Love will abound and it will truly be Christmas!

And so I wrote: this is an urban legend that has been circulating for years! In the season when we celebrate the greatest love gift in the world - please choose to give the gift of love to all others, building them up and showing them what "the greatest of these is love" actually is (or should be) like today!

What if all the Obama haters, or haters of anyone different from you, did what scripture calls for and prayed for their leaders? No matter who or what you are against - if you spend as much time praying for someone as you do criticizing or tearing them down or spreading falsehoods against them - guess who just might change? Yes, they might - but so might you!

The Kingdom was not built on hatred but on love! How do we know we are Christians - by our love! Show it to someone today! I don't apologize for being on my "soap box" - I am so tired of divisive, negative attitudes when that is not what we are commanded or expected to be or do!

 

If I want things to be different - I have to be the difference! What about you?

Dog Elbow

I figured it out! For several months I have been bothered by pain and weakness in my right arm. It seemed to be centered in my elbow and affected my ability to open the passenger door of a car, throw a ball for Katie, or pluck something down from an overhead shelf. I kept putting off going to a doctor because I have spent more than enough time this year in or under diagnostic equipment.

Last weekend we bought some saddle bags for Katie. Recently our vet suggested she could shed a few pounds and we knew Caesar Milan said dogs need to “work,” so after adding some hand weights to each bag, we strapped it on Katie, and off we went for a walk. It was a miracle! Katie was a perfect walking companion. She did not need to be told “heel” or “side.” She was there! Finally a human was the pack leader.

After several days of walking Katie with her saddle bags I began to notice that my arm was not sore! I could throw. I could open car doors. I could reach above my head. And then I realized I was recovering from “Dog Elbow.” Without being pulled by a strong dog for an hour or more a day, the muscles were returning to their normal. What a relief!

And then this morning Katie and I set out on a walk sans saddle bags. Oh my! It was back to “stop,” “back,” and “side.” It took much longer than I was growing accustomed to for us to cover even a few blocks. And then it dawned on me . . .

When it comes to my walk with God, how often am I just like a dog who is determined to be the pack leader? I am so confident that I know the best way to get where I want to go that I try to drag even God along with me. Ouch! My thoughts began to wander to times when God was trying to tell me “side.” And to what I know to be true – life is best lived with God in the lead. I am going to work to be a better follower. Will you join me?

Symbol or Decoration?

She was an attractive woman who appeared to be of retirement age.  Underneath her tailored fall jacket she wore a black tee shirt embossed with a stylized cross that appeared to be created out of rhinestones. I thought about a question Ruth Bell Graham asked a women she encountered once on the Great Wall of China; her cross necklace seemingly out of place. “Symbol or decoration?”

I knew the answer for the woman before me in the exceptionally long checkout line. Her name tag identified her as a volunteer. Along with a teacher and several other volunteers she was chaperoning a trip to Big Lots for a class of adolescent special needs students.

Her gentle voice, patience, and caring nature communicated to me that her cross was a symbol. She was living the Great Commandment.

I held the door for her to exit with one student holding her hand and two more next to her – one young man gently pushing the wheelchair of a classmate. I smiled and thanked her for what she does. She returned the smile, thanked me, and commented: “There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing!”

Loving your neighbor in action!