christmas bells.

I hope you all are having a wonderful Christmas, and don't forget to thank the One who marked this great season with His coming. Thank You, Jesus Christ, for taking on flesh and coming as a helpless baby. While most kings are exalted in a palace, on thrones of precious stones and metals, You were born in a barn, and laid in a manger. Thank You, Lord for Your humility, for coming so that we might have life everlasting. Thank You.

I wanted to share a poem written by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow that was turned into one of my favorite Christmas carols. He wrote it on Christmas day in 1863 in the midst of the Civil War, after hearing news that his son was badly wounded in a battle, and losing his wife 2 years prior. It pretty much speaks for itself, so I will leave you with that.

I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet the words repeat
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

I thought how, as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along the unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

"Till, ringing singing, on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime, a chant sublime,
Of peace on earth, good will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound, the carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn the households born
Of peace on earth, good will to men.

And in despair I bowed my head:
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong and mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men."

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
"God is not dead, nor doth he sleep;
The wrong shall fail, the right prevail,
With peace on earth, good will to men.

MERRY CHRISTMAS, EVERYONE!

ditching the pity party.

Well, here it is, my first post. This totally brings me back to the days of Xanga, except this blog has much more purpose than that. I'm not sure if anyone will actually read it, but for those who do, this is the stuff that goes on in my head. Hopefully you can learn things by reading this, as I learn things by writing it. I've always been an internal processor, (but not the kind that goes in your computer, teehee.) and I think it's much easier for me to write things down and think about them. I think too much, so this is the overflow from my brain. Hope you enjoy. :]

Today, I figuratively woke up on the wrong side of the bed. My family was being annoying, and my monthly visitor came today. Ladies, I know you can relate. I just carried around a sour attitude all morning. Then, it turned into sadness. For some reason, all I wanted to do was cry and feel sorry for myself. I fabricated a few reasons why I felt this way.

1. Everyone at my house was kind of ignoring me and doing their own thing. They were all going places, leaving me alone at home.
2. They all had breakfast without me because I chose to sleep in late.
3. I had burning cramps that seem to have come straight from the pits of Sheol.
4. Blah, blah, blah, whine, whine, whine.

I decided for myself that I was just going to lay in bed and cry, because obviously that is a great way to spend your morning. Here it is, Christmas Eve, the day before our Lord was born 2009 years ago, and I am throwing myself a pity party for no real reason. God is a gentleman, and He was probably shaking His head with a faint smile as he lightly tapped me on the shoulder this morning. I felt Him soften my heart as I began to realize how incredibly infantile I was acting. I had no reasons to feel this way, and even if I did, my joy should come from Him, and Him alone.

That is the thing. The Lord wants us to be joyful all the time. He wants us to share in His joy and splendor and therefore, return to Him the glory that is rightly His. The following passage is an encouragement to me whenever I want to feel sorry for myself:

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." James 1:2-4

When we are tempted to feel sorry for ourselves because we think we have it bad, we need to look to the Lord for our joy. True, it is nice to throw a pity party because it gets attention. It's a manipulative form of pride that gets the job done, but will it develop perseverance? Will it help us to be mature and complete, lacking nothing? At the end of the day, all a pity party will bring is more of its kind. It will turn into a cycle and the problem will remain.

When I looked to God and asked Him to change my heart today, He obliged. He completely helped me do a 180, to where I was whistling and humming, having a desire to get into the spirit of this wondrous holiday, and be selfless. I actually emptied the dishwasher without being asked, because I felt like it, and those who know me know doing dishes is my least favorite household chore. It's amazing what a little motivation and joy straight from the Lord's gracious outstretched hand can do for us when we ask:

"'What gain is there in my destruction, in my going down into the pit? Will the dust praise you?Will it proclaim your faithfulness? Hear, O LORD, and be merciful to me; O LORD, be my help.' You turned my wailing into dancing; you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy, that my heart may sing to you and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever." Psalm 30:9-12

Next time you get an invitation to your pity party, ditch it. God's house party of joy is way more bumpin'.

Merry Christmas, everyone. :]