From Thanksgiving to the celebration of Advent....And so it is Christmas!

The Christian season of Christmas actually begins on Christmas Eve and lasts for twelve days, ending on January 6. (No, the twelve-day season of Christmas did not start with the song. It was the other way around.) The time before Christmas is Advent, a season of preparation for Christmas. Christians prepare for celebrating the birth of Jesus by remembering the longing of the Jews for a Messiah. In Advent we're reminded of how much we also need a Savior, and we look forward to our Savior's second coming even as we prepare to celebrate his first coming at Christmas. Indeed, the word Advent comes from the Latin word that means "coming" or "visit." In the season with this name, we keep in mind both "advents" of Christ, the first in Bethlehem and the second yet to come.

I am honored to have served as the Altar Guild Chairperson at my church for the last 4 years running….and I do mean running, especially at this time of year. Today is the day that we spent preparing our sanctuary for Advent. It is a day of great fun, but an extreme amount of work, that would never get done without great friends and volunteers! Including my right hand man… Who spent his birthday, by the way, serving along side me (What a Saint!)

As I sit, exhausted yet fulfilled after a too long day, I am reminded of the longing of those in the past for a Messiah, of those in this future who are so in need of a Savior… And truly thankful that HE is mine!

So you see, I am doubly blessed, a Savior for a Father & a Saint as a Husband!
Happy Birthday Philip….P.S. I love you!
b

Fallin Apart at the Seams

Raveling threads, have you ever noticed that once they start, there seems to be no end? You keep trying to stop it, but the harder you try, the more it continues. That’s why I always have my scissors handy, just cut the thread off, before it gets out of control…
Feelings are much the same, I’d say. We all have them, you know, slighty loose, a tiny bit frayed. Especially the ones that are just a little too close to the surface and then one quick brush against something, loosens it even more and it begins; a rush of unraveling and the more you try to grab hold and stop it, pull it back, put it all back in place, it’s futile! And then you realize, all the unraveled feelings that you have tried to keep inside, lay out for the world to see! Good thing Mom always said “wear your best undies” …wouldn’t want anyone to see anything ugly underneath!
But it’s just those feelings that make us who we are, not torn and tattered, but worn and strengthened by the wear! Maybe some of the unraveling is God’s way of exposing the JOY inside, the beautiful things that have made us who we are, as well as the ugly ones that have made us who only HE knew we could be!
Sometimes it’s good to just let yourself unravel, let the threads go; Heck, tug even harder on them until you are exposed and forced to shed the old.
Put on something new! Or maybe just take the old threads and make them into something beautiful and unexpected! It all depends on what you need! I know I’m ready for either! And I am so thankful for friends to unravel with! Friends who hold my threads as thay fall…
Now I just need to learn how to knit or better yet, buy myself a multi-layered weaving loom!
Question for the day…What is the difference between Ravel and Unravel??? Have you ever thought about it?
According to Merriam-Webster.com,
unravel means to disengage or separate the threads of; or to resolve the intricacy, complexity, or obscurity of: clear up. On the other hand, ravel is to separate or undo the texture of; to undo the intricacies of; to become unwoven, untwisted, or unwound.
Do either my dear friends, but do it in your best undies! B

It's Beginning to look alot like....

Have yourself a merry little….
Christmas time is here….

I KNOW IT’S EARLY! Everywhere, Halloween candy is 50% off, Texas fall leaves have barely started to turn, and the “Holiday” displays, ads and sales have already arrived….
I hear people complain, my goodness, Already??!!

I have to laugh, because as soon as I put my Jack-o-Lanterns in their box, I drag out my Christmas CD’s and begin my musical mental preparation for the season. A season that I cherish, just because it seems to bring out the love and caring that should flow from us year round!

I love this time of year and as far as I’m concerned it always goes by too fast…so I say “don’t be ashamed, start early, enjoy every last minute you can squeeze out of it!”

This Christmas, celebrate the love that we received by the mere birth of a tiny baby! Take time to remember every detail of how it all came to pass. Let us be filled with the spirit and reminded again of why God sent his precious Son Jesus that blessed night in Bethlehem!
To teach us to Love…to show us the way!
God's gift of JOY to the WORLD!

Tyler Ross Abbott, born November 6, 1981. HAPPY BIRTHDAY SON, You are my JOY!