A Wreath and a Re-Post from December 2013

Good evening Y'all!   I hope and pray that where ever y'all are on this great wonderful globe that we live on that y'all are doing great this night.    It feels colder than it actually is here in my neck of the woods and it has been like that all day.   Weather Bug says 39* is to be low tonight, but, we'll just have to wait and see about that.    It feels colder that than already!    brrrrr     hahaha

Over on the Kraafters Kommunity, +Sylvia Tabor showed us how to make wreaths from manilla tags and several of the kraafters over there made some.   I made one also and wanted to share it with y'all.    My colors were somewhat muted, but I really loved it!!!!!    When we went to see my Mom over the weekend,  I took it to her and she really loved it and took down her fall wreath right then and put up this one on her door.    I made a poinsettia with seed beads in the center of it and put that on the center of my wreath.   I took a pic of it in my house before I took it to Mom.     Hope you like it. 

I wanted to write something special for Christmas this year......but, I really wanted to share what I posted last year.     This is a devotional that I wrote in 2010 while going thru a life changing Bible Study.   And this is the pure, raw Joy that I felt at the time.     As Christmas was nearing, God was giving me words and I had to put pen to paper, and this is the results.    Before I put it on my blog last year, I edited my own writing and wanted to remember that, so I did make a notation at the end of it.    This may be my tradition each year, to share this and some other writings that I have written, during the month of December.    We all have so much to be thankful for and when we can let thanksgiving spill over into Christmas and follow the star that shown over Bethlehem, then the celebration of Christ's birth can take on a new meaning.    I hope that this will be a meaningful read for y'all,


Happy Birthday Jesus

Happy Birthday Jesus!! This is the time of year that we celebrate Your wonderful birthday!  As I think about the celebration, I think about the changes that Your Birthday has made to the world in which I live.  I think about pain and joy and happiness and sadness and baggage and travel and many more things that I just don't have the proper words describe.

When I think of pain, I think of the pain You must have had, for You to leave the grandeur of heaven and come to earth, to be born a baby in a manger in a stable where the animals got to be a witness to the most wonderful and amazing birth the world has ever witnessed.  But that was just the beginning of the pain for You.  You could have chosen to stay in heaven, but You chose our lives over your own life.  When You was on the cross, we was on your mind.

When I think of joy and happiness, I think of the joy and happiness that only mothers truly understand.  I personally, am not a mother, but, I was born with the heart of a mother.  I can see and sense the joy and happiness that new moms feel when they are holding and snuggling with their new-born bundles of joy, the same joy and happiness that Mary had on the night You were born.

When I think of sadness, I think of the sadness that Mary must have had when she realized that Your life was so much than that of her child.  Your life was so much bigger than Mary could have ever imagined, even when she seen Your life spilling from You at Calvary.  The pouring out of Your life is what enabled Your Light to shine from heavenly places.  Your life was and is the the Light of this world.  The Light that we call Salvation.  The world thought that if they extinguished the light in one life, Your Life, that they could put out the Light of Goodness and Hope.  Not so, all of us who have accepted You as our Lord and Savior are reflections of Your Light.

When I think of baggage, I think of all the baggage that each and every one of us came to You with.  We come to You at different ages and stages of our lives. Some of us were younger, and therefore less baggage.  Some of us were older, with more baggage.  When I look back at the baggage of my own personal life, I can see all the ways that You have cleaned me up.  You have given me a new thought process, You have given me a new word to speak, You have given me a new song in my heart, You have given me a clean heart.  You have taken away shame, bitterness, hatred, anger.  You made a new creature out of me.

When I think of travel, I am reminded that You traveled by foot, by boat, and by donkey.  I am also reminded that when You traveled, where ever You traveled, You were about Your Father's business.  You changed the lives of all who came in contact with You.  You took some men, not loved by many, and touched their lives and changed their lives in ways they could never have imagined.  You, alone, Jesus, had compassion on the women You came in contact with, and changed their lives and enabled them to have a reason to celebrate.  You went into the market places, into the homes of the most common, You went into the synagogues, You cleaned up the temple, You taught people how to live. You showed us that our life is not our own.  It is Yours, bought and paid for with Your blood.  You taught us that it is more blessed to give than to receive.  You gave us Your life, You gave us Your Light, You gave us Your Hope, and You keep giving us renewed strength from day to day to live in this world, and to reach out and offer Hope and Light to those we come in contact with while we travel the hi-ways and byways.

So, in remembering Your Birthday, Jesus, and celebrating the Joy that You have given each of us through Your birth, I say thank You, Jesus, that You chose to be born.  Thank You, that You were born for the most common.  Thank You, that You taught us how to live.  Thank You, that You made the way for us to have a relationship with our Heavenly Father.   Please help us to be about our Father's business till You come again.

So , we celebrate You, Wonderful, Prince of Peace, Bright Morning Star, Gift of God, Lily of the Valley, Son of God, Rock of Ages, Judge, Savior, Prince, Emmanuel, Rose of Sharon, Physician, Fountain, Guide, Bread of Life, Advocate.   Thank You God, that You loved us enough to give us the very Best that You had to offer on Christmas Day!!!(written by: pjg 10-8-2010, edited 12-1-13)

I'm not a "good" writer by any stretch of the imagination, but I do enjoy trying to express what I feel about my Lord and Savior as well as I possibly can.

Ladybug, I love you and had a great visit with you over the weekend.    Look forward to seeing you again soon.    Sweetpea

I pray that everyone has a great night of restful sleep and that you find something to thank God for before you close your eyes in sleep.    Always remember that God loves y'all, and so do I.    hugs, Patty