ByGrace

Several years ago, I went through a period of questioning whether or not it is right for us as Christians to celebrate Christmas. I read all about the pagan origins, the Catholic church's "christianizing" of pagan feast days and rituals to make them acceptable, and every discourse available online, or so it seemed. Many people used the introductory paragraph of a certain sermon by C.H. Spurgeon to "prove" that it is wrong to celebrate Christmas. I certainly don't need any one person's approval to validate my own beliefs. Sometimes, though, it's worth the time to read what others think about things to help guide you in your own study. So I would read the quote and think that maybe he was right and we shouldn't have anything to do with Christmas after all. Eventually Wes and I worked out what we believe about Christmas, mainly through reading the Bible (amazing!) and discussing the issue together, and I forgot about Spurgeon's quote and ig...

Please scroll to the bottom to see my exciting addition to this post! Today I'll join in with Kelli's Show and Tell Friday for my December Daily post. As some of you may know, last Friday night I was honored to speak at the ladies' Christmas Tea at Greater Vancouver Baptist Church . One of my blog friends, Deanna , took pictures of the tables the ladies decorated, and I want to share those pictures with you (after I get permission to steal her pictures!), but today I want to show you how the ladies blessed me last week. The ladies of GVBC gave me this beautiful tea-for-one set. It's called Blue Ribbons, from Maxwell & Williams . At first I didn't understand "blue ribbons" because I was focused on the gorgeous roses, but then I saw the blue ribbon interwoven with the roses. Isn't it beautiful?! I just love it, and I've already served myself my favorite tea from it! I felt like such a lady of leisure with my own little personal teapot! ;) ...

Three Wrapped Christmas Presents Matthew 2:11 - And when they were come into the house, they saw the young child with Mary his mother, and fell down, and worshipped him: and when they had opened their treasures, they presented unto him gifts; gold, and frankincense, and myrrh. Several years ago, I heard a sermon about how God prepared for Christmas. Beginning with Mary and Joseph, the preacher told how Jesus’ people, birthplace, language, and culture were prepared. He brought out some interesting historical things that I'd never considered before, but his final point is what hit home to my heart: God gave us His best; am I giving Him my best? This pastor brought 3 men to the front and gave them each a beautifully wrapped gift and had them open them. The first man found a Nike shoe box with only one shoe in it, and that one shoe was old and worn out, with no shoelace. The second man opened his gift, only to find a nice men's necktie that had been cut in half. The third man ...

Today and next Sunday I want to share a couple of my favorite Christmas carols. My all-time favorite is O Holy Night . I love the words, the music, the depth of emotion in the song. I'm learning Bro. Cary Schmidt's solo piano arrangement to play next Sunday morning, and as I practice I get lost in the majesty of this song! Wes has a beautiful voice, and he used to sing this every Christmas at our church in Ft. Worth. Needless to say, the combination of my favorite hymn with my husband's voice is a wonderful sound to me! O Holy Night Words by Placide Cappeau de Roquemaure Music by Adolphe Adams O holy night! The stars are brightly shining, It is the night of our dear Saviour's birth. Long lay the world in sin and error pining, ' Til He appear'd and the soul felt its worth. A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices, For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn. Fall on your knees! O, hear the angels' voices! O night divine, O night when Christ was born; O ...

A Candymaker in Indiana wanted to make a candy that would help us remember who Christmas is really about. So he made a Christmas Candy Cane. He incorporated several symbols for the birth, ministry, and death of Jesus Christ. He began with a stick of pure white, hard candy. White to symbolize the virgin birth and sinless nature of Jesus. Hard candy to symbolize the solid rock, the fou...

The devotion brought by Mrs. Shaver on Saturday was so good that I wanted to share just a bit of it with you. She talked about the art of giving and applied it to what we give to Jesus. Here's the example she used . . . We spend time and energy to choose the perfect gifts for our loved ones. We take pleasure in choosing just the right thing for each one. They may give us a list of what they want, to make it easier for us to shop for them, or give hints about what they'd like. We wrap the gift carefully, and on Christmas morning, we watch carefully to see our loved one's reaction to the gift we've chosen. Suppose you get a gift for your husband, and when he opens it, he finds a beautiful dress inside. Or your teenaged son gets a Kitchen-Aid mixer. Or your baby gets a bottle of expensive perfume. Doesn't make much sense, does it? The key here is that you have given your loved ones nice gifts, but they aren't the gifts they wanted. They're the gifts you...

I saw this meme at Stray Thoughts , and I believe I also got it in an email from Kristi ( Thimble Thoughts ). I thought it would be fun for a December Daily post! 1. Wrapping paper or gift bags? Wrapping paper for our family gifts that go under the tree. Gift bags for friends. 2. Real tree or Artificial? I finally succumbed to the artificial tree. I held out for the real one for years and years, but Wes likes the ease of the artificial ones - pre-lit, too! Gives us more of that Christmas peace! ;) 3. When do you put up the tree? Usually around the second week of December. Sam's birthday is the 12th, so I used to wait till after that to decorate when he was younger. Beth loves to decorate for Christmas, so it gets earlier every year. Before long we'll be decorating on Thanksgiving Day! ;) 4. When do you take the tree down? New Year's Day 5. Do you like eggnog? I love it, but I can't drink it anymore because of all the sugar in it. 6. Favorite gift receiv...

Have you given any thought to the new year? If you're like me most of the time, you're just making it through this week! Next year?!! For several years, when Wes was on staff of our church in Texas, our pastor encouraged us to plan for the new year. Wes has carried that through here, and has been working on a church calendar for a couple of months now. And since we have a few weeks left before the new year, I want to sit down and make some plans for my personal life; not so much resolutions as goals for the coming year. Our pastor used to say, "If you aim at nothing, you're bound to hit it!" What are some areas that we homemakers should set goals in? Spiritual - we are individually responsible to God for our own relationship with him! We should have goals for Bible-reading, Scripture memory, prayer, giving, and witnessing Physical - we're also responsible for taking care of ourselves. Not excessive pampering, but truly caring for our health with good fo...