For His birthday party

This tag made for me by Nikki, Bedazzaled.... thank you!










Copied from my Christmas cards this year:




If you look for me at Christmas,
you won't need a special star ~
I'm no longer just in Bethlelehem,
I'm right there where you are.
You may not be aware of Me
amide the celebrations ~
You'll have to look beyond the stores
and all the decorations.
But if you take a moment
from your list of things to do
And listen to your heart, you'll find
I'm waiting there for you.
You're the one I want to be with,
you're the reason that I came,
And you'll find Me in the stillness
as I'm whispering your name.

Love, Jesus


You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. Jeremiah 29:13




I really, really love the book of Jeremiah.




This has been a year wrapped in brightly colored paper, like a big box that might contain the most coveted of gifts but instead has contained a new kitchenaid. I have not received what I wanted but I have received what I needed and it is oh so hard to keep that in perspective.

My wants are so tangible. So unforgiving.

My desires are like baubles in a pretty store that taunt me touch them, colorful and temptingly alluring...Will they be soft? Will the be rough? I am a tactile person like Judith is. A toucher. I must a feel a thing to know it. So in a store it takes FOREVER to get me from the front to the back and to the front again.

My wants from this year linger like the pretty things in Macy's store front.

Oh.
Ah.
Lookie.
Can I have it?
Can't I just touch it?
Pleeeeeeaaaassseeee.....

When I look towards receiving gifts I am of the school of thought that I have more than enough. I am nearly impossible to buy for because I do not want for things, for stuff. I want for ideas and values, for lofty things that people can not run out and buy in stores, so that makes it really hard to shop for me.

Which means then, I get odd presents:

a hand made paper and wood airplane
a hand made stuffed giraffe
a seven foot iron giraffe
a hand blown glass vase of colbolt
naked lady lamps with dolphins at their feet, they hold globes of lights.... Really
seashells
rocks
a bag of black sand from the beach
a banana leaf paper journal
a sea turtle "snow globe"
a civil war bible



To me these are the best things I own. When I move they are usually hand carried by me (except the big giraffe) and they are my prizes. But I am painfully aware that, although they are lovely, I won't be needing these things forever and ever. It is the stuff in my spiritual treasure chest I really need more of. The stuff I can not buy and the stuff I have to give away is what I need for Christmas..Love, charity, honesty, faith, and hope.

I love Christmas. I love Easter. I love the all religious holidays and all patriotic holidays. If you have been reading me for any length of time you know this to be true.

I love my freedom.

My ability to stand in my corner of cyber-space and shout to the world:

Merry Christmas!

He is born

He died

He is Risen

May God bless and keep you and yours.

I love you all.

Christina and today, Charley