Christmas Present...

Although Christmas is over for the rest of the world, in Russia it is celebrated on January 7th. This tree sits in the center of Moscow and softly glows over the city.

Many years ago I was blessed as a child to have two very special Christmas days. So I leave my tree up in honor of that day. December 25th seemed to be about presents and Santa, while January 7th was a day of church, loving God, worshipping, prayer and thankfulness. If I got a present from my Baba or Dido (grandmother and grandfather), it was a homemade gift I enjoyed as much or more than the traditional presents. Christmas Eve and Christmas Day were days of quiet reflection and worship.

Presents come in all forms. Some of my favorite things: A phone call from a loved one, a phone call from someone you touched and they touched you. Returning from a trip to California I was surprised and was reminded we each impact each other with a kind word or a touch. Noah from North Carolina had called to just wish me a Happy New Year. We became acquainted at the University of North Carolina each visiting a family member that was quite ill. I was reminded as was he that special connections never go away. It started my New Year out with a reminder that we all have difficult times in our lives, and that being there for one another is the best gift of all. A long hug from someone you love and you can love back, a renewing of friendships and a beginning of a new one all welcomed in the year.

The physical gifts are just that, they are physical things we can hold, touch, or see, but the ones from the heart are the ones that stay with you and will wrap around you like a warm blanket on a cold night. The memory of someone loving you is one of my favorite treasures. To bring joy to those who are sad, comfort to those who are hurting and a shoulder for one to rest their head are presents that go beyond words.

So I will celebrate both Christmas days in honor of both of my parents. They each taught me something different. I thank them both for their love, the courage I now recognize and try to share with my family and a very special thank you to my Baba for introducing me to God.

Merry Christams to all who celebrate January 7th. And if you don't celebrate it pray and worship anyway. Another day of prayer will only bring another blessing.

Celebration...

Today I celebrated my 64th birthday. Truly a birthday I didn't think I would see. So my thankfulness on this day and on Thanksgiving is just gratitude to
God for allowing me the priviledge of beginning a new day.

Each day as you arise, you get to choose as to how you want to use your day.
Are we not blessed to be able to do that? We can be or do anything we want to do. Such a gift should never be overlooked and taken advantage of. Because you don't know what that day will bring, so try and make it your best.

As a very dear friend of mine always says "God loves you and so do I", so go have the best day and continue to walk in love.

Therefore, since we receive a kingdom which cannot be shaken, let us show gratitude, by which we may offer to God an acceptable service with reverence and awe...Hebrews 12:28 NASB

Trusting...

Remember when you were about 5 or 6 years old? If you were fortunate enough to have a family that believed in God and went to church as mine did, you knew who God was. You could feel Him. Your head was not full of religious ideas or rules that needed to be obeyed before you thought God would hear you. My grandmother was a beautiful woman of God. She prayed without seizing and if there was ever any doubt, she never allowed me to see that. She just prayed and expected, and her prayers I think were always answered.

I can remember saying my prayers, asking God for what I wanted and trusting that it would be done. It was so simple. We make it so hard to hear from God.

I am blessed in my life to have returned to the trusting of a child and allow God to work in my life. I visited three different churches this week all with different ideologies and views. They were all interesting and filled with information. But guess what? I found God there in every church I entered, for God is not a God looking for a church, he is looking for the one trusting and believing. He will find you, no matter where you are praying or asking for his guidance.

So today I am thankful as Thanksgiving day approaches that I have God in my life. I thank him for my health, family, grandchildren and my friends. I am thankful that God gave me a second chance at life. I remain thankful everyday. I am thankful for a bed to sleep in and to have food on my table. And I will continue to pray for those less fortunate and reach out and extend a hand. Whether you give of your time or help someone financially...Be a blessing and God will bless you.

I am a recreated being. Old things have passed away, and all things have become new. (2 Cor. 5:17 NKJV)

"Fall in Love With Your Life"...

A wonderful uplifting book written by Maria Carter. This was not only enlightening but thoughtful, spiritual and gives you a hint of what you can become.

By studying and answering thought provoking questions and the 365 love notes to romance the self critic...She guides you ever so gently to entertain how to attain a more fulfilling and purposeful life and really how to learn to love yourself.

I was fortunate to meet Maria at Author 101 University held in Las Vegas a few weeks ago. She is as warm and caring as is the message in her book. Her passion for life and for others shines through.

Debuting early next year is her magazine titled LOVING...Balance...Vibrance...Bliss. A positive reflection of how to become the best at being the woman you are...

Her book "Fall in Love WIth Your Life"...debuted in October of this year. You can find it in bookstores and on Amazon.com

A warm and touching book. A new way to look at your life and how to fall in love with it...Pick it up and enjoy the wonderful journey.

Dark versus Light...

Photo by: Hollye Schumacher

I love this picture of the dark door verses the slightly ajar door with the light shining through. The image itself alludes to the idea of the unknown. Bought at a Donor Life Exhibit about 2 years ago the photo hangs in my bedroom.

"The meaning behind the doorway are many. For one, it is a optimistic symbol for the life benefiting opportunities that organ and tissue donation can afford. The ray of light ready to take over the dark corners of the room implies an abundant amount of hope and altruistic goodness that pours through the hearts of organ recipients and donors."

The long waiting lists and unknown outcomes of surgery often leave organ recipients in a fragile balance between untimely death and a healthier prolonged life. This precious balance between light and dark is so intensly related to the emotional life or death experience that organ donors and recipients face. I believe it was the artists goal to share the hope of the opening door into the light that so symbolically represents hope and love on the other side. That is what stirred my emotion when I bought it.

"Waiting to Die, Wanting to Live" is a story of the contrasted struggle between good and bad and gives one a sense of renewed hope that reflects the journey that recipients and donors face. It shared the image of hope for the outcomes of that uncertainty.

For the vision is yet for an apppointed time and it hastens to the end: it will not deceive or disappoint. Though it tarry, wait for it, because it will surely come; it will not be behindhand on its appointed day. Hab 2:3