Greatest Gift?...

Thanksgiving is a million miles away... and like my co-worker said... "Christmas gets very hectic... but when it is over... it seems like it went too fast." I will be surprised that I actually will get this posted and it still be 2006. I have not spent alot of time at my keyboard this past year as in years prior. Not for lack of want. No excuses either.

My Christmas was quite different than Christmas seasons past. It was a search for something beyond the life sucking, pocket draining, commercialized retail slurge of crap that gets shoved down everyone's stockings. I found that the quietest of darkened rooms filled with just enough twinkling lights... and the softest of holiday music filling the air... and a sweet, hot, steamy cup of chocolate with little floating bobbles of marshmellow bliss came very close to warming my heart. I shared these moments with those I love the most. My husband and my daughter.

I found myself hating the craziness of holiday shopping... and working in retail. I resent the fact that this world has come to where it is. I have found myself, during the past few weeks, praying for tolerance. I have decided that the "Serenity Prayer" needs to be re-written and should include some verse regarding the tolerance I am seeking.

We, as a family, saw the true colors of some of the co-inhabitants of this world... and the police even got involved. Apparently... we "took" someone's parking space in the Walmart parking lot a few days before Christmas. This "woman" and my husband exchanged a few words. She sped off. Well... about an hour later... we parked at another store... and she parked right beside us... and before Rich could get back out to the car... she had spray painted two black stripes down the side of our car and sped off once again. Such wonderful holiday spirit. We were able to get it to the car wash in time to get it all off. Nothing like feeling violated and looking over your shoulder all the time... just because of a parking space.

I did, however, share the true meaning of Christmas with a select few who would listen. I shared the fact that it is because of God and what He has given to us is the only "reason for the season". The only thing that matters in this world... are being with those you love... and who love you back. The ONLY thing that stands the test of time... and breaks the barriers of eternity... is LOVE. Nothing else. Love withstands any hardship. Love binds the spirits of those who have gone on before us... so tightly to our own spirit... that it is like they can still almost be touched if we were to reach out for them. Love endures all pain. Love creates memories that will never be forgotten. Love creates... Love heals... Love conquers... Love.... IS!

So... I leave this year... with a heart and soul thirsting for more of the love that God has for us. His love... is why we are who we are... and His love is what I want to share with everyone. I pray that next year... which is creeping up fast... finds us (as a family) able to share our lives with Rich's family. I pray for guidance to know when the day of our move will be. I also pray that my surgery for my carpal tunnel goes well... and I heal fast. Keep me in your thoughts on January 10th. I will have 6 weeks off from work to heal. I pray that I can use this time to organize my brain as well as heal.... there is so much I need to get in order... and it all starts in my heart and mind.

My greatest gift?...

I got emails from BOTH of my brothers... I spent time with my aunt the day after Christmas... my dad called today... and my husband and daughter and I got to spend some good quality time together for three days during the past holiday.

The World's greatest gift?... God's love...

1 Corinthians 13 NIV

Love

1If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. 2If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. 3If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing.

4Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.

8Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. 9For we know in part and we prophesy in part, 10but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. 11When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. 12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

13And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.