“This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful, in a word, more alive” Alice Waters
Label Your Light!
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!
We can feel Christmas everywhere. Beside the commercial excitement, you can also see how people decorate inside and outside their house. The big give away is lights covering most of our neighborhood homes and yards, so beautiful, so colorful, shining and bright, eye blinding ones, and even some crazy decorations. Why so much work?
Honestly, we felt left out and were thinking to do the same with our house. Then I began to think: why would we want to spend that much money on decorations and then risk my boys’ life climbing on a ladder just for what: Christmas feeling? Showing off our decoration skills and how beautiful our home is? I’m not saying it’s necessary a bad thing. But, by asking myself those questions, I evaluated my motives and started thinking about focusing on the kind of light I’d rather be shining during Christmas time. So, what kind of light am I?
Am I a CANDLE? Do I light up the room with myself, but am I vulnerable to other influences that might snuff out my flame?
Am I a FLOODLIGHT? Do I shine so strongly in people’s eyes that they are blinded rather than enabled to see?
Am I a FLASHLIGHT? Do I click on only in emergencies?
Am I a CHANDELIER? Do I shine with beauty and make those around me look better?
Now, my friend, what is your reasons to decorate your home and how can you reflect that on yourself? What kind of LIGHT are you? How can you shine during this Christmas time, more effectively in your neighborhood, in your world?
Label your Light!
Luke 8:16-18
“I’m SORRY”
The words escape from our lips and slice, like a sword, at your spouse and your kids heart or a friend… Our temper flares and now our dear one is hunkered down hurt or/and in tears. Someone acts irresponsibly, (who doesn’t…), and we berate rather than carefully correct. Love requires apologies.
Apologies tie up the loose ends left by misunderstandings. They finish unfinished business. And they offer an opportunity for healing. Three words reach out across an abyss and build a bridge: “I am sorry.” 
Love means taking the responsibility for our errors and admitting them, first to ourselves, then to God, and then to the one we’ve wronged. No, an apology may not magically make it all better. But it is a beginning.
And all who are committed to loving relationships take the step that begins healing. And then they take the next, and the next, and the next…
How’s Your Heart?
I love to carefully take care of the condition of my home in order to keep it off the “disaster area” list. But, how much attention do I give to my heart?
When the Bible says that the heart is to be guarded because it is the wellspring of life (Proverbs 4:23), it means that it is from our hearts that the rest of our attitudes get their cue. Depressed? Check the contentment quotient of your heart. Feel like griping? Once again, review you heart and then you’ll know why.
Rather than cleaning up the outer edges of our lives, we’re wiser to pay attention to the deeper parts of ourselves. Running the vacuum cleaner through a few ventricles, we may discover a layer of dissatisfaction, of envy, or even of anger that we’ve stuffed out of sight.
There’s no use trying to paste on a happy face or a good attitude to show in public if our hearts are cluttered with hidden issues. What’s stuffed down in our hearts will sooner or later spill over into our days with our spouse and children, our neighbors, our co-workers, and God.
Hey, you look great and your house looks great. But How is Your Heart?
Mom’s Devotional Bible
“Daniel” Women
Yesterday I turned on the tv to watch the news, you know, to stay “informed.” Then, I felt overwhelmed by so many weird and scary stories… The thing that stoked me the most was this obvious sins of all kinds all around us. Ok, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’m perfect and never did something weird or stupid or may be horrible, but at least I have learned with God’s help (like most people) to listen when his Holy Ghost rebuked me and to do my best to change where it is needed. Also, I learn from my mistake or other’s and try hard to avoid it next time.
But, our world seems to just enjoy sin, harming others and themselves and never ever learn from its mistakes! Sins of all kind are around us and inside us. How can we break free from them and be distinctive people in Christ? Daniel, in the Bible (book of Daniel) is part of my favorites characters. Not surprising, our oldest boy is called after him!
Now, how as a woman can I be like Daniel? How to Be a “Daniel” woman? Well, my devotional book says this: “The “Daniel” woman doesn’t walk out on her husband (I add, except in particular circumstances mention in the Bible: 1 Corinthians 7 & Matthew 19:1-8 ), she doesn’t hang up on her mother (God have mercy, I did that sometimes to my mom when our arguments got out of hand, instead of just shutting up or calming down…there’s always another way right? Proverbs 15:1) She doesn’t ignore the needs of her neighbor (to be kept in mind every day, especially in that Christmas season.) She doesn’t insist on playing the game of life by her own rules (sigh…), but rather chooses to play consistently, obediently, sometimes even painfully, by God’s design. She recognizes and respects the bonds of a pledge.” The list can go on…
Dear friends, (Guys, this applies to you too!) a woman who listen to God, disregards the popular beliefs of her day and lives instead by God’s standards (as Daniel did in his day), stands by her commitment, fights for healthy relationships is a “Daniel” woman: a distinctive person of Christ Amen!
Far Flying Dreamers 