O Christmas Tree

It has always been our family tradition to go to a nearby tree farm and cut our own Christmas tree. As the kids have gotten older it has become harder to get them together for this event. We all love the smell and beauty of a real tree; but there are certain negatives that, for me anyway, outweigh all that.
While we were cutting our tree last year (minus oldest child due to schedule conflict) I began the argument for an artificial tree. I used all the obvious reasons and even Mother Nature helped me out because that day the wind was blowing about 25MPH - miserable. The long and short of it; my family finally agreed that yes, next year, mom can buy a fake tree.
Fast forward to today. I got our new tree out of the box! Now, here's what struck me funny. We used to spend a fair amount of time finding our "perfect" tree; only to bring it home and find it's hidden flaws. Those flaws usually called for herculean effort in getting the thing to stand up straight and in turning the ugly side to face the wall. Now that I have this perfect fake tree, I spent a fair amount of time trying to make it look "natural"; you know, like a real tree. Oh, yea, I even bought pine scented room fragrance.
Here's the irony that is just so human: We strive for Perfect to look real and Real to look perfect, but Real is never perfect and Perfect is never real.

Just Thinking

Traveling down I-40 the other day I began playing the alphabet game in my mind. I made up my own rules and didn't use any billboards. I decided to think of ways to describe God/Jesus alphabetically.
A - Almighty
B - Beloved
C - Creator
D - Deliverer
E - Exalted
F - Forgiver
G - Grace
H - Holy
I - Incarnate
J - Jehovah
K - King of Kings
L - Life/Love
M - Majesty
N - Noble
O - Omega
P - Powerful
Q -
R - Redeemer
S - Saviour/Shepherd
T - Teacher
U - Unchanging
V - Victorious
W - Warrior
X - eXample
Y - Yahweh
Z -
Q & Z have me stumped. Any suggestions?

Coincidence?

This is funny and sorta gross, but here goes. . .

Rob accidentally stepped on a mouse. Let me just say the mouse was smashed beyond repair; that's the gross part. Anyway, it was funny because Rob was totally unaware of the mouse until the moment he realized what he'd done. And that moment was in the nano second between feeling the squish and hearing the "pop". But, really, what are the chances of a mouse being under one's heel at the very moment one steps down with full force?! I maintain there are no coincidences in life. It was just that mouse's time to go and Rob was the man for the job even if he was an unknowing participant. Now, I must tell you this did not happen at our house. That would not have been funny in any way.

Are you pondering what I'm pondering? I'm not really a deep ponder-er. For example: I remember the first time I heard the "which came first, the chicken or the egg" question. My immediate thought was, that's simple, of course the chicken came first because God created the animals (not the eggs) on the fifth day. I never gave the question any more thought. I had childlike faith and every confidence that what the Bible says is true.

I'm in awe of men like C.S. Lewis and Josh McDowell. These guys have sat long and stared deeply into the waters of biblical theology. They have answered questions I would never even think to ask. Their writings have strengthen my confidence in the truth of God's word. For that I'm grateful.

So, ponder what I'm pondering. Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so. It's just that simple and it's much deeper than I can understand.

I don't want to sit in the pumpkin patch and miss all the goodies. This profound thought came to me while watching Charlie Brown's epic tale about the Great Pumpkin. You know the story, Linus sits in that patch all Halloween night waiting for the Great Pumpkin while all his buddies go out getting their bags filled with candy; with the exception of Charlie Brown who gets a bag of rocks, but that's another lesson altogether.

Back to my original point. I want to get out there and get the goodies! There is no reason to sit in the dirt believing something wonderful is coming my way just because I believe I derserve it. And I won't get the goodies because I deserve them. I'll get them because I put one foot in front of the other and go for it with gusto and, if necessary, a costume.

Of course, there is another part of the equation; other people have to be willing to give me the goodies. Now I'm picturing myself dressed up like Scarlett O'Hare and depending upon the kindness of strangers to help me build my Tara.

Yes, indeed, Scarlett and I could take this trick or treating thing to a whole new level. But, I'll think about that tomorrow.