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Aiemmat blogit

Tidings of Joy

21.12.2016 9.58

Juttua muokattu:

8.3. 22:29
2020030822295420161221095800

As I ad­d­ress the many Christ­mas cards we send to lo­ved ones my hand cramps up and I need to take a break here and there. My hand isn’t used to ma­neu­ve­ring a pen for anyt­hing more than a quick note in my ca­len­dar. Most wri­ting is done by com­pu­ter or phone. Eve­ry ye­ar there is that temp­ta­ti­on to skip the cards and en­joy a break. But then I re­mem­ber how many gree­tings we re­cei­ve back in the mail and know it is al­wa­ys worth the ef­fort. In the past I tried to keep the list of ad­d­res­ses on the com­pu­ter to make things quic­ker. It was re­al­ly dif­fi­cult to keep the list up­da­ted as I would not think to add to it or chan­ge ad­d­res­ses throug­hout the ye­ar.

I have not reg­ret­ted my de­ci­si­on to go back to handw­ri­ting. As I am ad­d­res­sing each card I think about each per­son I am sen­ding these gree­tings to. Me­mo­ries come back. Some bring me­mo­ries of child­hood, some of a re­cent trip where we caught up on life, and some are new friends we have made on our jour­ney. These warm fee­lings bring joy and re­mind me of the bles­sings of this simp­le task I am ac­comp­lis­hing. Soon the cards from ot­hers be­gin to ar­ri­ve and inc­re­a­se each day. I am re­min­ded a se­cond time of these dear friends each time I sit down to en­joy all these cards.

Anot­her tra­di­ti­on we be­gan in re­cent ye­ars is brin­ging ti­dings of joy from door to door with Christ­mas ca­rols. This brings joy not on­ly to those who are re­cei­ving the ca­rols but for us who are sin­ging. We were on the re­cei­ving end when our baby was sick nine ye­ars ago and can not exp­lain the amount of love we felt flo­wing in­to our home. Now, along with our child­ren, we can bring that same joy in­to the home of anot­her fel­low tra­ve­ler. It is al­wa­ys good to re­mem­ber the el­der­ly, lo­ne­ly and suf­fe­ring du­ring this time of great ce­leb­ra­ti­on.

Christ­mas is quick­ly ap­p­ro­ac­hing and the tem­po­ral pre­pa­ra­ti­on is al­most fi­nis­hed. Our kids will be home soon for win­ter break and we can slow down to ce­leb­ra­te Christ’s birth. The most im­por­tant pre­pa­ra­ti­on is in our he­arts, where we want to make room for Him throug­hout the ye­ar. This se­a­son of Christ­mas is a time to ref­lect on our gre­a­test gift of faith and the many bles­sings we have re­cei­ved throug­hout the ye­ar. I pray we will keep this Christ­mas pe­a­ce in our he­arts each day of our li­ves and can con­ti­nue in faith un­til the end.

JennaLahti
I was baby number five in a family of twelve. We had a happy, believing home in Washington state. After graduation I moved to Arizona to marry my best friend and we have made Phoenix our home for over ten years now. I stay at home to raise our five children. We try to travel to see family in Minnesota and Washington as often as we can. When we can't, we enjoy filling our small home with friends both young and old.