Wednesday Writing...11/28/15..."How We Celebrate"

Good Morning,

The topic today addresses celebrations for the holiday gone awry. Perspective is lost as to what the best gift is and Who is giving that GIFT. Here is a quotation from this writing, "At the end of the day and the end of the season we have to have our priorities aligned with God's thoughts. Here is the one saying that sums it up perfectly...Jesus is the reason for the season.!

Begin your plans to celebrate this Reason.
Corinne
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Today's Devotional 

"How We Celebrate" 

Written by 

Corinne Mustafa

I am watching the goings on this week with a tad of disbelief. It is like a "feeding frenzy" is going on. Don't get me wrong. I am not against the secular culture that controls a lot of it. However, when you watch the Macy Thanksgiving Parade almost every float was an advertisement for a movie or a product. Now more than half ot any news program is reporting how the "Black" Shopping Days are making a killing. It feels like the shopping public is swung around without any control of ourselves. And now we have added cyber shopping to the mix!

Here was my Christmas sixty-five years ago. My parents had their Manger under the tree, and there was a ton of tinsel. I had a pyramid of presents, but it was not what you are thinking. My dad was the sole provider, and he worked in a card clothing mill. My mother was very fugal in her shopping. Things that I needed to have became presents...toothbrushes and toothpaste, oranges, pennies and nuts in my stocking, pajamas, packages of underwear opened and wrapped separately. There were my one major gift and books. I felt like we were as well off as any other people. Christmas was off the chart for me. I loved what I believed to be the magic of Christmas.

Back to the secular celebrations that are common to whatever area you live I find no problem. My only desire it that it is in its correct place on the spectrum of importance. At the end of the day and the end of the season we have to have our priorities aligned with God's thoughts. Here is the one saying that sums it up perfectly...

Heavenly Lord,

Thank you for all you do for us and for all you give us. As I sit here looking at my manger under the tree, I thank you for the best gift of all. The gift of Your Son. You did not want to be in heaven without us. so You sent Jesus to take our place so that our sins would be forgiven, and we would be righteous enough to join You in heaven for eternity.

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This is how much God loved the world: He gave His Son, His one and only Son. And this is why: so that no one need be destroyed; by believing in Him, anyone can have a whole and lasting life. God didn’t go to all the trouble of sending His Son merely to point an accusing finger, telling the world how bad it was. He came to help, to put the world right again. Anyone who trusts in Him is acquitted; anyone who refuses to trust Him has long since been under the death sentence without knowing it. And why? Because of that person’s failure to believe in the one-of-a-kind Son of God when introduced to him.

John 3:16-18(MSG)

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Prayers are lifted up daily for you

 by the Devotional Writers and the Monthly Writing Staff

 of Women's Focus Ministries.

Blog Writers:

Jan Andersen, Sandy Billingham, Carol Steficek,   

 Brother Thomas Ukwute, Jody Ward,  Karen Bennett, 

Bre Miller, Cathy Friberg, and  Corinne Mustafa
Elizabeth McElderry, Betty Espindola,  Lynda Kinnard
Amie Spruiell, and Debbie Rodriguez

Occasional Contributors:

Kathy Bireley, Terri Baker, Beverley Napier,
 Kelly Dobyns, Glenna Williamson,  

Amie Spruiell, and Lisabeth Lipp