Final Days

"I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year." - Charles Dickens

December 1 is the 335th day of the year or 336th in leap years. This means that there are only 30 days remaining until the end of the year. Only 30 days left to finish those New Year resolutions set way back on January 1.

Astronomical terms have the seasons begin at the solstices and equinoxes. In a conventional United States calendar, Winter begins on 21 December, the winter solstice.



In meteorological terms, the seasons are determined by temperature. So, in meteorology terms, winter begins in the Northern Hemisphere on December 1; summer beginning of course in the Southern Hemisphere.

The thing to consider is that Christmas is nearing and the calendar year is getting close to the end. With only 30 days left, how did you conduct your year?

Did you accomplish what you wanted?

Did you make life a little bit better for those you came in contact with?

Use these final days of the year 2008 to prepare for the coming holiday. But also use this time to reflect on what you might still be able to accomplish. The new year will bring new promises and new resolutions. So complete what you set out to do this year and finish the year strong.
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Beethoven

Ludwig van Beethoven
16 December 1770 – 26 March 1827

Midnight Sonata - The original title of the sonata is “Quasi una fantasia” (It. almost a fantasy). The popular title of Moonlight Sonata actually didn’t come about until several years after Beethoven’s death.
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Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to everyone!

The following is from a friend of mine and his own thankfulness says so much. Find what there is to be thankful in your own life.

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What I'm Thankful For

I'm thankful that I serve a God who not only created me but loves me in spite of what I have done with His creation.

I'm thankful that I am part of a church who embraces what I am instead of trying to mold me into what I am not.

I'm thankful when I see Dona walk away because I know that I will be just as flushed when I get to watch her walking back; and at my age I'm thankful that I still get flushed.

I'm thankful that I am called "Honey" instead of Grand Pa.

I'm thankful that my three boys have turned into my three men.

I'm thankful that kids still like to fight with me, young ladies see the father in me and young men still think I can kick their rear. And for the latter, I am thankful for the power of perception.

I'm thankful for a cool mountain night and a warm open fire.

I'm thankful when I receive a great hug, a sincere smile and a firm handshake.

I'm thankful when my knees and back don't hurt when I wake in the morning.

I'm thankful for answered prayers, God's correction and a lack of worry.

We all strive for the big things. We all want God's blessings and tend to think big when we picture prosperity. But at the end of the day, I have found that it is the series of little things that makes me happy.

For this revelation, I am most especially thankful.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
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Cards That Are Dealt

“You play the hand you're dealt. I think the game's worthwhile.” ~C.S. Lewis

An interesting quote that many people say, 'you play the cards you were dealt with.' The meaning of which is that we end up in circumstances that we simply have to live with. Those circumstances could be under or out of our control at any given moment in time.

We may not even be able to hold the cards given us. A bad tendon in need of repair which causes you to drop the cards from time to time. Yet the surgery requires a cast that also prevents us from effectively holding those cards. But time will heel, the cast will come off, rehabilitation of the situation and we are back to playing those cards with ease.

The other side of being dealt the cards are those that you deal. We each make decisions in life, good and bad, which determine our circumstance. So making those choices will have an impact on the cards we deal to our self.

As C.S. Lewis said, "I think the game's worthwhile" and I couldn't agree more. Life is a wondrous thing and I wouldn't have it any other way.

The Roads by C. S. Lewis

I stand on the windy uplands among the hills of Down
With all the world spread out beneath, meadow and sea and town,
And ploughlands on the far-off hills that glow with friendly brown.

And ever across the rolling land to the far horizon line,
Where the blue hills border the misty west, I see the white roads twine,
The rare roads and the fair roads that call this heart of mine.

I see them dip in the valleys and vanish and rise and bend
From shadowy dell to windswept fell, and still to the West they wend,
And over the cold blue ridge at last to the great world’s uttermost end.

And the call of the roads is upon me, a desire in my spirit has grown
To wander forth in the highways, ‘twixt earth and sky alone,
And seek for the lands no foot has trod and the seas no sail has known:

For the lands to the west of the evening and east of the morning’s birth,
Where the gods unseen in their valleys green are glad at the ends of the earth
And fear no morrow to bring them sorrow, nor night to quench their mirth.

(From Spirits in Bondage; Heinemann, 1919)
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