Overachievers

It seems that no matter how many my wonderful seasonal accomplishments, my friends make my contributions to the spirit of Christmas seem paltry.

The one Christmas tree I decorate in our great room looks pretty, quite pretty, in my opinion. But being on Facebook has caused me to realize that I’m not contributing enough by way of making the holiday season merry and bright.

Five trees? Seriously? That many trees in our space would mean one for each room. With that many trees, we might just have to book a hotel for the season and let the trees take over our home.  

I do have collections that I put out. Maybe they can count for at least one tree: Simpich Carolers, four Nativity sets, Nutcrackers, and Byers Salvation Army and Nutcracker Carolers.

It’s a big deal in our household if sometime during the Christmas season I manage to make one recipe of chocolate fudge with walnuts, one recipe of divinity with pecans, a few pretzels dipped in chocolate (two kinds of chocolate if I’m feeling ambitious) and, during a very good season, one batch of Christmas Frances.

Imagine how mediocre my efforts at candy making seemed after reading the following post by a Facebook friend (and former student at MidAmerica Nazarene University): “OK.....so I made 178 chocolate-covered cherries yesterday (yes, you heard that correctly), along with helping to make 90 turtles, 90 caramels, 120+ chocolate centered candies and nearly 200 peppermint patties. I think I have a candy-making hangover today. However, it was a very productive day, and we are that much closer to ready to pack them all when we start back into things on Friday this week. Such fun, such fun.”

Sharon Cage Lockard, the lucky people on your Christmas list will enjoy your efforts! Maybe you should start a candy making business. Or not!  I’m sure your students would not agree to having any one else as their teacher.

(And just thinking about changing out the bedspreads and curtains every season makes me tired. So, I don’t even want to go there, but I do admire my wonderful friends who have the energy to always be in season.)

Byers Salvation Army Carolers – in honor of our son and daughter-in-law, Merrill and Nancy Powers, officers in the Salvation Army. This year their center will provide Christmas dinner for around 1500 needy people.

Joy Comes in the Morning

Heavy clouds have hung over the Midwest during the past several days, but also over the lives of thousands of people throughout our nation. So, when I opened my computer to write my blog entry this morning, I could only think of the devastation and resulting hurt across a vast and beautiful area of our country.

Today my heart aches for residents in the great midsection of the U.S. who are feeling the painful anguish of loss, while holding desperately to hope; who have in such a sad way been reminded of the insignificance of material possessions with relationship to the lives of loved ones; who, once again, recognize how helpless is man against the wrath of nature.

While the destruction has been pictured on television and reporters have described the carnage, I have prayed: for the people of Joplin, for the people in Oklahoma, for my own loved ones in Kansas as the clouds moved close to their home, and for those in the path of the threatening storms that seemed to multiply exponentially while moving to the east to threaten and terrorize residents in their paths. I prayed not only for people I know who live in those areas, but also for those I don’t know and will never meet.

I am grateful to the many people who are able to respond by being there physically to dig through the rubble and offer comfort and help. Once again our firefighters, law enforcement officers, and the National Guard have demonstrated bravery and dedication. The Salvation Army, as in every disaster around the world, is responding with both physical and spiritual care, Heart-to-Heart International is responding with medical and hygiene supplies and a multitude of trained professionals and volunteers, and the Red Cross is doing what they prepare ahead to do with sheltering those who no longer have a place to lay their heads at night. While I can’t be in those areas to help, I can support with prayer and by sharing my resources.

For thousands of people today, joy has been seemingly crushed out of their lives and they are encompassed by clouds of despair. My prayer is that they will rest in the hope given by our great God. I think of Psalm 30:5, “… weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning.” (KJV)

Photo taken of the storm by Danielle S. Ross as it passed mid-day over Kansas City.

(Submitted to NBC News, Kansas City)