December Doings

This week we finished up Gymkids and Adventurers for the semester and things are also winding down in the academics while things 'heat' up elsewhere. Next week we'll be done with our History class and probably the Keepers club. That means we won't be running around quite as much which is nice for this taxi driver.
We'll be

keeping B with us next week. She is always such a pleasure. And, hopefully we'll have more time to visit J who is almost 34 weeks pregnant but not expected to carry to term...

Read an inspiring guest editorial of our local conference magazine, Tidings. Dr Ron Smith titled his editorial: Nourishment for the Holiday Season. Here is a quote or two from his article:

...Through daily prayer, study of the Word, and Christian fellowship, God seems to lift the burdens of everyday life and provide strength for the inevitable pull and tug of living. Prayer is a tremendous resource at the disposal of the spiritually malnourished. Through prayer, we can incorporate supernatural strength. Through prayer, we can call upon supernatural powers to resuscitate us from our malnourished states. Prayer is more than positive thinking; it is more than the power of suggestion; and it is more than magical thinking, which some psychiatrists would call it. It is calling upon the power of God Himself who is available to His children.

Then he refers to the "Word of God as a resource to battle one's spiritually malnourished state":

The Word of God has tremendous power - power for many things, including overcoming anxiety and a depressed self-image....Nothing can help more in overcoming life's problems than spending hours and hours meditating on the Word of God.

Next he comments on the benefits of fellowshipping with the body of Christ as a whole.

There is real protection among and within the body of Christ. If we are with a group of believers who love the Lord and enjoy life, their happiness rubs off on us. We find ourselves being less self-centered and less absorbed in our own problems. Our spiritual nourishment receives dynamic enhancement.

As we go forth to the 'world' then, how much more effective we can be in spreading God's message - as healthy and nourished believers! All that we need in this life is right here before us, at our ready disposal. We don't NEED to experience any kind of anxiety at all.

Tomorrow, to change the subject, C is going to be part of a Sabbath School programme for a senior group - reading a couple poems, playing the cello and singing. There are several other "primaries" also doing various items and singing in a little "choir". C is psyched but understandably a little nervous.

We've started an "activity calendar" leading up to the end of December as usual. Each evening C opens a card door to see what we'll do the next day. That also gives Mom a chance to be a little prepared herself!

Last Sunday we went to the local Christmas parade. This year they threw out oodles of candy....I think the local Dentists will do a bustling trade in the coming year. I wonder how much they paid the organizers, ha ha! In the parade was also our local Ooltewah High

School marching band which had the honor of being in the Macy's Day parade this Thanksgiving! They looked very smart and dapper in their uniforms and make our fair city proud!

So, December marches on. The Lord's Coming is also marching closer. How many of us are living every day like we REALLY believe His coming is SOON? Think about it!