For the Soul

Midweek Music: The Shepherd on guitar

Merry Christmas week! I should have done a “12 Days of Carols” on the blog with my favorite Christmas carols, but maybe Lord willing next year.

I wanted to share this touching Christmas guitar melody. It was composed by an Italian. The melody starts slow and then has a dynamic crescendo. I would love to know what you thought of the song. 

Look below this video to read some life snippets about my Christmas season. 

 

 

Some verses that have been on my heart recently from my daily Bible devotion: 
“Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life. Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.” (Gal 6:7-9)

Also, an encouraging verse I read today:  “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly beyond all that we ask or think, according to the power that works within us, to Him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)

Book I am currently reading is: Rebel with a Cause Autobiography of Franklin Graham. It’s a great story, giving you a glimpse into the real life of Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, and captivating too. I received it for free when Samaritan’s Purse ministry said they have some free copies, so I signed up. 

 

Book I am planning to read: The Secret Rescue- An Untold Story of American Nurses and Medics Behind Nazi Lines. I don’t know how good the book is, but the title sounds absolutely delightful- just up my alley! I borrowed it from the library but I have to look it up and see if it has any bad stuff, cause I might end up not reading it after all. 🙁

 

This year the house is decorated earlier for Christmas: The lights are put up, the stockings at the fireplace and there are ornaments in the windows and paper snowflakes hanging from the light fixture. It didn’t take as much time as last year- maybe because I was not as stressed out, since I’m graduated from college- so odd. College felt like it’s never ending. 

Been sick with the flu: I’ve been so sick with the flu the past week, it almost didn’t feel like Christmas. Fever, and coughing and muscle aches! It was terrible. I lived on ibuprofen, vitamin C, cough drops, tea, onion tea (yuck), elderberry syrup, silver solution. Because of that, we couldn’t do our annual tradition of going Christmas caroling in front of stores as shoppers go in and out. I miss that. 

Planning to bring cookies: to all our neighbors, cashiers at our local store, bank tellers and a few other people. Or maybe my family and I will make cinnamon rolls- I’m not sure. 

This year everyone’s hectic: Wherever you drive people are bustling around like crazy! I feel like this year it’s more than previous years- everyone is out there doing shopping, and there are so many distracted drivers! 

Listening to Christmas carols: really puts me in the mood for Christmas. How do you focus on the Christmas story? 

Looking forward to spending time with family for Christmas: it’s so neat when you get to have relatives come over and celebrate important holidays like Christmas together! Usually we have a quiet Christmas- just me and my immediate family, but this year will be a bit more festive. Singing Christmas carols together is wonderful!

Attended a Christmas concert: at my former college! It was a lovely orchestra and choir. The nice thing was they sang real Christian Christmas carols, not the fake “Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer” or stuff like that. Of course they had a few other ones like the Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, and some Jazz, but at the end the audience joined the choir to sing Handel’s Messiah Alleluiah, which was awesome! 

Christmas is on a Sunday- once in 7 years: I look forward to having Christmas on Sunday, it seems like just the right thing! We can celebrate the birth of our Savior together with other believers at church. It happens about once in every 7 years, I heard. 

Merry Christmas in the Lord to all of you around the world- and a blessed, safe and beautiful New Year! 

Please share with me your Christmas traditions, or what you do to focus on the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ! 

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *