Like the best chocolate... bitterseet

Like the best chocolate, Christmas, well-kept, is bittersweet.
Each year we anticipate the sweetness of Christmas. We prepare for it; we celebrate it. The sweetness of Christmas comes easily: the fragrance of evergreens, the ringing of bells, the glow of candles, the singing of carols, the joy of giving, the surprised delight of children, the gatherings of family and dear friends, and all the precious memories, bittersweet, of Christmas Past. Oh, the sweetness of Christmas: a baby asleep in a manger, and all heaven and earth proclaiming, "Hope! Peace! Joy! Love!"

And yet, there are those who will meet this Christmas with loss and pain and despair. There are, as always, the poor and those in desperate need. There are, as always, nations at war. There are, as always, those who mourn. For such as these the darkness of winter is dark indeed and Christmas, more bitter than sweet. Jesus walked among sheep without a shepherd and, one by one, he touched and healed and comforted. In his presence they found, as we still hope to find, peace and joy and love.

So, we will keep Christmas and try to keep it well. We will celebrate the birth in Bethlehem by making room in our hearts that Christ may be born in us. We will look upon the babe in the manger and see the man on the cross. Bittersweet! Like the angels we sing praises and speak peace. Like the Magi we offer gifts of adoration. Like the shepherds we "spread the word concerning... this child."

Hope! Peace! Joy! Love! Christmas... bittersweet.

Listen to Mark Lowry's "Mary, Did You know?"

In this season, as in all seasons...

[This article is probably the most popular thing, I have ever written.  I wrote it first to use as our Christmas card insert; then it was published in the church newsletter as part of LIGHT! (Advent 2005) and I think it was published at least once again.  Lots of people have "borrowed" it and I've gotten it back in emails and other's cards; a few asked permission first.  I still love it and hope you will too.  In this season as in all seasons... by K Cummings Pipes]

It's that time of year. Everyone is or soon will be "making a list and checking it twice." I've even made a list of my lists. Rush, rush, busy, busy! The list is long and the time is short. I hope not too short for prayer and meditation in this season as in all seasons.

I want to make time to remember that long ago God's people waited in expectant hope for God to act, to redeem, to lead, to reveal. I want to remember that long ago, in a season of darkness, there was light.

I want to celebrate God's provision in the winter beauty of Creation. I want to remember that there was oil for Temple lamps. I want to see glorious light on Bethlehem's hills and hear songs of peace and good will. I want to look for the star that led the wise to an improbable manger where all power was wrapped in the weakness of a sleeping child.

In this season as in all seasons, I want to sing the old songs that are forever new and remember that "heaven came down and glory filled my soul... My sins were washed away and my night was turned to day..."

In this season, when days are short and the night is long, I want to remember and to wait in expectant hope.

Of course... even when I'm not reading...

I'm reading. I always read the newspaper, The Houston Chronicle. How I still miss the long-gone Houston Post. Oh, how I miss the Chronicle from the time when it was a real newspaper instead of a mournful shadow of itself.

The mail periodically brings, well, periodicals: The Economist, Reader's Digest, National Geographic, Consumer Reports, Texas Highways, Texas Parks and Wildlife, a plethora of home decorating mags, and the public relations publications of Adubon Society, Houston Zoo, Houston Museum of Natural Science, Nature Conservancy and para-church pubs.

The latest addition to this list is our Christmas gift from our god-daughter, Holly: Mental Floss where knowledge junkies get their fix, an entertaining, kooky, fun, and thoroughly delightful read which David and I both enjoy and highly recommend:
http://www.mentalfloss.com/

And, of course, I seldom miss my daily devotions.

"Of course," just as my great grandmother, Mama Calahan, said to my sister and me, "Of course, I know you girls completed your morning devotions long ago, but Mrs. M_ and I enjoyed a late start to our morning and hoped you wouldn't mind joining us for ours. It's so nice to have good, young voices to read and sing for us."

Of course, neither of us had given a single thought to ever doing any morning devotions although I think we have often done so since. For me morning devotions are now an "of course" just as they were for my great grandmother. This year my devotional readings are coming from two sources:

1. Jowett, John Henry: My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year. New York Chicago: Fleming H. Revell Company, 1924. Project Gutenberg. Kindle. Each day's reading is a short commentary on a scripture reference which I'm incongruously reading in the Amplified Bible, the Lockman Foundation's Kindle edition.
2. For a number of years now, my daily Bible readings have been taken from a lectoinary. This year I'm using the website of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops with readings from the New American Bible. I'm posting a link to today's reading. http://www.usccb.org/nab/today.shtml

Now, that LadyBird is happily jumping up on Cathey's kitchen counters and that Rice Owls Baseball's hiatus was followed by an out-of-town series before returning to Reckling Park and that most of my post-funeral correspondence has been attended to... I had time for a Fiction Binge:

Braeme, Charolotte M.: Dora Thorne. Project Gutenberg. Kindle. Braeme's (1836-1884) last name is correctly spelled "Brame" but often spelled variously including "Braem" and her pseudonym for U.S. published books is Bertha C. Clay. She was the author of Grandma Wieland's "now that's a story" Married in Name Only. Grandma's other book for which I'm still searching was titled, Wed and Parted. I read Dora Thorne because it is the best known book of an author associated with Miss Toosey's Mission as part of evelynwhitakerlibrary.org. I recently had an email from her great great great niece. FICTION ROMANCE 19th Century

Whyte-Melville, G. J.: Kate Coventry. An autobiography. T. Nelson and Sons, 1909. Project Gutenberg. Kindle. I read this book about a year ago but somehow never noted it in my journal so this is a second reading. An amusing story and an excellent depiction of "the new woman." There is a good deal on horsemanship (or horsewomanship) and fox and stag hunting. FICTION ROMANCE 19th Century HORSE HUNTING WOMEN'S FRIENDSHIPS COUSINS FAMILY NOTE CALAHAN WIELAND