...:::Life Strategies Success Planner December 2003:::...

[ The Success Planner ] - life strategies' monthly e-newsletter

Christmas Edition 2003

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Volume 1 - Issue 4

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	In this issue:
1st:	Christmas Greetings
2nd:	3 Renovating Ideas for Christmas - by Hamlet Smith

1st

Merry Christmas... from all of us at Life Strategies!

Merry Christmas! We hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas. May the Lord Bless you and keep you!

- Hamlet, Bonnie, and Josiah

2nd

3 Renovating Ideas for Christmas

by Hamlet Smith

At Christmastime we all say things like, “it’s not about the gifts, but giving” and “This year we want to celebrate the true meaning of Christmas.” But if you’re like me - we find it hard to actually do anything different than last year. Maybe we’re afraid of what other family members would say if we take the initiative to actually put more meaning into Christmas. While the birth of Christ is not recorded by history on a certain date, for some reason this is the date that we choose to celebrate. I think putting aside a date to celebrate “God with us” is a good idea, but only if we are willing to look below the obvious surface. I suggest three ideas:

1: Gift Giving can be a part, but need not dominate our thoughts about Christmas.

This is the one we all know; yet it seems year after year it happens. We are a market driven economy that markets far more heavily at this time of year than any other. Retail stores look to this time to make up the majority of their sales. It is a well-documented fact. We are out of control. Perhaps the most obvious way to put the true meaning of Christmas in our thoughts is to spend time every day reading Scriptures about Christ’s coming to our family. These “Advent” (coming) passages are in the first part of Matthew, Luke, and John. Plus with some guidance you can find some very obvious references to Christ in the Old Testament prophets like Isaiah. Ask your pastor what passages he uses with his family daily before Christmas. If your pastor doesn’t know or doesn’t celebrate the word with his family, ask someone else’s pastor. It’s worth finding out. Search for the bargain of wisdom, and hang on to it when you get it.

2: Work harder on the Inside stuff, than you do on the Outside stuff.

Celebrate with lights, Deck the halls, and Trim the tree, but again let who you are on the inside be more important. Jesus pronounced woes on the Pharisees for cleaning the outside of the cup so it looks good, but ignoring the cleanliness of the inside. (Matt 23:23-28) Woe to us if we are just trying to look good, but aren’t trying to be good. Meditation, Bible reading, and prayer are just the beginning of the ways we can make sure the inside is prepared. “We have no time”, is the rallying cry of desperate people. It’s definitely a sign that something is amiss. We have to redeem the time we have, because the days are evil. Evil is forcefully advancing and if we don’t take our destiny in our hands then we will definitely be swept away in the tidal wave of evil. Look at the exponential rise of the occult in our children’s programming (i.e. books and TV shows). Themes of the occult like witchcraft, demons, and monsters dominate our American children’s mind. Let’s let them know that there is a God who is powerful and whose kingdom is also forcefully advancing. Let’s encourage them for the good. I know it’s hard to make the time, but really that’s what our lives mean… what we have given our time to doing. “Joy to the world the Lord is come… let every heart prepare him room….”

3: Love the person of Christ not just the idea of Christ.

Religion is a good thing, but by itself it’s empty. We hear the cry to be giving and to give. But if we are primarily giving materially….this is truly tragic. We all have seen the devastating effect of a father who has “given their children everything,” but refused to give himself. Let’s make sure we’ve got something worth passing to our children. If we have immersed ourselves in a relationship with Christ we have something worth giving. Yes let’s give ourselves! Let’s read together, play together, and eat together. Yet first let’s connect to our Father in heaven so we have a relationship worth passing on to others. God is a person who wants to be talked to, laughed with, and cried with. Let’s not just try to impress Him, but go with Him in this journey called life.

The best things in life don’t come easily, but they do come if we seek them. Seek the God of Christmas. This is the ONLY way to succeed. Plan to succeed!

Merry Christmas,

Hamlet

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