Tag Archives: media

November 13, 2012 · 22:11

Is This The Season For You?

We are amping up for the season.   What season?

Spike, the Norway Spruce

Oh.  This season.  This season meaning the holidays?  Or this season meaning the winter season?

How can we use this winter season to prepare us for this holiday season?

It snowed here yesterday for the first time this season.  For about 20 minutes.  It was quiet.  When I look at snow,  it gets quiet in my soul.

I have been watching nature get ready for the winter season.  I think the snakes might be sleeping now.  Shh.   The plants have died back.  The trees have gone to sleep.   The air is quiet.  The nights are wonderfully crisp on my walks to and from the barn.  Peace.   The skies are twinkly and dark and wintery.  We welcome all of this cause it spells rest.

This morning’s walk to cows

God gave us time to rest.  He gave us  a rest period daily.  He created a day of rest for us within our week.  And winter was created to give both nature and humans rest.   It is a time to rejuvenate our very tired bodies, souls and minds from 9 months of go.  Did you know there are even cold season vegetables  ( potatoes, some varieties of squash, root vegetables, brussels sprouts) and warm season vegetables ( lettuce and other green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers)?  Winter season is for us to warm our insides, hunker down and cozy up.

I am glad that Jesus’ birth is in the dead of winter.  It is a perfect kind of time where we can turn our focus on Him.   I like to imagine Mary and Joseph traveling in the quiet of night to the barn.  Snowy and still.  I don’t even know if it snows where they lived.  But it snows in my mind.

So,  how can we take all this quiet, stillness and restfulness of our winter season and channel it into our holiday season?  It is quite easy to allow the over stimulated media and commercial world to seep into our pores.  But we have a choice,  as in all actions we take.  I am talkin’ to myself here too, don’t you know.

I use to abhor the holiday season.  I resented the fact that materialism overshadowed the real meaning of Christmas.  I have little energy as it is, let alone throw in a curve ball that includes taking all of your home decorations down and put up  stuff  for two weeks, then take it all down again.   And shop more in a three-week period than the whole rest of the year combined.  What is so glorious about that?  Rejoice?

Last time I looked,  Christmas was a time to celebrate the birth of our Lord.  Why are we celebrating if it isn’t about Him anymore?  Why are we celebrating when we don’t believe in Him anymore?

I don’t abhor it anymore.  I made the decision not to.  I don’t have to play follow the commercial leader if I don’t want to.  I will follow my own Leader.   I decided to enjoy the season.  I decided to use the winter season to prepare me for the birth of Christ, er, I mean, the holiday season.

These are the actions that  I plan to implement this season:

1.  Make  a list that is short enough that is attainable.  Daily.  Dont bite off more than you can chew.

2.  Take in the quiet moments that winter treats us to.  Daily.

3.  Make sure that while I am doing the shopping thing,  I enjoy time with friends.  Like lunch with a friend.

4.  Be honest with myself.  Say no when I don’t want to do something.

5.  Go to bed early.

6.  Shop less.  Give less things.   Celebrate time with others instead.  Who can afford all that stuff anyway.

7.  GRATITUDE LIST.  It will make you smile more minutes everyday.

8.  What e’er else.  Take it slooowwwww and easy.

9. Think about someone else.  Make some else’s day.

10.  Drink water.

11.  The most important …… enjoy my time in prayer with our Creator.

Sunday, we cooked our turkey that we raised and butchered ourselves.    And believe ir or not, it was yummy.  Kinda.

God bless your soul,

Karen

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November 2, 2012 · 09:43

The Eyes are Closed.

The ears are covered.

What is it like?  I know,  it can be quite welcoming for a while, can’t it?  It can be quieting. But for how long?  What are we missing by not being able to see or hear?  There are many things we could go the rest of our lives without needing or wanting to see or hear again, but there would be much  we would miss terribly.

Take a moment to think about what is taken away from your site.  Many beautiful and not so beautiful things that take up our views each moment of the day.  Graphics in the media, magazines, internet websites,  and on tv, symbols on the streets, ,  photographs,  paintings or prints in offices or in our houses,  merchant signs,  book  covers, company logos, architecture, packaging.  Literally, every where you look there are things to look at.  Visuals that stir or stimulate us.

I could go on and on with the images.   It fills our lives and we are not  aware of it most of the time.

It is the same with music.  We hear music on the radio, ipods, in elevators, in stores.  Music notes  are created to alert us of events.  We enjoy music in the foreground and background in movies and television shows, commercials.  Church.  It is a rare occasion that life is without sound that was created by someone.

God created us to use our senses.  It is a critical and necessary part of life and music and art have been part of civilization from the very beginning.  We need it.  I don’t believe it is even a matter of whether we want it or not.  He created the world with beautiful visuals and sounds  for our enjoyment and I  also believe,  to set  an example.

They are trying to encourage less music and art in our schools and have dropped the programs from many school systems.  Education is very important but music and art are fundamental to our existence.  Everything we see out there outside of the birds and the bees and the flowers and the trees was created by people who were exposed and encouraged at some time in their development.  Even the guy who created the tiny jingles that we have all grown accustom to when our computers kick on.

Can we live without art and music?  Try to imagine the world that is void of visual images and audible sounds.  Oh my goodness.

It is not just the fine art lover and music fan that are impacted by art and music.  It is all of us.  I pray that we don’t neglect  the importance of art and music in our lives and decide it is not vital for our children and their children.  They will starve to death.

Our children must be exposed in every way they can.

God bless,

Karen

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