Opening a Gift on Christmas Adam

1. Adam came before Eve. My dad has called December 23rd Christmas Adam for as long as I can remember.
2. As kids, were allowed to open one present on Christmas Adam. Yes, that was early and maybe not fair. But a lot of times I think it was a setup so Mom could have us wear our new clothes for Christmas and count it as a gift. (I'm learning your tricks as I parent lol)

Since becoming an adult, I have missed opening that present early. Don't get me wrong, I love watching Thomas rip into his (and whoever else will let him) gifts and the excitement on his face. And I love giving a heartfelt gift to someone and seeing their happiness. But there is something special about opening your own gift that someone felt like you needed. And I was blessed to open a gift of perspective and joy yesterday.

Yesterday Afternoon I had to go to Walmart (I almost asked for prayer requests but refrained). While chit chatting with the cashier I told her I hope she has a Merry Christmas and that she can survive the next couple days. Her response surprised me. She said that she didn't mind being that busy, working that hard, and having all those people come through because she knew they were buying gifts to bring others happiness. If you can have that kind of perspective and that kind of JOY while working as a cashier at Walmart during the holidays, that's saying something. She is not likely aware of the gift she gave me in that thought. We wished each other a Merry Christmas and went our separate ways, but I truly hope that her family has a wonderful Christmas.

Then there was another "box" to open. I had to park over halfway back in the parking lot, no big deal. But there was a guy unloading his buggy about the same time that I was. As we both finished, we each offered to take the other's buggy. He was slightly older than me and insisted so I obliged. So often we see buggies left in the parking lot yet here during the hecticness of the holidays, there's someone putting in the extra little time and effort to spread some JOY and say "I've got you."

These may seem like simple little trivial happenings. And I supposed that if I were too busy I could have missed noticing them. But they became even more relevant this morning when reading this verse, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men" - Luke 2:14. There is so much joy and good will this time of year that I wish we could find some way to bottle it up and just take a sip everyday when we wake up. And in all honesty, we can. Look at what leads to peace and good will - saying "Glory to God." If we aim every day to please Him, we won't have to worry about aiming to please others, He will take care of that and say, "I've got you."

So to my Walmart cashier and the gentleman in the parking lot, thank you for my Christmas Adam gifts, and I wish you both a Merry Christmas!

2020 is Hindsight...Finally!

Wow, what a year! 2020 could literally be an entire decade, maybe more, of history, change, and lessons rolled up into these twelve months. While many aspects of 2020 were kind of sucky and we would like to forget them, it will certainly be a year to remember. And it will be enlightening when this year is looked back on in 10, 25, or 50 years to be discussed. I wonder if we'll seem like geniuses or idiots? Probably both to some extent! While there is so much that I could consider and analyze about this year, I'll try to break some of it down into four dimensions - Physical, Spiritual, Mental, and Social/Emotional. These are events and happenings from my world and perspective and I'm trying to be open in sharing and would love to hear from others on events you found most transforming. Physical When COVID cause gyms to close, that messed me up. Our town and state were late to be hit with severe cases and therefore later than many across the country to close up shop. I'm n...

Worship > Fellowship

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"Will you not revive us again, that your people may rejoice in You?" - Psalm 85:6 The thoughts below were in my devotional this morning by Dr. Lee Sheppard: "So how can we know if we need revival in our lives? Well, we need revival when our salvation has lost its joy, when our sin does not break our heart, and when we make little to no effort to witness to the lost. We need revival when worship becomes boring, when we are at odds with believers and see no need for reconciliation, and when we fail to believe God for the impossible. We need revival when we have to be begged to give and serve in church and when we would rather make money than give money. We need revival when we have to be entertained to be drawn to church and when we are indifferent to the fact that there are 2.5 billion people on the planet who have never heard the name of Jesus. We need revival when we don't regularly see the supernatural evidence of God's power and when ...

Growin' Up Gregory

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