A Christmas Poem

The First Christmas

This is Mary
This is Joseph
This is their donkey gray.
This is the town of Bethlehem
Where they would like to stay.
This is an angel.
This is a shepherd.
This is a brand, new star.
Later came the wisemen
Travelling from afar.
This is a stable.
This is a manger
By a cattle stall.
This is the Baby Jesus
The Savior of us all.
This is the very first Christmas
That anyone did keep—
To honor Baby Jesus—
Shh! He's fallen asleep!
—DaLee C. James

You Might Be A Scrooge

YOU MIGHT BE A SCROOGE IF…

You turn on the lawn sprinklers on Christmas Eve
to keep carolers away;

You get your Christmas tree at a rest stop at night;

Your idea of holiday decorations is a rotten pumpkin;

Your favorite Christmas pastime is putting defective bulbs
in your neighbor’s string of Christmas lights;

Your favorite Christmas drink is rotten Egg Nog;

Your favorite Christmas song is
“Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer;”

Your idea of a staff or company Christmas party is
“O, just forget it;”

You like snow only because you know it will mean
there will be some cool car accidents;

Your favorite Christmas snack is one-year old fruitcake;

You don’t like the ending to “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Miracle on 31st Street,” “The Grinch,” and “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”

You put a laxative in Santa’s cookies,
knowing and laughing about the outcome;

And finally, if your three favorite words are
“Ba Hum Bug”

A Great Christmas Prayer

Praying At Work

What does it look like to “pray without ceasing?” How might a prayerful heart oriented towards God express itself at work?
I Thessalonians 5:16-18 says,

Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Mark Herringshaw, teaching pastor at North Heights Lutheran Church in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Nicole Symmonds, managing editor at UrbanFaith.com, recently created a helpful list of “21 Ways to Pray at Work.” They write,

Many of us will spend the majority of our waking hours behind a desk, having only one prayer – the one that we prayed in the morning – to keep us throughout the day.

Here are some of their tips. View them as suggestions for what “pray without ceasing” might mean – not as a list of rules which you have to follow.

1. Pray on your way into work in the morning:

Glance at the sign or logo of your organization. Thank God for his provision to you and your family. Ask God to bless all the individuals who are a part of this enterprise.

2. Pray while working on your office phone and contact list:

Pray the ancient Hebrew blessing for your contacts: “The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance on you and grant you his peace.”

3. Pray while you’re in a meeting:

Pray to focus on the message that is being delivered, that you will ask the necessary and appropriate questions and make sensible comments.

4. Pray when you hear of firings and layoffs:

Pray to not be taken by the spirit of fear or anxiety, but of calmness and peace. If you hear of colleagues getting fired or laid off, pray for their peace and provision.

5. Pray when you have to work late or travel:

Pray that God would protect your family in your absence and give them patience and understanding to adjust to your business and travel schedule. But also pray that he give you the courage to erect the proper boundaries so that you may not become more consumed with your work than you are with your family life.

You can read all twenty-one of Herringshaw’s and Symmonds’s tips here. These are just some of the ways we can begin to develop a habit of prayer while at work. It’s certainly not an exhaustive list, and you may have creative ideas for praying throughout the day (please share in the comments section below).
This list is also not meant to be a checklist, something we have to do out of obligation. It’s important that our prayer be Spirit-led. True prayer is “in the Spirit.” There is a difference between forced or rote prayer and spontaneous prayer led by the Spirit. Ephesians 6:18 says,

With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints.

Our places of employment are the areas of responsibility God has called us to cultivate. We can walk and converse with God through our offices and construction sites and classrooms the way Adam walked with God through the Garden of Eden, in a spirit of total dependence on him to equip us with what we need to carry out our responsibilities.

Taken from www.tifwe.org

Christmas Again

Isaiah 9:6-7

Psalm 116:1-7

1 I love the LORD, for he heard my voice; he heard my cry for mercy. 

2 Because he turned his ear to me, I will call on him as long as I live. 

3 The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow.

4 Then I called on the name of the LORD: "O LORD, save me!"

5 The LORD is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. 

6 The LORD protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. 

7 Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you. 

Thankful and Remembering

O God, when I have food,
help me to remember the hungry;
When I have work,
help me to remember the jobless;
When I have a home,
help me to remember those who have no home at all;
When I am without pain,
help me to remember those who suffer,
And remembering,
help me to destroy my complacency;
bestir my compassion,
and be concerned enough to help;
By word and deed,
those who cry out for what we take for granted.
Amen.

-Samuel F. Pugh

Thank God - 30 Days - 12

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A Thankful Heart

Stewardship

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Oops. Skipped a day. 

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A Prayer of Thanks To God

Lord I come before You, desiring to provide thanks.
Father, I have so much to be thankful for, things unseen and seen,
that You have done in my life.

Lord, mostly I am thankful for the relationship that I have with You.
Lord, You initiated this relationship, by what Your Son endeavored to accomplish,
paying the price for my sin, redeeming and reconciling me.

Dear Heavenly Father, You know the times I have been ungrateful, held ill thoughts toward You and my fellow humans. You know the times I complain and grumble about life and its circumstances, about suffering, going through what seem endless trials and tribulations. Even yielding my members to unholy deeds.

Yet God You are and always will be there with me, even when it seems like I am forever in the wilderness, running further and further from You, You, my God are there guiding me back to Your loving arms.

I am thankful Lord for everything that You allow to cross my path. Thankful for the decisions that You allow me to make and the lessons that come from these decisions.

I’m thankful, Lord, that I do not have to live under condemnation anymore, that You have truly set me free, that I am a new creation that I need not live under the law anymore. Thankful Lord that You have given me joy unspeakable. Thankful Lord that You are longsuffering, allowing me to mature in You!

Lord, words do not express my thankfulness. For Your mighty power is at work in me, transforming me, renewing my mind. To You Lord belong thanks eternal.

In Jesus’ name, Amen.

allaboutprayer.org

Thankfulness

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