My Hummingbird Cafe

I hope you enjoy the merriment around you this Christmas Season. Please remember the reason for this season and what impact the birth of our Lord has on your life.

What plans have you made for celebrating Christmas this year? Do you plan to spend time with your family, to make connections with people you haven’t seen much of this past year or in years past, or do you plan on doing anything special at all this year?

If you do not believe in Jesus being the Christ, the savior and redeemer of all mankind, then may I ask what do you think of him? Do you believe that there is any real supreme being that governs the universe, or do you believe our life on earth is just an accident with no real meaning?

I ask these questions because I am curious about what people think of the Christmas season. I want to understand why people are so put off by those who believe in Jesus Christ and yet they celebrate the season. These people take holiday pay, they participate in the celebrations, and they participate in gift giving, they even set up a Christmas tree, but they do not believe in the birth of the Lord. I cannot understand participating in Christmas celebrations and all the amenities but they do not believe in the reason for the season.

I ask this, because I am truly wanting to gain an understanding of this phenomenon. I am not asking because I am in judgment of people who do not believe or to start a discussion or an argument. I am truly wanting to understand.

I know why the Jews do not recognize Jesus Christ, but they DO NOT celebrate Christmas. I am NOT talking about Jews, I am talking about people who say they don’t believe in God, in the Savior, or in anything relating to religion, yet they have no problem participating in all the festivities. That, to me, is dishonest. If they celebrate because everybody else does, I can probably accept that position, but not someone claiming to be atheist and yet choosing to celebrate anyway. It seems contradictory to me.

Now, for something more light-hearted. What do you want for Christmas?

• I want people to be more aware of each other’s needs,
• I want Congress to pay closer attention to what the people want instead of what they want.
• I want children to be more respectful of their parents and others.
• I want to live closer to my children and grandchildren.
• I want my book to reach the hands of many more people and have it help them.
• I want my writing to be better.
• I want to be of more service to people and to understand their needs better.
• I want enough money to cover my personal needs and then take whatever I have left (which needs to be enough to be useful) to help people who are not flakes but just gets hit by life. If they can pay it back, then great but if not, then so be it.
• I want my husband to keep treating me as nice as he is this Christmas season.
• I want to have the time, money, and space to paint and have more training and skill to paint what I want to paint.
• I want to have unlimited time to do all the things I want to do without having to fix dinner, clean house, pay bills, answer the phone, run errands, and all the other duties that keep me from doing what I want to do and need to do.

Now that you’ve read all of my wants for Christmas and recognize that none or all of these wishes are unrealistic, as I also recognize, I want you to know that these are the precious desires of my heart. If you could have a magic wand that would give you any of your precious desires of the heart, what would you ask for?

After you make your unrealistic wish list, I would like you to examine it. Ask yourself what this list says about you and who your are inside. Is there anything about what you see something that you would like to change?  If so, how much effort will you put into making a change?

We are entering the first of a new year, a time for making “New Year Resolutions”. I hope you will put the changes you saw on that list and work on it over the year. If you don’t make the changes you want to make, take a look at how much of a change you did make.  If you made any movement at all towards that resolution, then recognize that you have changed. It may not be to the degree that you wanted but at least you have moved towards it and that is good. I applaud you!  Good for you, keep it up!

I hope this next year brings you more of what you want. I also hope this Christmas season will be a blessing to youand your family and friends — and try to keep warm.

Written by Judith Sherman

Most reports we hear on television right now are negative and about problems with living in our times. It’s negative news on the current government administration, negative news on the state of our economy, negative news on the state of the dollar and it crashing soon, negative news on events going on around the world, and negative news on the war in Iraq and Afghanistan. With all that negativity, how do we find something to be positive about today?

I enjoyed church this week, it inspired me to think more positive about the gloom and doom going on around me, so I thought it would be a good idea to share some of what I learned with you. Take it for what it’s worth to you and apply whatever you feel will help you deal with the negatives in your own life.

The first thing I learned is that how we deal with our circumstances is all about perspective, the way we view events taking place around us. We may choose to live in our own little world and think all is well, we can accept the reality of the world we live in and complain about it, or we can choose to accept things as they are but be positive in our responses to what we see and hear.

The way I see it, we have a choice to be negative or positive about our environment. If we choose to be positive, we may need to change our mindset. also, we may need to challenge ourselves to do something that helps us live in the world but not be of the world. In other words, we make the choice to be positive. Also, accepting that we are not alone in this world and that there is no need to suffer through it by ourselves gives us a sense of well-being. We have each other, we have our communities on the Internet and at home, and we have a “Father in Heaven”; a being who loves us and will protect us in the safe cocoon that he provides for us.

In this way, we are much like a grove of trees. Trees standing close together catch another when it falls. Also, trees lean against another until someone comes along to either tether them up to something in order to straighten them or cut them down.

We can become as a grove of trees. This means we catch each other when someone falls to prevent him or her from toppling over in a life storm or becoming washed away in the torrent. Also, it means we allow someone to lean on us for awhile until he or she tethers themselves to whatever helps them straighten up and stand again.

As we become more like a grove of trees in a storm, we gather strength from each other. This strengthens us as we fight the challenges we face right now, and helps us weather the brunt of our economic storms. By standing closely with each other, we know we can have someone near who understands what we are going through and knows how to help us. This knowledge alone can be very comforting to us.

Think about it, when we put together our resources, our time and talents, our encouragement and love, we can accomplish great things that would not normally be attainable alone.

Our nation is notorious for standing together in a crisis. Remember 9-11, how we came together to help those afflicted by the disaster! It made us stronger as a nation and a people. For a short time, we forgot about our differences and about politics, we actually came together and supported each other. It was a beautiful site to behold! I wrote the following thoughts after 9-11-2001, regarding the way people responded to the crisis.

You were an inspiration to this country, as you came together from far and wide across this nation, united in purpose and patriotism.

This was shown in the flags you raised and the songs you sang, in the candles you lit, and in the prays you said.

With heads held high and caring arms spread, you hugged each as tears were shed.

You were a ray of sunshine in the middle of turmoil, and an inspiration when this country was thrust into chaos.

No one did this alone; we did it together! Together we bridged the chasm of grief and despair, and together we face the future.

Although outraged for what happened that day, we must be united in order to be strong.

I saw people come out from all walks of life and all corners of the world to support the people in New York City in their time of need. In addition, I saw this nation reach out to other countries in their crisis as well, and many churches contribute food and  supplies to people suffering in a disaster. This is exactly the kind of thing I am talking about; caring for others in our own way and in our own community or online communities.

There are some really hard times in store for us as a nation in the near future. When the dollar crashes, it will cause huge problems for not only America, but for other nations as well. America’s dollar impacts the world and the world impacts America as well. One of the videos I posted points out that America will be the first to fall victim to over-spending and huge national debt. However, other nations have done the same and will follow the same path as America. So this is going to be a world-wide problem very shortly. This is why we need to become a grove of trees RIGHT NOW and prepare the best we can to respond appropriately to this type of world crisis. I suggest you watch some of the videos I posted on my vodpod: CLICK HERE. Also, you will  probably like OhWell-ItsOk.com and FamilyBasics.

I would love to hear from you. Tell us how you deal with the challenges of our times. Your advice can help someone who is suffering right now. I want you to be part of our grove of trees so please tell us your thoughts, questions, and advice. Tell us how you currently handle the economy and the trials you have overcome.

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