Volume 15: "Christmases Past"

In the news of our nation, I just saw where two people won a total of 636-million-dollars by guessing the "right" numbers playing the lottery. I have news for the "winners". All of their new-won money will not buy them peace. Peace isn't found in new money. Peace is found in an old manger.

You know what I miss most about "Christmases Past?" I miss the sense that everyone was content and grateful with what they had. I know that ever since the beginning of Creation people have been grasping for more and more, however, when I was a boy at Christmastime, it seemed that most all of the families in our community were more content and grateful with what they had rather than desiring more monetary gain. People seemed more at peace with their own lives, more glad for their health and less focused on others' wealth.

Call it the naive perspective of a child, because maybe that's where my memories of "Christmases Past" originate? If so, then, I want to be more like a child these days, like I was in those days. I don't want success in my mind to be defined as more and more financial accumulation, but in more and more faith saturation.

As I write these words, December 18, 2013, my Dad is in the Greenville, North Carolina, Medical Center in severe pain. A few days ago, he learned that he has a tumor at the base of his spine. Operating is not an option because it could paralyze him. So, while we await the results of a biopsy taken yesterday, Dad's pain is severe. Hopefully, today, a desired diagnosis will be discovered and some form of treatment to reduce the size of the tumor and find Dad some relief will begin to happen.

In talking with Dad early this morning, he said tenderly, "I am in great pain, son, but I have good peace." In our conversation, financial accumulation had no relevancy. The only things that matter now pertain to internal and eternal priorities. Remember, it's our faith, family, and friends that deliver to our lives the essence of true peace.

Good News! It's "Christmas Present!" Don't focus on money and "winning" some big, complicated Jack-Pot. Simply, fall at the manger and find everlasting Jesus-Present, and LIVE at Peace with God and with yourself this Christmas and beyond!

Grateful