The countdown begins!

I bet you are counting down until Santa arrives and some are probably counting down until Christmas is just gone.

We are less than a week away from the GREATEST Day of man kind. We as Christians consider this one of the most important days in our religious life. This is the day that our Savior came to this Earth that he might save us. Now I know some of you who read this don't go to church or don't even care about that part of Christmas. But all in all I firmly believe that you and I both know the true meaning of Christmas.

We have lost sight of the real meaning of Christmas. I will be the first to tell you that I am overly excited about Stephen waking up Christmas morning to see what Santa has brought him. But we as Christians do not take enough time to read the story of Christmas. We hurriedly read it and move on to opening presents. Maybe this year with Christmas being on Sunday you will take time. We ( my family and I ) will be attending church early Christmas morning.

As Christmas approaches we find ourselves racing against time to finish our Christmas shopping. I finished my shopping last Friday night at about 11:30 PM. Then we find ourselves trying to find the best and quickest way to wrap these gifts and get them under our trees. I found myself up early Saturday morning working on the whole wrapping deal.

But the past couple of weeks I have myself a little more emotional than I normally would be for this time of year. Found myself angry last week at the fact people can be so ugly, so rude, so disrespectful. But I find myself in tears more than anything. Why? I will be glad to explain. TRUE LOVE! If you don't know true love then it's hard for you to understand I guess. As my family is being built back together I am realizing what true love is. It's the same as that true love God sent that night in Bethlehem. This year I will be able to celebrate Christmas as a family again. My sweet sweet child I do believe has realized what just might be taking place. God speaks in unusual ways sometimes, we just have to be listening with the right heart and mind.

I prayed tonight while in the middle of traffic in Dothan that the Good Lord above just get me home safe. I told momma that some people drive grocery carts like the drive their cars and that is totally creepy! The Lord got me home and just before all the rain and storm blew through. But while in Wal Mart this afternoon I realized something... That a genuine smile goes a long way. And our attitude says a lot also. It could have been easy for me to get frustrated with all the traffic, the rude people in Wal Mart, the crazy driving skills of others, the weather but why let that stuff rip my heart up over and over. I started smiling at people tonight in Wal Mart and it was truly amazing how many of them just gave me odd smiles back. They couldn't quite figure out what my "motive" was.

So as we continue to countdown to Christmas let us remember the real reason for the season, to make someone smile, to learn what True Love is, and to just ENJOY the Christmas Holidays!