Putting Christ Back into Christmas

Yes, we as Christians need to put more emphasis on Christ (and less on “Material Stuff”) in our lives, especially during this time of year.

If you are a Christian I am more than happy to wish you a Merry Christmas … and a Happy New Year too.

But we also need to remember that our country is a “Melting Pot” of 100’s of cultures from all over the world. Some of these people do not believe the same things that we as Christians do. There are over 30 religious and seasonal festivals that are celebrated during November, December and January.

The phrases “Season’s Greetings” and “Happy Holidays” first came to prominence over 60 years ago. And what we often forget is, that in an attempt to include people of ALL faiths, these greetings were designed to unite us during this festive season that we all share this time of year. They were created so that no one group would feel left out of any of the fun and happiness of the season.

I have several friends and clients that do not celebrate Christmas. Several of them celebrate Hanukkah and a few others have no religious ties. Out of respect and because I know there faith, I greet them with the greeting they prefer. This doesn’t bother me in the least. They also greet me with “Merry Christmas” and they don’t mind that either. It’s all out of mutual respect.

Saying Happy Holidays is not removing Christ from Christmas, and it is also not an attack on Christmas as some of our media would have us believe. It is simply just another way to bring us together and show respect to others who may not worship in the same way that we do.

If we want to keep Christ in Christmas we need to put his teaching back into all areas of our lives on a daily basis and not just during this time of the year. We can all share the “spirit” of Christ by being kind, respectful and understanding to everyone that we meet. When we do this we are giving witness that our Christian faith teaches us to treat everyone we meet with the same respect that we want them to shown to us!

Becoming The Person Your Dog Thinks You Are

There are a whole host of “self Improvement” books, tapes and classes you can buy or take to help you become a better person.

But before you spend the money, I submit that ALL you really need to do is sit down and be honest with yourself. Look at who you are now, what you want from your life and where you want to be 5, 10 or 25 years from now.

The best way to do this is to make three lists.

On the first list write down everything you like about yourself and your life. On the second list right down everything you want to be or add to your life. One the third list wright down everything you want to remove from your life.

Then make the necessary adjustments.

The somewhat easier way is to just become the person that your dog thinks you are! It’s amazing how observant they are, and they will tell you when you have got it right!!!

If you don’t have a dog, you really need to get one. They are great insight into how to live life to the fullest. Go to a local shelter and get one. Your life (and the life of that dog) will be much better for it.

Got a minute or two?

Visit:
http://www.abetterdog4u.com
http://www.iowadogtrust.org

They Should ALL Be Ashamed.

On a day that we all take time to remember the American lives lost 11 years ago today, (and since then as a result of the attack) a lot of us are reflecting on where we (as a nation) have come from, and what direction we would like America to go in the future.

Yes the United States has some major problems to solve. We have citizens in need of quality health care, while others are suffering from hunger. Still others are living on the streets and/or are not able to find work. Crime is up because employment and wages are down.

Our leaders are quoted almost every day, in sound bites on the 24 hour news channels, that they are doing everything possible to help the less fortunate among us. But it’s not hard to see that nothing ever changes. (I call it: SOS,DD)

I am SO tired of all of the bull that comes out of the mouths of our nation’s political leaders. All that they do is point their fingers and blame “the other guys” for creating the problems or not fixing them. If they would ALL spend as much time, effort and money working together to solve our nation’s problems as they do blaming each other, the problems would have been solved YEARS ago. They should ALL be ashamed of themselves! And we as citizens should demand that they “pull their heads out” and get busy working for us!

Petty bickering and end-fighting gets us nowhere. We all put our differences aside in the days following the 9/11 attacks. It’s time we do it again for the good of our country.

PLEASE SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE YOU KNOW.  OUR CHILDREN DESERVE THE SAME AMERICA THAT WE GREW UP IN!!!