Farther up and Further in.

calebyap:

I dug this up today, and was quite moved by it:

I said, “Let me walk in the field,”
He said, “No, walk in the town.”
I said, “There are no flowers here!”
He said, “No flowers, but a crown.”

I said, “But the skies are black,
There is nothing but noise and din!”
And He wept as He sent me back
“There is more,” He said, “There is sin.”

I said, “But the air is thick!
And fog is veiling the sun!”
He answered, “Yet souls are sick,
And souls in the dark undone.”

I said, “I shall miss the light,
And friends will miss me, they say.”
He answered, “Choose tonight
If I am to miss you, or they.”

I pleaded for time to be given
He said, “Is it hard to decide?
It will not seem hard in heaven
To have followed the steps of your Guide.”

I cast one look at the fields
Then set my face to the town
He said, “My child, do you yield
Will you leave the flowers for the crown?”

Then His strength came to mine
And into my heart came He
And I walked in a light divine
The path I had feared to see.

(Or: My reflections after watching Arthur Christmas)

I’m not sure about the value of comparing a folktale (Santa) with the truth (God), but I think that given the two different versions of Christmas put forth by the secular world and that presented by the Church, perhaps this might in some way be relevant =)

On Christmas day, God gave us His Son.

1. God’s gift is not only for those who have been nice (thats all of us).
2. What He offers us cannot be stolen, and neither moth nor rust or anything else can destroy it.
3. We can never in theory ‘know’ Santa Claus (You are only permitted to offer him cookies and milk). But God, through Jesus, offers us a relationship with Himself, the person who gives us every gift, which is something far more precious than any thing we can ever receive.
4. You can never grow out of God’s gift, nor will it ever become obsolete or outmoded. It will never need an update, and He will not release an upgraded version 6 months down the road. Jesus will stay with you throughout this life and well into the next.
5. All that Santa supposedly gives us are just material things. God gave us His one and only Son, and His perfect life and sacrificial death, not to enrich us materially, but to renew us Spiritually.

Praise God for His Gift.

Thank you Lord for carrying me through my exams. 

Whether I pass or fail, please give me the strength to somehow glorify you.

But for now let me be content that my future rests entirely in Your hands.

Christmas colours =)

This is what the LORD Almighty says: “Give careful thought to your ways. Go up into the mountains and bring down timber and build the house, so that I may take pleasure in it and be honored,” says the LORD. “You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?” declares the LORD Almighty. “Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house.

Haggai 1:7-9

¹⁷ Though the fig tree does not bud 
   and there are no grapes on the vines, 
though the olive crop fails 
   and the fields produce no food, 
though there are no sheep in the pen 
   and no cattle in the stalls, 
¹⁸ yet I will rejoice in the LORD, 
   I will be joyful in God my Savior.

Habbakuk 3:17-18