As Long as I Know How to Love, I Know I'll be Alive.

Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men. (Luke 2:14, KJV)

These are my GIRLS.

So uh. The other night, my family and I were at dinner, (free world food! score!) and the very first thing the waiter said to us was "Hey! Surviving the holidays?" 
This inquiry made me really think. It kind of startled me. Surviving the holidays? Of course I'm surviving them. Isn't it supposed to be "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year?" The word "holiday" is broken down to be "holy-day." I mean, these days are supposed to be not just "surviveable," but pleasing and enjoyable. Being back in the hustle and bustle of a Dallas suburb has been such a shock to my senses. Life here is so different! It seems like very little is accomplished in a 24 hour period, but that an unnecessary amont of effort is exerted in order to accomplish these tasks. Life here is far less "busy" relative to the demands on my daily life in Aggieland, but it is far more stressful. 
I just finished a Hebrew Scriptures course at school for my Religious Studies minor, and we had to write an extensive essay on Ecclesiastes. The passage that I knew best from this book prior to taking the course was: 

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to cast away;
a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.
(Ecclesiastes 3:1-8, ESV)

This is a passage that I have know for a while and quote often, but it wasn't until recently that I have found this passage especially convicting. "To everything there is a season..." There was a season in my life where the Lord saw fit to make me a product of upper-middle-class suburbia,  a season in my life where I was given a relationship, a season in my life that I found my love for music and performing, and now I have a completely new and unique season in my life, a season for true learning and growth, and a season completely unique from all other seasons. 

'I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' So he is the God of the living, not the dead." (Matthew 22:32, NLT)

Family Picture--Senior Prom

The Lord will move in this season just as He has previously. My past is nothing to be embarrassed or ashamed of, and it is something that i certainly need to complain about less. Although Flower Mound seems silly and overly pompous and self-important to me now, it was exactly where the Lord grew me less than two years ago. Coming back, the He has given me a beautiful opportunity to praise Him for how removed from this lifestyle He has made me. Thank you Jesus. 

Family Pictire--Today
(The cigar is a joke...)

Something that is very beautiful about the season that I have been brought to now is the appreciation and joy I have for my family. Shout out mom and pop! Spending time with you crazy cats on break has been so good and so beautiful. I wouldn't trade time with you guys for anything in the whole world. I love you dearly, sorry I suck at showing it. I still have six more months of being a crazy teenager.
But, I digress. Back to Christmas. Being back in the Mound has more perks than just free food and time with Matt and Dawn, it has The Village Church, and Pastor Matt Chandler. Podcast them. It will do crazy things in your heart. Last weekend, Matt preached within a sermon series that the church was doing on Advent. I loved hearing his refreshing point of view on this time of year. Of course, this is the time that we remember that Jesus came as a meek and mild baby, from a scandalous birth into a broken world, but this Jesus is coming back. And his return will be neither meek nor mild. Jesus is coming to set his people free! And there will be no manger, no stable, no humility. He is going to crack the sky, with a sword coming from his mouth, and a tattoo on his thigh! It's going to be so sick. Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight.

From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. He will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written, King of kings and Lord of lords.
(Revelation 19:15-16, ESV)

So we have this time where we are just getting by, and "surviving" the holidays, but we should not see these days as anything different. Christ's birth as a miracle is to be remembered all year long. This is when God came in flesh to set his captive free! This is monumental, and needs to exceed the confines of the month of December. In the same way, let's think about the glories of Christ's return, and pray to remain faithful until he sees fit to do so. 

When the perishable puts on the imperishable, and the mortal puts on immortality, then shall come to pass the saying that is written:
“Death is swallowed up in victory.”
“O death, where is your victory?
O death, where is your sting?”
(1 Corinthians 15:54-55, ESV)

Christmas, to me, is most definitely a time to remember the miracle and humility associated with Christ's birth, but this should be realized year-round. Now that I am an Aggie, (whoop) I have a different appreciation for things regarding tradition. For Americans, Christmas has very unique traditions; traditions that do not correlate in any way with the birth of the Christ child. We have Santa, and reindeer that fly, and a tree that we chop down and put in our homes, and lights that we attach to things, and we even get to eat candy from socks! These traditions make absolutely no sense whatsoever, but I love 'em a whole stankin' lot. These times are so sentimental to for so many! 
Be a blessing to each other, and love how He teaches us to.

Best Friends.

Don't just "survive," rejoice, and serve, and meditate on the miracle of the forgiveness that Christ brings, and the reality that he is returning and a mighty way, and that he will set us free.
O come, O come Emmanuel, and RANSOM captive Israel!
Until next time, 
Love like He taught us to.

A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. (John 13:34, ESV)