He is My Christmas Tree Light

It’s getting close to Christmas, and one of the ways I can tell is from all of the tacky, but yet couldn’t live without them, beautiful lights stringed across almost every house in the town. It’s beautiful to drive in the town when the sun is going down to see the bright lights flicker on as the skies turn into a beautiful rage of rich purples, pinks, reds, golden yellows, and oranges. I love Christmas, it’s one of my favorite times of the year, the stories that I got to hear as a child all rush back to me in a big chilling breeze that still makes me smile, even if I’m having a bad day. I remember the clay-mation movies, and saying to my Mom, “No Mom, please stop, you dancing to One Foot in Front of the Other isn’t cool at all!” Then the next thing you would see is my Mom and I dancing to that very song as the movie played on in the background. My little brother and my older brother sitting on the couch wanting to watch something else, just to be cool, when I knew they really wanted to watch it. Setting up the Christmas tree, having to beg my brothers and my father to help set it up. Then after it is all done, and the house has the nutcrackers and the Santas set up, with the manger scene up on the mantle, I would sit on the couch, and just stare at the tree. The lights on it are white and the ornaments are ones that we have collected over the years. It is by far one of the prettiest things in our house around this time of year, since we don’t have lights that we put on the outside of our house, the tree lights is all we have. But for the past two December’s; Christmas has been sinking up on me, and I hadn’t even notice it. But I’m not letting that happen this time, I am now a part of the 8:30 service at my church, and I making sure to listen and watch my childhood Christmas movies that I love so much that bring me back that winter chill that makes me smile as if I was still 7 years old instead of 17. But now that I really understand what Christmas is about, and that it isn’t just about the lights on the houses, and the nutcrackers/Santas that my Mom has placed up around the house, making it seem evermore so beautiful to her. But it’s about the lights on the tree that is so close to the manger scene. It’s about the Light that came to the earth, when it was filled with darkness. It’s about how and why Jesus came to us on this day.

                There’s this ornament on the tree, it happens to be mine, I think. And ever since it was placed on that old fake Germen Christmas Tree of ours, I have always taken it down and played with it, in fact it is a doll with the words “Keep Christmas in your heart” stitched into the doll’s stomach which happens to have a heart on it. I love that doll and I always have, but this time when I picked it off the tree the words said something else to me. It was almost like I found the meaning to it from all these years past. “Keep Me in your heart”, I accidently read instead of the real words. I immediately realized what I had read, and found myself writing about it here. “Keep Me in your heart”, is what God wanted me to do, to keep Him, Jesus Christ, in my heart. And as I looked at the doll, and rubbed my thumb over it, I found that God wasn’t only talking about this time of year, but was talking about every day in my life. Because we all do it, threw out our daily life we don’t think/say, “I am so thankful that God, my Father, came to this earth for me. To teach me, and that He loves me so much that He, He myself, would come down to pay for what I have done to not only others, but myself as well.” Yeah, we don’t do that, well at least I don’t. No, not every day, I would love to say I do. Shoot I would love to say that I was a perfect Christen, but that would be lying, and I am no liar. But I know God understands that I’m not perfect, but He just wants me to try to keep Him not only in my heart, like “Oh yeah I’m a Christen”, but to also keep Him on my mind as much as possible. God loves us, and wants the very best for us, which means many things, but one of them is to not only think of Him when we are in terrible, or worried, or in the Christmas spirit. Which is better than not thinking about Him at all, but He would rather it also be when we are happy and glad to be alive. Cause God sent His only Son, our Saving Grace, our Prince of Peace, our Teacher, our only Light to this darkness that we live in. Just like my family’s old fake German Christmas Tree lights, that is the only thing that lights my house to the rest of the world, and is by far the prettiest thing in our house this scene. So may you find that Christ is always near and not just around Christmas. And may you find that He wants to be in your heart always and forever. And may you find that He was sent down here as the only light in our darkness. And may you have a very merry Christmas.

Do Teenagers Have The World to Hold Up?

Most teens think that they have to be strong when facing their problems, their family's problems, and their friend's problems.  And coming from a military family, I totally understand.  I was raised to be strong in whatever I did, in the choices I made, in the way I handled my personal trips and stumbles, the way I help other people in their own crashes and falls, and in my faith journey.  So I understand the whole, "I can't be weak, I can't be weak!  My friends need me, my family needs me, and I can't let myself down one more time.  I can't be weak, I just can't." that many teenager's my age have haunting them in their head when they close their eyes and take a deep breath and try to go to sleep at night.
The funniest thing is that when we (no matter the age) are in that problem, we tended to think we are the only ones with the problem, and that we are all alone with it with no one to help us, BUT that isn’t true no matter, everyone sees that you’re not alone, no matter if you believe in a God or not. My Mom, the beloved woman she is, will often reminded me that I don't have to battle things out on my own.  But as we all know, when we are teenager's we think, "Oh well, she is supposed to say that, she my Mom, and she loves me." (or something like that to a degree.)  So, I often talk to my friends, who will tell me the honest and brutal truth (whether I want it or not).  And one of my best friends told me something really great one day when I was having a normal drama filled teenaged day.  He said, "God did not make you to carry the weight of the world.  He did not. And he does not want you to feel like you are ever alone, no matter if you are physically alone or not.  Because He is always there with you, for you, so that He may carry everything of yours, so you, His child, may have the freedom to walk without struggle, without falling down.  So Sydney, talk to me, because keeping everything inside like you do sometimes, trust me, isn't healthy, and you aren't alone, God and I are here.  He's holding everything up, and my arms are wide open waiting for you to take my hug." For once what one of my best friends said, really made since.  And the weird thing was that it stuck with me, and for this long too.  I started to talk to God about it, because I always knew that God was there holding everything up, I guess I just needed to be reminded of it.  When I went to God about what my friend said, I found that listening was really hard to do.  But once I started to listen, I felt a sense of peace over me, and even though my problem wasn't fixed yet, I felt better about going into the next day.  Facing it, being reminded that I had someone on my side who would never drop my problems on me, but carry them for me, so I may face the day without crashing on the ground.
So do teenagers have to hold the world up?  No, God does that on His own, and we (teenagers AND adults) need to remember that simple fact.

Todays Discussion In Sunday School Class

Hello there!

I'm Sydney, the only redhead in my parents household, and for those who know me will tell you that I am a box of random outbursts! Especially in Sunday School Class with all the other boxes of outbursts that run in and out of that hall in the very top floor of my church. But today's class was very different my second mother/youth group leader wasn't there, her beloved dog that the whole youth group knows and loves has been very sick lately and she is needed at her house, so today the people who were there (including myself) weren't as random as we usually were. But, even without my second mother, God managed to let me see him in that hall on the very top floor of my church. My birth Mom is a volunteer in my youth group, but might as well be the second youth group leader, lead the class today with a Devozine. It's a magazine that my youth group leader buys for our youth group for devotions. And today my Mom and I just opened it to a random page and saw big bold words saying "the God letters" The group that we had there today find it interesting, so we read it as our devotional. Here it is! "When I was younger, I loved journals-or at least I loved the idea of keeping a journal. Each time I received one for my birthday, I faithful began writing down every single thing that happened. Then months later, I would find it under my bed, covered with dust. I never had the willpower to write for more than a week.
A year ago, I bought a new journal. this time, instead of recording the events of my life, I wrote prayers and letters to God. I copied psalms and wrote about how I was feeling. Much to my surprise, I not only finished the journal, but I continued this practice in another one! Before I began writing letters to God, I felt as if I were in a spiritual rut and often became frustrated with my faith. Now, when I read through previous entries, I can see evidence of God's presence in my life and the ways my faith has grown. I've learned that whether we pray out loud or through the pages of a journal, God is ready to listen." When we finished reading it, everyone one in the class (except one) found that was a great idea, and wanted to do it. My Mom then asked if she got us journals if we would want to do something like that, and once more everyone (except one) wanted to do it now even more. I'm not going to lie, I didn't want to go to church this morning. My family from North Carolina had just left yesterday (except one), and I was planning on catching up on my sleep. But that class in the very top floor in the hall, made me think about starting a blog. My Aunt Shannon has a blog, and so does my Aunt Julie, so I knew it was safe to do. But I could write down stuff that Christian teen's had to go through all the time. The Devozine's "the God letters" help me think of the idea, so now after church, going to try to do it after church anyways hahaha, I will try my hardest to write about either the Sunday School Class on the very top floor in the hall or talk about the Christian teenager life/faith.