12-18

Hey all! Merry Christmas! We met Thursday night - yes the night of the ice storm - and had a great time. We began with the question , "What's your favorite place to be in the winter?" We had a fun time talking about it and, as usual, learned some things about each other.

We then spent a little time celebrating how good God is...we brought a cradle with some straw in it and we spent some time talking about how cool it is that the God we talk about and enjoy is willing to give up palaces for the scratchy straw and stink of a manger, much less for the other things He endured in His lifetime, all because of a love for us. We relished that, in a world filled with uncertainty and loss and unhappiness and dissatisfaction, we have an example in our God of unselfishness and caring and wonder. He allows us to be optimistic in the midst of a pessimistic world outlook. That is worth noticing!

After this, we shared our worries and concerns by writing them, either confidentially or not, on paper and placing them in the straw. We then prayed for them and invited God into the problems and then each took one to pray for in the next 2wks. Praying for them simply means that we talk to God about it and ask that He will help with the issues written on the paper and the person/people who are struggling with whatever it is. By doing this, we get closer to each other and to God and our problems become more bearable - plus we have seen some pretty amazing things come from these prayers!

Last we had some learning about something that many Americans run after with all they are - convinced if they can just get enough of it, they will be happy, only in the end to find it to be like smoke in the wind - gone before you can grab it - like it says in Ecclesiastes chapter 1. We have been talking about a lot of these things over the last months - this time?

Acceptance.

We realize that there are people who are convinced that if they can just have enough friends, keep everyone happy and loving them that in the end, they will be happy. What they find is that the friends disappoint or worse yet, use them, their own self dissolving into what other people want them to be. Finally, falling down, exhausted and dissatisfied and declaring that it was all "smoke." This is a trap that has led many people to get pregnant prematurely, to use drugs "to fit in", to sacrifice their integrity "because everyone is doing it," and on and on and on - never leading to a happy or satisfied end point - there is always someone else to "please"

The truth is that in God we find the ability to attempt to try to feed joy and love into other people, but without the burden of having to please them and be accepted by them to make us satisfied with life. He is the one who gives us our value (try a little kids book called You are Special - by Max Lucado) and living for the acceptance of people will never please us or unleash the truth of who we were made to be like loving Him will.

If you struggle with the pursuit of acceptance as the ultimate "more" in your life and it has left you burdened and exhausted, consider beginning a conversation with God - start simply - just tell Him what's up and ask if He will help - if you need help - consider coming 1/8/09 to our next get together at McAllister Center or comment on the blog and we will try to help too!

Thanks and we will look forward to seeing you all then!