As I'm sure most have already seen the Logan Gardner's have a Christmas tree, a gorgeous wedding color bedecked Christmas tree (Courtney thanks for the great idea). It was so wonderful to get it out of the box, spruce up the branches and fill the holes with bulbs, ribbon and some ornaments from childhood. There is something so soothing about a Christmas tree, both Christopher and I love plugging in the tree, turning off the lights and just bask in the soothing glow. Ever since I was a little girl I have loved being in the presence of a glowing tree, I think that is why I would stay up late over Christmas break and get up so early Christmas morning, it was my time to be quiet on the inside and just enjoy the glow.
Today in sacrament meeting a speaker gave a quote that caught my attention, he shared the story of Desmond Tutu, the Archbishop of South Africa. Bro Tutu was asked what he learned from recovering from Aperthied and how he learned how to forgive and move forward. His words "I learned to shut up more in the presence of Heavenly Father." I was kind of surprised to hear the words shut up over the pupil, but it also caused me to think. We often go to Heavenly Father with wants, concerns, worries, requests, frustrations and just stuff. The speaker likened prayer to a roaring a fire, you don't sit next to the fire to have a conversation, or complain or question, you go to the fire to bask in its warmth and its beauty. Our prayers can be this same way, we can go to the Lord and just enjoy his presence, its like when you walk into the temple and it just feels different, you feel more calm on the inside, more at peace. That is what this Christmas season is about, taking one month out of the year to feel that peace and share it. Perhaps Heavenly Father gave us the celebration of Christmas at the darkest time of the year, so we would turn on our Christmas tree lights and bask in the glow, be reminded of the amazing gift that was given. We could look at the history and the pagan holidays and a bunch of everything, but ultimately Christmas in December is a gift, when the sun isn't shining we are reminded of the star that shown proclaiming Christ's birth, when the sun isn't shining we see the lights on the evergreen and are reminded of the light of Christ that will never go out, when we see garlands on doors and smiles on faces we are reminded of the joy of the season. I hope this Christmas we remember the wondrous gift that has been given, that we bask in the light of love that is seen in more hearts this time of year than any other, that we might share that love with all those we see and that we might take time out of our day to bask in the glow of the love and light this Christmas day.
Merry Christmas everyone, may God bless us everyone.
I don't know who this will affect, but just incase it does affect anyone who reads this blog here is an update from the fronters of blogger
ReplyDeleteAn update on Google Friend Connect
6 hours ago by A Googler
In 2011, we announced the retirement of Google Friend Connect for all non-Blogger sites. We made an exception for Blogger to give readers an easy way to follow blogs using a variety of accounts. Yet over time, we’ve seen that most people sign into Friend Connect with a Google Account. So, in an effort to streamline, in the next few weeks we’ll be making some changes that will eventually require readers to have a Google Account to sign into Friend Connect and follow blogs.
As part of this plan, starting the week of January 11, we’ll remove the ability for people with Twitter, Yahoo, Orkut or other OpenId providers to sign in to Google Friend Connect and follow blogs. At the same time, we’ll remove non-Google Account profiles so you may see a decrease in your blog follower count.
We encourage you to tell affected readers (perhaps via a blog post), that if they use a non-Google Account to follow your blog, they need to sign up for a Google Account, and re-follow your blog. With a Google Account, they’ll get blogs added to their Reading List, making it easier for them to see the latest posts and activity of the blogs they follow.
We know how important followers are to all bloggers, but we believe this change will improve the experience for both you and your readers.
Posted by Michael Goddard, Software Engineer