{"id":24704,"date":"2022-12-22T07:20:46","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T12:20:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/?p=24704"},"modified":"2022-12-22T07:20:46","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T12:20:46","slug":"the-true-spirit-of-christmas-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/the-true-spirit-of-christmas-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The True Spirit of Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The True Spirit of Christmas<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cSo faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.\u201d 1 Corinthians Chapter 13<\/em><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Winter has arrived ahead of schedule this year. Tonight, I look out my window and see softly falling flakes of snow drifting in the dim light of the old lamppost in my front yard. How many times I\u2019ve looked out and seen this same winterscape I cannot count. I wonder how many times I\u2019ve looked at nearly the same scene and gone about whatever business seemed important to me at the time. And how many times I\u2019ve never really seen anything at all as life passed by me; and I never really saw anything. At all.<\/span><\/p>\n

But tonight I\u2019m feeling wistful and pensive. Not sad. Just thoughtful. I guess life is flowing by faster than I ever imagined it would. I suppose none of us when we\u2019re young can imagine the value of time.<\/span><\/p>\n

Seasons come and go so quickly now. And here it is Christmas Eve.\u00a0 And, it really feels strange to think that Christmas is here already\u2026 again.<\/span><\/p>\n

When I was a child a whole week to wait for Christmas to arrive seemed a painfully long time. Counting down the days and hours made it seem even longer. But Christmas did come \u2013 it came and went; it came and went so many times and now here I am, decades older, and hopefully, many years wiser, looking back over all those Christmases past.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As I look back at Christmases past, the ones I remember most are the ones where I had the least. Perhaps the lavish gifts of the more prosperous years got in the way of the greatest gift of all. Maybe I buried the greatest gift under mountains of other less important gifts. You know the ones\u2026 those gifts that soon find their way into the dark, forgotten corners of cluttered closets and eventually make their way to the landfill?<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s such a difficult time now for the children in our world. It\u2019s hard to recognize the greatest gift when television commercials try to teach us that we can buy someone\u2019s love. Social media is full of influencers \u2013 not always influencing for the good. Social media \u2014 is where many of our young people spend most of their young lives. Can that really be a good thing?<\/span><\/p>\n

With all the distractions in today\u2019s world, it\u2019s sometimes very hard to see any evidence of the true Spirit or the true meaning of Christmas anywhere. But, the Spirit of Christmas is like the wind\u2026 just because we cannot see it, does not mean it is not there. I<\/span><\/p>\n

f you keep Christmas in your heart, then Christmas will be everywhere you are.<\/span><\/p>\n

Christmas is here again. And whether or not anyone believes in Christmas, does not matter to me. I believe in Christmas. Those of us who believe in Christmas will keep Christmas alive despite those who seem bent on destroying it or trying to turn it into a pagan festival.<\/span><\/p>\n

It falls upon those of us who believe in Christmas to keep the bright torch of Christmas burning for this generation and the next. I am certain that if we do, the glow from that fire will light the world. All we have to do is keep that torch burning. And, never, ever, let it grow dim.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over two thousand years ago a child was born in Bethlehem and during His short time upon this earth, He taught everyone, believer and non-believer alike, the same lesson: Love others as you love yourself. If someone despises you \u2013 love them anyway.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Keep the torch of Christmas burning. It really doesn\u2019t matter what anyone else thinks; it only matters what you think. Say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d with a smile and you\u2019ll keep the Spirit of Christmas alive and you will be helping to keep Christmas alive for those who are yet to be born.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be cheerful and compassionate. Be understanding of others and have faith. Let the world see your Christmas spirit and let the glow of that fire within you light the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be gentle, be kind, and always be tolerant of others who do not believe as you do \u2013 in today\u2019s world, there will be many. Be of good cheer. Remember the Reason for Christmas. Celebrate Christmas in your own way, with your own traditions, because that\u2019s what makes it special to you.<\/span><\/p>\n

And always take time to remember those who are less fortunate than you \u2014 and help them as much as you can.<\/span><\/p>\n

Remember above all that the greatest gift you can give this Christmas is the gift of love.<\/span><\/p>\n

May the spirit of Christmas live within you and light the way for others. Say \u201cMerry Christmas\u201d and really mean it.\u00a0 May this always be the season of love and peace. Long ago Jesus came into this world and showed the world His love and brought His message of peace and love to all who would listen.<\/span><\/p>\n

Honor Him this Christmas by showing the world your love and kindness. You can be the spirit of Christmas.<\/span><\/p>\n

Be the bearer of good tidings and goodwill to everyone \u2013 not just those you love. You can keep the Spirit of Christmas alive. Please do it for yourself, do it for your children, and do it for their children.<\/span><\/p>\n

Future generations depend on all of us who hold Christmas dear to keep the Spirit of Christmas alive.<\/span><\/p>\n

Over two thousand years ago, the Star of Bethlehem shone brightly for all the world to see. May the Spirit of Christmas within you shine just as brightly as that star \u2013\u00a0 so all the world can see.<\/span><\/p>\n

This Christmas make the very first gift you give the gift of love.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLove is patient, love is kind. It is not jealous, love is not pompous, it is not inflated, it is not rude, it does not seek its own interests, it is not quick-tempered, it does not brood over injury, it does not rejoice over wrongdoing but rejoices with the truth. It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things\u2026. So faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.\u201d [1 Corinthians Chapter 13]<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"MERRYWishing you and your family a very Merry Christmas!<\/em><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

      The True Spirit of Christmas \u201cSo faith, hope, love remain, these three; but the greatest of these is love.\u201d 1 Corinthians Chapter 13 Winter has arrived ahead of schedule this year. Tonight, I look out my window and see softly falling flakes of snow drifting in the dim light of the old lamppost in my\u2026 Read More »<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":18295,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[228,1741,2273],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24704"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24704"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24704\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24705,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24704\/revisions\/24705"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18295"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24704"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24704"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thundercloud.net\/infoave\/new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24704"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}