The Origin of the Christmas Stocking ........

Merry Christmas Y'all .. Hope you are all having a beautiful start to your weekend ..

 

Abbey and I are enjoying a relaxing morning with the fireplace going after a beautiful rainy day yesterday ...as it's a bit chilly today.

 

This morning I opened my daily devotion from Dr. David Jeremiah of Shadow Mountain Church .. and wanted to share it with you all.

 

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(courtesy of  La Petite Cuisine )

 

 

 

 

 

 

Fireside Chats: Christmas Stockings

 

 

So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury.”
Mark 12:43

Recommended Reading
Romans 12:9-21

 A poor man, father of three beautiful daughters, had no money to provide for their marriages or their futures. Hearing this, Saint Nicholas secretly put a bag of gold in the daughters’ stockings, which were hanging by the fireplace to dry overnight. Upon rising, the family was overjoyed. Ever since, children have hung up stockings on Christmas Eve in hopes of a visit from Saint Nicholas.

 That’s the closest we can come to the origin of Christmas stockings. Regardless of the origin of the practice, one thing is evident: Christmas stockings can only hold small gifts. Indeed, what would fit in a child’s stocking was the extent of the earliest Christmas gifts from parents to children. And therein is the lesson: It’s the little things that matter most at Christmas. Jesus Himself revealed the true meaning of value when He commended a widow in Jerusalem for putting two pennies into the Temple treasury.

 

 

As you plan your Christmas giving this year, keep “value” in mind. Gifts wrapped in Christmas love are the most valuable of all.

Read-Thru-the-Bible
2 Thessalonians 1-1 Timothy 1-6

 

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Have a Beautiful and Merry Weekend ..

 

 

 

 

 

 

31 Days to Happiness .. Our Dail Bready

 

 

Hi there Y'all ..

 

Well I have to admit it's another glorious sunshiny day here. The temps are in the high 70's there's a nice breeze, the birds are chirping and it's just so calm and lovely out.

 

This week has been a tough one here at the farmhouse. Facing a new season of life once again that leaves you with uncertainties about the future and where the winding road of life is headed once again. My Dad had some concerning news regarding his health ..and we are anxiously awaiting the next Dr.s appt. and the results that will bring with it. Right now we are praying for total healing and that the Dr.s we have been guided to well be filled with overwhelming knowledge and wisdom to see us through whatever the outcome may be. Trusting that just as the seasons we have endured and enjoyed before this one we will also endure and find joy in this new season we are entering.

 

 

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In the meantime for today's "Our Daily Bread" I wanted to share about a book  I received in the mail this week .... 31 Days to Happiness by Dr. David Jeremiah.

 

 

 

 

I suppose your thinking at this point " Your not happy ?"

 

Actually I'm very happy and very contented with the life I have been blessed with.

 

But I figured that if I'm this happy why not learn how to even be happier through wonderful biblical teachings. There's always something new to learn in the Bible .. I used to think Once you've read it through that's it ..but upon revisiting reading the entire Bible over many times now ..there are many things that have touched my life in new ways depending on my age and my life circumstances at the moment. Something that was meaningless to me 10 years ago jumps off the pages and screams at me today.

 

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I Started reading the opening pages of this book last night..and I have to say it's already touching my heart.

 

Dr. Jeremiah has based this book on Solomon... and the book of  Ecclesiastes .. what he mentions is this book in the bible is not touched on by most ministers yet it speaks loudly of how so many people have not only felt for generations but how they feel in our world today.

 

Solomon was  a man who had it all riches and wealth he was the King .. he could do or have anything his heart desired and God Blessed him greatly for the Godly man he started out as. Like so many of us in life Solomon made a few wrong choices and some twists and turns down roads of darkness that changed his relationship with God Greatly ..and in Ecclesiastes after he had, had it all and then realized he had reached the pinnacle of what was supposed to be "Happiness" ... he was still left with an amazingly empty feeling wondering what Life was really about.

 

Dr. Jeremiah shares some amazing points in his  Introduction ... One that struck me as absolutely fascinating was this: In 1996 Jon Krakauer was part of an expedition that reached the top of Mt. Everest. Twelve of his companions were killed in the highly publicized descent. Krakauer recalls in the book he wrote about this event .." Straddling the top of the world, one foot in China and the other in Nepal, I cleared the ice from my oxygen mask, hunched a shoulder against the wind and stared absently down at the vastness of Tibet... I'd been fantasizing about this moment, and the release of the emotion that would accompany it, for many months. But now that I was finally here, actually standing on the summit of Everest, I just couldn't summon the energy to care... I snapped four quick photos .. the turned and headed down. My watch red 1:17 p.m. All told, I'd spent less than five minutes on the roof of the world."

 

 I can't say I have ever done anything quite so momentous as climbing Everest but I can say there have been times that an event I was going to was on the horizon and inside myself the anticipation of it was growing and growing only to find that when this event came .. the thrill of it just wasn't there and I was left wondering how I could have been so excited and yet when the event occurred it left me full of total emptiness ...

 

 

One other interesting fact he shares in the opening: A recent Survey asked 7,948 students at forty eight colleges what they considered "very important" to them. The study, conducted by scientists from Johns Hopkins University, reported that 16 percent of the students answered " Making a lot of money." We can't be too surprised. Even so a whopping 75 percent said that their first goal was " finding a purpose and meaning to life"

 

 

 

Our world is full of people wondering just exactly what their purpose is and what life is all about. They are so full of sadness and emptiness and looking for what will bring happiness to their lives...

 

I think we all have wondered and felt this maybe once or twice or several times in our lives ....and for some they have felt it always ... I think so many people who choose to take their own lives feel this very thing to an extreme some of us have never felt it. When your eyes are on the world ..when you compare yourself to the world's standards, when you compare yourselves to others that have achieved "greatness" or financial security ... and so on .. you will always be left feeling empty, less than, which in turn creates such an amazing sadness inside and lack of self worth.

 

We will never find happiness holding ourselves to the standards of the world. I know that much I have learned over the years through doing that very thing comparing myself to everything and everyone else. I learned that when my eyes are on what other's are doing, or saying.... when my eyes are on their success and what they are attaining in life ..when my eyes are on what they wear or how they look ..My eyes are not where God wants them to be. Which is on him , in his word being concerned about what he thinks of what I am doing of what I am saying ... looking for him to be successful through me and not of my own self ... being concerned with what he thinks of my beauty and what I wear and how I look ... Honestly to this day anytime I take my eyes off of him and place them on the world and those around me ..I can tell you my Joy is gone .. with him my Joy is ever present.

 

So far I have read the Introduction and the first chapter and I am already hooked. I can't wait to climb into bed this evening and begin chapter two. Learning More in depth about Solomon and what his climb to fame and fall from it were like ..why he wrote about his meaningless despair so poetically and how his life and mine will intertwine by the end of this book.

 

If you too would like to read this book You can purchase or for an offering you can get this beautiful book HERE

 

Dr. Jeremiah is a sound minister of the Bible and it's doctrine .. His church Shadow Mountain is Located in El Cajon, CA. You can also get airings of his teaching on you local stations such as USA, ION, Lifetime, TBN, INSP, and Daystar, Check your listings for Turning Point with Dr. David  Jeremiah. Your offerings do go to help fund his t.v. airings which allows him to minister to those all around the world.

 

Well I'll be reading a chapter a night .. and can't wait to share a little more on what I have learned. Now that I'm only 30 days away from happiness ..

 

 

Have a Lovely Friday ...