Stuff

Thanksgiving has come and gone.

I'm back in Bellingham after spending time in Reno with the family. It was good to see everyone; just wasn't long enough. I'm excited to go back for Christmas with the folks. It'll be really good to have some time with them and see Reno. I look forward to seeing Tahoe in all its wintry glory.

There are less than 2 weeks left in this quarter. Thank God! I'm so ready to be done with it. What an exhausting, hellish quarter it's been. Tomorrow is my fourth -and final!- presentation in Abnormal Pysch. If you ask me, 4 presentations in a quarter simply is way too much, especially when you're working with a group.

My final presentation is on Autism. It's good to be reminded of what it is that I want to do with my life. Why I'm doing this... don't we all need that every now and again? Sometimes I feel like I just go and go and go, and so often I end up losing perspective. I'm so thankful that it's Christmas time. I just need to be reminded of so many things right now. And the love of Christ is one of them. I need to think about and reflect upon how and why Christ came. How much it drips with hope for me and you, too. I decided to celebrate Advent this year. For the life of me, I can't find the right candles ANYWHERE!!!! But I decided that the point of Advent wasn't the candles; it's the act, the heart behind the matter. To set aside a few minutes a couple of times a week before Christmas to reflect. It's not my perfect Advent celebration, but the decorations and the beauty of those things aren't it. If that's my focus, I've missed it. Jesus came as a baby in the most simple of situations born to a man and a woman not more than 18 or 20. Young by today's standards. Too young, in fact. But God chose them to deliver his promise to his people. Why? They had nothing; no home to go to; little to clothe the Christ child with. But they managed. Actually, they did more than just managed. They lived. From their meager provisions, the means of living was formed. Christ came to give us life. He came from nothing. Perhaps to show us that having everything doesn't bring us life. If the point of our lives was STUFF, wouldn't Christ have been born into royalty? If the quality of our lives revolved around our stuff, Mary and Joseph wouldn't have been God's vessels. Maybe Harod would've been.

I think what's so important about the message that stuff isn't the means to life isn't that we shouldn't have stuff, but we should be happy with whatever we have. Weird how my thoughts have come full circle to think through what my dad spoke about on Sunday. (I'll be posting the link to dad's message later on week, for those of you who are interested)

I think I lived a long time not appreciating the stuff I had. Maybe I still do.

I would just like to say that I find this moment hilarious. Dash and I are both sitting working individually on our laptops. Oh goodness. Such are the times.