Little Drummer Boy

What would Christmas be without the Little Drummer Boy. Enjoy this groups' rendition of this Christmas favorite.

 

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Monday Video - So Ugly He's Cute

Have you ever thought of yourself as an ugly duckling? You can be so ugly you're cute. Check this out.

 

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Joy to the World!

We are told it is the season of joy.

One of our assistant pastors gave the message this week and it was on joy. It was a good message and the general theme was that God wants us to have the gift of joy.

However, his message and almost every message I have ever heard on joy always leaves out one important component - what is joy?

His message and others inadvertantly seem to imply that joy is the same thing as happiness and/or pleasure - God wants us to be happy.

I would have assumed this equivalence if I had not read C. S. Lewis' book, "Surprised by Joy." It's basically Lewis' story of how he came to be a Christian. One component of that process was being 'surprised' by joy and understanding how it is different from happiness and pleasure.

Here's a quote from his book.

“I call it Joy. It is itself the memory of a memory. As I stood beside a flowering currant bush on a summer day there suddenly arose in me without warning, and as if from a depth not of years but of centuries, the memory of that earlier morning at the Old House when my brother had brought his toy garden into the nursery. It is difficult or find words strong enough for the sensation which came over me; Milton's 'enormous bliss' of Eden (giving the full, ancient meaning to 'enormous') comes somewhere near it. It was a sensation, of course, of desire; but desire for what?...Before I knew what I desired, the desire itself was gone, the whole glimpse... withdrawn, the world turned commonplace again, or only stirred by a longing for the longing that had just ceased... In a sense the central story of my life is about nothing else... The quality common... is that of an unsatisfied desire which is itself more desirable than any other satisfaction. I call it Joy, which is here a technical term and must be sharply distinguished both from Happiness and Pleasure. Joy (in my sense) has indeed one characteristic, and one only, in common with them; the fact that anyone who has experienced it will want it again... I doubt whether anyone who has tasted it would ever, if both were in his power, exchange it for all the pleasures in the world. But then Joy is never in our power and Pleasure often is.”

Happiness and pleasure are results of our circumstances. Circumstances that make us feel good create a sense of happiness and pleasure within us. Change or remove those circumstances and the feeling of happiness and pleasure will cease.

Joy is not a feeling, nor is it dependent on our circumstances. Joy is a desire for something that we long for, something we know is greater and better than anything we experience in our circumstances, something that appears to be only slightly more than a dream vaguely remembered after we awake. Joy is a longing for reality in the midst of the world's unreality. Joy is the longing for the homeland in which we have never lived as we are truly strangers in a strange land. Joy is a longing for the 'enormous bliss' of Eden.

Joy is a gift from God and, as Lewis says above, is never in our power. We can not create it, nor can we create circumstances where it will occur.

When the angels told the shepherds, "I bring you tidings of great joy, for unto you is born this day a Savior," that announcement stirred a longing in their hearts so strong they left their flocks to see the baby that would change their lives, our lives and the whole world.

May the longing of pure joy fill your hearts as we once again celebrate the birth of the Christ child.

 

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Snow

Granted, we haven't had nearly as much snow as a good part of the country, but for us this is the most snow we have had before Christmas in the 9+ years we've lived in New Mexico - two to three inches over two different snows. The most recent was this past Thursday.

This is what it looked like in the morning...

Then the evening...

Since we don't get that much snow, here's how we build 'snowmen' in New Mexico...

In case you don't know, he's made from tumbleweeds spray painted white. This is always set up alongside I-40 going East out of town.

 

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Friday Funny - Jonah and the Cell

My title is a bad pun on this cartoon.

 

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Roadrunner in the Stalls

Several years ago during the Winter we had a Roadrunner who stayed 80 straight nights in one of our stalls, sitting on one of the stall fans. We called her Simone ( he could have been Simon). That was a one time thing and he/she has never done it again.

Tuesday afternoon Betty was working in the stable and I was outside cleaning up manure. She called and said for me to come see a Roadrunner. He was on the hay stack and was trying to get out by flying 'through' the closed window.

He would fly from the hay to the bar on Morgunn's stall and back again. It appeared he wasn't sure about flying over Morgunn who was eating in his stall.

We watched him for a few minutes and then I went in to get Betty's camera to take some video. After I finished shooting the short video below he eventually flew to the bar and, after a moment or two, flew over Morgunn and settled on our fence.

Always fun to watch our Roadrunner - maybe Simone/Simon?

 

 

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Thanksgiving Recap

It was a great Thanksgiving weekend for Betty and me. Our son Wade Daniel and his wonderful wife Marie came down from Fort Collins, Colorado last Wednesday. Of course they had our granddaughters Juliet and Leah with them along with their dog Kona.

An extra special treat was Marie's parents, Gary and Nancy Jo, who also live in Fort Collins came down to join us. They are great grandparents to the girls and good friends to us. They left Saturday morning and our kids and grandkids left Sunday morning.

On Thursday we had a traditional turkey and dressing Thanksgiving dinner with pecan pie and chocolate pie for dessert.

On Friday the grandkids rode Sugar and Morgunn and, after they were done, Wade Daniel and Nancy Jo took a ride. All did well and seemed to have a good time. We went to Village Pizza in Corrales for lunch and the kids played on the local playground across the street.

Saturday we went to see the new Disney movie, "Frozen," and it was really good - even for adults. That evening we went to the first night of the River of Lights display at the Albuquerque Botanical Garden. It was great and we had a lot of fun.

Whenever there was any free time Juliet and Leah would get into our hot tub with their Daddy.

Here are some more pictures and a short video...

Finally, our favorite memory of the weekend...

It was a great Thanksgiving for us and, we hope, for you as well.

 

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