Welcome to Trace’s Space....As most of you know I work in early childhood, and once in a while I get these little nuggets from these babies that speak a whole lot to me. Most recently it came during our morning circle time and a conversation about words on a poster that we have displayed in our room. It’s a poster of the “Pledge of Allegiance”, so after we engage in saying the Pledge I then let them know that the words are written on the poster, after my little word lesson, my attention goes to the photo of our current president displayed directly above it, out of curiosity I asked them, “do you know who this man is?” To my surprise no one knew his name, but one little one raises their hand and says, “he’s the keeper of the flag!”
The keeper of the flag. My heart did a boom, and the wheels in my brain began spinning, what a interesting observation, what a profound explanation of who that man is, or what he represents. I responded as to who he was, and also added my spin on it that they were very much correct in explaining who he is and that his job is exactly that, the keeper of the flag.
See when it comes to Donald Trump, I am not a supporter, but I am not a hater either. See I am simply an American that has to trust in the hope that the process in due time works and that even though it seems off kilter at times, I absolutely must respect the leader of our country.
In my lifetime I have seen many leaders fail politically and personally while holding the highest office in our country, but never have I seen the amount of hate thrown at one person as much as it is at Mr.Trump! Love him or hate him, it’s not right!
What are we demonstrating to our children?
We live in very ugly times, hate abounds, men are lovers of themselves, there are no filters, being a hater is popular, what is wrong with us?
We are a fallen world in need of a savior; a savior that we have managed to remove from pretty much everything, and why? Because hate despises Love.
I had this thought, why does the world find my faith threatening, why is my love for Jesus offensive?
Then as quickly as I thought it, I remembered that Jesus said we would have times of trouble and we would be hated because of Him. That hate started out very subtle, you know that separation of church and state (which is totally misrepresented because it wasn’t about faith, it wasn’t about the removal of God), then you couldn’t pray out loud, you couldn’t display nativity scenes, then Christmas trees, the list goes on and on, and we like sheep have stood by and allowed it. It is how He says it will be.
We are hated because hate doesn’t win.
See as a Christian I honestly want you to develop a relationship with God, but as an American I also respect your choice to not, or to practice what ever religion you choose. But I also expect that sentiment in return.
I realize Mr. Trump has no filter, he speaks directly from his mind and sometimes it’s very ugly. But I pray for that man, you know that the Holy Spirit get a hold of him and change his heart.
See like it or not he is to serve and defend, and instead of putting forth all this hate toward him, if we as Americans would pray, I believe we would see a change.
If Mypeople who are called by My name will humble themselves and pray, seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
1I Chronicles 7:14
See it’s our responsibility to pray for our leaders and for our nation, the rest is up to God!
He is the keeper of the flag, but guess what, so are we!
See you next time!
Sunday, November 25, 2018
Sunday, November 18, 2018
Deck Them Halls!
Welcome to Trace’s Space. Recently while scrolling trough my Facebook, I came across a post from a friend that featured photos of nostalgic Christmas decorations from the 1970’s... most of the items featured in this post actually were items that our family had, and well that my mother put out every Christmas until she passed away in 1991.
It was funny because most of the folks who commented, had most of the items as well, and we spoke briefly about bubble lights... then I had this thought, my mother’s Christmas tree was very unorganized, kind of cluttered, but each thing meant something to her, each ornament represented some memory, represented Christmas’ past.
My Christmas tree is the complete opposite of hers. While we have the same ornaments year after year, mine have to be strategically placed, a process that drives the folks in this house crazy!
So at my parents house the tree went up the day after Thanksgiving and stayed up until mid January. I know that’s a long time, but my mother celebrated Orthodox Christmas because when she and my father were first married their landlord was Greek, he always wanted my mother to go to church with him, so she was fond of that memory of this gentleman, so that memory started a lifelong family tradition for us!
So this crazy tree.. It had multi colored lights, plus additional lighting, yes, the bubble lights. She loved bubble lights. For the first few Christmases that I can remember there was a plastic angel with a glowing yellow halo, which by the mid 70’s was replaced with a glass tree topper that was a bulb with a point (it was modern and ugly!). For a couple of years we had a train with little buildings, and those buildings had lights... The ornaments, all kinds of things, silk bulbs, glass bulbs, stuff folks made... no rhyme nor reason , all just placed randomly on the tree...but you know what, that tree was beautiful!
I would lay for hours on the floor staring at it, into it, adjusting hollow bulbs so that light would some how illuminate them and make them shine. I loved that tree, I loved Christmas because she made it loveable.
Yes her tree of Christmas past.
My parents were the original Griswolds...not only did Christmas explode inside, it did outside as well... tons of lights, plywood cutouts and music provided via our 8-track player... We had two Christmas tapes, Frank Sinatra Family Christmas and some Perry Como thing...yes it played all day long., I think Mike needs to rig something up here that plays music twelve hours a day!
But what memories. I miss those days, I miss the fun and anticipation of it all, no matter how over the top or mismatched it was.
See Christmas isn’t about the perfect tree or the displays we put out, while we celebrate a Savior, we also celebrate each other. These next few holidays are times for us to come together and make memories, ones that someday will be fond for those who are part of us.
Take a few moments this holiday season to revisit your Christmas past...embrace your future...you will be blessed...
See you next time.
It was funny because most of the folks who commented, had most of the items as well, and we spoke briefly about bubble lights... then I had this thought, my mother’s Christmas tree was very unorganized, kind of cluttered, but each thing meant something to her, each ornament represented some memory, represented Christmas’ past.
My Christmas tree is the complete opposite of hers. While we have the same ornaments year after year, mine have to be strategically placed, a process that drives the folks in this house crazy!
So at my parents house the tree went up the day after Thanksgiving and stayed up until mid January. I know that’s a long time, but my mother celebrated Orthodox Christmas because when she and my father were first married their landlord was Greek, he always wanted my mother to go to church with him, so she was fond of that memory of this gentleman, so that memory started a lifelong family tradition for us!
So this crazy tree.. It had multi colored lights, plus additional lighting, yes, the bubble lights. She loved bubble lights. For the first few Christmases that I can remember there was a plastic angel with a glowing yellow halo, which by the mid 70’s was replaced with a glass tree topper that was a bulb with a point (it was modern and ugly!). For a couple of years we had a train with little buildings, and those buildings had lights... The ornaments, all kinds of things, silk bulbs, glass bulbs, stuff folks made... no rhyme nor reason , all just placed randomly on the tree...but you know what, that tree was beautiful!
I would lay for hours on the floor staring at it, into it, adjusting hollow bulbs so that light would some how illuminate them and make them shine. I loved that tree, I loved Christmas because she made it loveable.
Yes her tree of Christmas past.
My parents were the original Griswolds...not only did Christmas explode inside, it did outside as well... tons of lights, plywood cutouts and music provided via our 8-track player... We had two Christmas tapes, Frank Sinatra Family Christmas and some Perry Como thing...yes it played all day long., I think Mike needs to rig something up here that plays music twelve hours a day!
But what memories. I miss those days, I miss the fun and anticipation of it all, no matter how over the top or mismatched it was.
See Christmas isn’t about the perfect tree or the displays we put out, while we celebrate a Savior, we also celebrate each other. These next few holidays are times for us to come together and make memories, ones that someday will be fond for those who are part of us.
Take a few moments this holiday season to revisit your Christmas past...embrace your future...you will be blessed...
See you next time.
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