Christ...not just for Christmas anymore ~

This was part of a discussion board I shared last year around Christmas time - it was a good reminder going into this Christmas Season for our family that Christ is not just for Christmas anymore ~ 




With Christmas quickly approaching I have been reflecting once again on how I as a Mom and a follower of Christ can help keep "Christ" in Christmas. Every year I wonder what is the best way to make sure we don't forget what the true meaning of Christmas is and not let Jesus get lost in all the giving of presents, the holiday meals and into the New Year. I desire to teach my girls that while the giving and receiving of gifts is fun (who doesn't love to receive a gift) that it is about the gift of ourselves that Christ most cherishes. 
Of course, like any family, we have traditions. For the Mininger's - We always go and pick out a Christmas Tree the day after Thanksgiving and then decorate it as a family. While decorating we play Christmas Music and bake and eat lots of "Monkey" Bread. It's a time we all look forward too each year. We get out our count down snowman and beging to count down the days until Christmas, and then... we wait, countdown, shop and bake our way through the days until Christmas. 
Christmas morning always arrives early at our house. We get up, eat breakfast together, have some more "Monkey" bread and sit down to open presents. We always read the account of Christ birth from the gospel of Luke, much to the jittery inpatience of our children. Finally, we have reached the time of opening gifts. We then spend the next..however long it takes...to open gifts, oh and ahh appropriately and then...it's over. Done...No more... We spend the rest of the day either at home being lazy and enjoying family or some years it's off to the grandparents for a meal and more gift opening. 
The part I love is the spending time with family without the worry of work or school or many of life's demands...
The part I hate is that just like that..come December 26th..it's just over...done...we move on with our lives looking at the New Year and wondering what in the world we will resolve to do this New Year. 
For our famiily...that's the part we really want to change this year....but how?

This is where I find my thoughts these days - answering the "How"? 
So, this year, the Mininger's are chaning and adding a few traditions for our family. There are still those traditions we will keep but we have three key ones that we plan to add...with the hopes that it will help keep us more focused on the meaning of Christmas.
1st - Instead of waiting to read about the birth of Christ on Christmas morning...usually right before we open gifts and the kids are ready to bust...(which in our house means they are hearing very little) We plan to read and talk about the birth of Christ before we head to get our tree - This way, we can start out our celebration already thinking of Jesus and make it a month long focus and have time to talk about it, instead of just a quick time before opening gifts.
2nd- A "three" gift rule. 
I remember one year, when Michaela was about four - that year she had recieved a lot of gifts, between us and grandparents...but despite that...when the last gift was opened she threw the biggest tantrum because... "What! No more gifts!But I want more!!" It was a shocking attitude that I never want to see repeated with any of my children. So, how do we still give and yet not create an attitude of "more...more" in our girls.
Now some years, of course, are leaner than others, but usually each girl receives several gifts. This year, we have decided that each child/adult will recieve no more than three gifts each. 
This idea actually came from a professor of mine...but the three gifts we recieve helps remind us of the 3 gifts the wisemen brought to Jesus when they visited him. It also allows us not to get so carried away with gift giving that Christmas becomes more about what we get then what we can give to one another in serving and loving one another.

3rd - This last tradition is, to me, one of the most important and I look forward to seeing how each one in our family will go about fulfilling this particular "gift."
As a little girl I remember thinking "We get all these gifts, but what does God get? It's really his birthday isn't it?"
With that in mind I thought of an idea of how our family can give a gift to God throughout the year. ( Of course, the first and greatest gift we can give him is our own hearts, inviting him in, asking him to forgive us our sins and be Lord of our lives.) 
This year, I will purchase a Shadow Box Frame.(Though a standard frame would work too) Then, on Christmas morning, each family member will recieve a slip of paper. On that slip of paper each one will write down what gift of themselves they committ to giving God that year. Maybe it's a gift of speaking kindly to their sisters, serving one another, a time of devotion every day, prayer....or whatever that person feels they want to give to God. Then, I will take the pieces of paper and mount them in the frame. Then we will hang the frame in our home somewhere were the family can see it and be reminded of what "gift" they had committed to God for the New Year. 
For me it's not just about keeping Christ in Christmas but keeping him present in our lives each and every day of the Year. 
My prayer is that this year...come December 26th...we will continue the celebration of Christ in our lives and that instead of all those New Year Resolutions..that I never seem to be able to keep anyway...that this year we will keep our committments to God to serve and love one another, both in our family and beyond.

What are some of your traditions as a family? What are some ways that you keep Christ in Christmas? How will you resolve to Keep Christ in this New Year? 
Whatever it may be, my prayer is that you will continue to draw closer to God and purpose each day to serve Him with all your heart!

....Be Blessed today,
~Victoria

True Friendship! Helping to "Point your feet"........

     The last few weeks I have been reflecting on friendships.  As I have looked back over the years, especially into my childhood, I can name everyone of my BFF's (Best Friends Forever).  In the early years, growing up in Taos, it was Tracey and Andrea.  We attended school and church together, and during the summer we played, had slumber parties and just "hung out" as kids tend to do.  Then, when I was 10 our family relocated to Virginia.  To me it felt like the other side of the world. I left behind my two bff's and arrived in a place where I knew very few people.  I had plenty of aunts, uncles and cousins around but no one that I could call my best friend...just yet.  Through the next few years, as I moved from Elementary to Middle and then High School I can see where God supplied that one or two friends that I needed, helping me to navigate the difficulties of life that I was encountering at the time.  It was nice to know I could count on that friend to have my back and yet, shoot straight with me when I needed to hear the hard truth about something.  I think of my later years in High School, when I wasn't always making the best of decisions and I was really struggling in my walk with God.  I desperately needed a breakthrough.  It was in that critical moment, of my walk with God, that He brought Wendy storming into my life.  She was a solid Christian, knew what she believed and went wholeheartedly after it.  As messed up as I felt, she never put me aside, refusing to be my friend.  She invited me into her daily life, into her home, and to her youth group.  But in being my friend she also held my "feet to the fire".  I remember well one evening; I had really been struggling with direction for my life.  I had to decide...was I going to let the old ways and old habits take over or was I going to really and truly follow hard after God?  Senior year was about to end and I was riding the fence with indecision.  As we rode in her car, and I was going on and on about not knowing what to do (in reality, just having a pity party and throwing a tantrum) she brought the car to an abrupt stop in a parking lot.  She turned and looked at me; she said "Enough Victoria! Enough! It's time to make up your mind, you know what is at stake, you know what God is calling you to do! But you refuse to make a decision. It's time! Make a decision.  You don't have to figure it all out right now, but at least decide which way you are going to point your feet and start walking!"

Wow! Now that's a friend! But I knew she was right, it was time; and as hard as that was to hear, I could receive it because she had already walked with me through daily life, accepted me for who I was and cared just the same.  She then shared a verse with me that to this day remains one of my favorite verses. It is found in James Chapter 1:5-6 "If you need wisdom-if you want to know what God wants you to do-ask him, and he will gladly tell you.  He will not resent you asking. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to answer, for a doubtful mind is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is driven and tossed by the wind."
It's been years since High School, but to this day I am grateful for that friendship in my life.  God used Wendy to speak his word and direction into my life at a critical time. Because of that I made the decision to head into a 10 month mission program with Mennonite Board of Missions that radically changed my life. From there I meet and fell in love with my husband of now 14years and we are currently working in ministry and church planting in Nelson County, VA.
We have the ability to impact the people around us each and every day. It's not about preaching to them or beating them with the bible. It's about living daily life with them, inviting them into our lives and loving them where they are at.  That's not always easy...not everyone is easy to love.  But where you? Before you came to Christ what was your life like? Who took a chance on you? My guess is someone did.  My question back to you is...can you , will you, be that for someone else?  There is always that one that is a little harder to be around...heavens, they may just drive you up a wall..but is God calling you to be their friend anyway?
Are boundaries important?  Do we need to watch out for those "toxic" friendships? Sure...of course.  But my hearts desire is that as I go through life I trust that God will bring the friendships I need...but I am also trusting that he will show me who I need to be a friend to...that somehow, through me, God will impact there life to the point that they turn and choose to "point their feet" hard after God.


What God says about friendship:

"I have loved you even as the Father has loved me.  Remain in my love. When you obey me, you remain in my love, just as I obey my Father and remain in his love. I have told you this so that you will be filled with joy. Yes, your joy will overflow! I command you to love each other in the same way that I love you. And here is how to measure it - the greatest love is shown when people lay down their lives for their friends." (John 15:9-13)


Proverbs 18:24 - "There are "friends" who destroy each other, but a real friend sticks closer than a brother."

I always smile at this picture of my daughter and her best friend. They wanted to take a walk in the park with Michaela's new puppy, Patches. These two share a friend bond that has taken them through the years and now into Middle School. Even though we have moved away they still get together and always seem to "pick up where they left off" the last time they were together.