Seasonal

Anything about a holiday or season

December 23rd: Scrooge’s Unknown Prayer

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“’At this time of the rolling year,’ the spectre said, `I suffer most. Why did I walk through crowds of fellow-beings with my eyes turned down, and never raise them to that blessed Star which led the Wise Men to a poor abode? Were there no poor homes to which its light would have conducted me!‘

Scrooge was very much dismayed to hear the spectre going on at this rate, and began to quake exceedingly.

`Hear me!’ cried the Ghost. `My time is nearly gone.’

`I will,’ said Scrooge. `But don’t be hard upon me! Don’t be flowery, Jacob! Pray!’

`How it is that I appear before you in a shape that you can see, I may not tell. I have sat invisible beside you many and many a day.’

It was not an agreeable idea. Scrooge shivered, and wiped the perspiration from his brow.

`That is no light part of my penance,’ pursued the Ghost. `I am here to-night to warn you, that you have yet a chance and hope of escaping my fate. A chance and hope of my procuring, Ebenezer.’” (A Christmas Carol, Charles Dickens, emphasis added).

Why was Marley permitted to visit Scrooge that fateful Christmas Eve night? Why was he allowed to warn his old partner of his impending fate? Maybe there was a silent prayer offered from the heart of Scrooge himself. It was so silent he wasn’t even aware he said it. From some hidden corner of his heart a plea was sent up. Maybe, just maybe this is what that hidden corner of his heart asked for on December 23rd. Continue reading →

Life Lessons from the Volleyball Court

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I blame volleyball for the fact I’m still single. That’s right. It’s all volleyball’s fault I sit at a table for one.

Okay, okay, so the real reason is my lack of desire to play the game. Ever since it was on the rotation in grade school’s PE class, I have had a strong dislike of playing the game. “Please don’t hit the ball to me,” I’d think to myself in a prayer-like chant. That continued through Jr. High and High School’s PE rotation as well. I never developed an appreciation for the game. And since it is the go-to fall back in single wards, I’d avoid it. Hence, singledom. Just not my thing. So imagine my surprise when my youngest niece develops a liking toward it. Enough liking to be on the High School’s volleyball team. That is the only reason I’ve been watching the sport lately. As I sat at her game recently, I thought of how the sport can relate to life. Continue reading →

The Wise Men

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Remember the wise men

who traveled so far

to worship the King

by following the star?

 

We know very little,

not where they came,

how long they traveled,

or even their names.

 

We call them wise

but what makes them so?

Why call them magi

and that’s all we know.

 

We know this much

they chose to travel far

when everyone else

must have also seen the star.

 

How long they waited

and hoped for the sign?

We know they were ready

when the star shined.

 

Let me be that wise

to recognize the light

that leads to the King

in this darkened night.

© 2015 ck’s days