Her Story Can Be Our Story

It's Christmastime, one of the best times of the year! I love the worldwide focus on Christ and his love. I have been thinking this week about the real reason we celebrate Christmas. Christ's birth is so important because of what he came to do for us—he broke the bands of sin and death!

He died for us, and he returned as our resurrected Savior.

After his resurrection he visited many of his disciples, and my favorite story is that of Mary Magdalene. Christ's visit to her is one of the most personal. It can be found in John 20:

15 Jesus saith unto her, Woman, why weepest thou? whom seekest thou? She, supposing him to be the gardener, saith unto him, Sir, if thou have borne him hence, tell me where thou hast laid him, and I will take him away.

16 Jesus saith unto her, Mary. She turned herself, and saith unto him, Rabboni; which is to say, Master.

17 Jesus saith unto her, Touch me not; for I am not yet ascended to my Father: but go to my brethren, and say unto them, I ascend unto my Father, and your Father; and to my God, and your God.

Mary was the first person to see our resurrected Lord! Is this not significant?

There are some that use this fact as a basis for the theory that Mary was the wife of Christ. Why else would she have been first, right?

While this theory might be true, I like the way that a guest speaker in my religion class put it. She thinks of it in a much more personal and applicable way.

What was it that really made Mary special enough that Christ appeared to her first? It was the fact that she lingered. She stayed by the tomb, mourning for her Messiah with a love that kept her eyes wet with tears. Perhaps Mary's story could have been anyone's story, if only they had lingered.

I like to think that Christ would have appeared to any disciple who did the same in that moment. That's who Christ is, after all; he is the Savior of all mankind. He loved not just the crowd, but the individual. And what made Mary special to him is that she was his disciple and his friend.

If it had been me or you that day by the tomb, would not Christ have had equal love enough to show himself to us? Yes, I think he would.

For truly, he shows himself to each and every one of us that turns our heart to him in love. It's when we linger on his words and truly sorrow for our sins that we too can see the light of our resurrected Lord.

Are We Like Herod, Or Like the Wise Men?

Photo by Kevin Phillips on Public Domain Pictures

🎶"The wise man built his house upon the rock, the wise man built his house upon the rock!"🎶

Oh wait, wrong wise man.

Though now that I think of it, "The Wise Man and the Foolish Man" does apply pretty well to the story of the wise men who traveled so far to see the newborn babe. In fact, that simple song explains exactly what happened those many years ago.

We get the full story in Matthew 2:

1 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judæa in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem,
2 Saying, Where is he that is born King of the Jews? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

This is where Herod (AKA, not wise man).comes in.

3 When Herod the king had heard these things, he was troubled, and all Jerusalem with him.
4 And when he had gathered all the chief priests and scribes of the people together, he
demanded of them where Christ should be born.

Already, the differences between the wise men and Herod can be seen. The wise men have traveled far to see King Herod, and they have done their research beforehand. They know who they are looking for, as well as why they are looking for him.

Herod, on the other hand, has no idea. He hasn't done his daily scripture study and instead has to rely on what others tell him. Even then, he doesn't bother to ask about why this "King of the Jews" is so important. As soon as he heard "king," his mind jumped to conclusions about who these wise men were looking for.

Later in the story, the differences between the Herod and the wise men are more significant:

7 Then Herod, when he had privily called the wise men, inquired of them diligently what
time the star appeared.
8 And he sent them to Bethlehem, and said, Go and search diligently for the young child;
and when ye have found him, bring me word again, that I may come and worship him also.
9 When they had heard the king, they departed; and, lo, the star, which they saw in the east, went before them, till it came and stood over where the young child was.

These three verses can actually teach us a lot about how we should approach the gospel, and what it takes to come closer to Christ. The first example, that of what not to do, is given by King Herod. When Herod found out about the new King born in Bethlehem, he certainly acted very interested, inquiring "diligently" about him. But what did Herod actually do? Not a thing. Instead, he commanded others to act for him. He, in effect, was relying on others' faith to carry him forward. In other words, he had only "built his house upon the sand."

The wise men, however, show us an exemplary pattern for how to live our own lives. For when they heard the king, they acted for themselves. They went back out into the wilderness with faith that the star would lead them. They built their house upon the Rock of their Redeemer, doing everything in their power to find him and worship him.

Obviously, calling Herod the foolish man is all good and fun, but when I look at his story more closely, I have to admit that I often do the same thing he did. How many times have I gone to church without having prepared beforehand, just expecting to get all of my spiritual enlightenment from someone else's hard work?

Or, how often do I come home from church and say, "Wow, that was really great. I hope next week is just as good!" but then go back to doing nothing to strengthen my own testimony in Christ?

Yeah, I'd say I'm pretty foolish too sometimes. But I still can become like the wise men from that day. I can choose to build my house upon the Rock by doing everything I can to come closer to him.

Christmas Spirit For All Year

As I sit here, I can't stop thinking about the spectacular movie that I just watched, The Christmas Shoes. If there were any movie to recommend for a heart-changing and warming film experience, this would be it. In fact, I am going to make a tradition to watch it every year for Christmas from now on.

The story is beautiful, and reminds us that Christmas isn't just a once-a-year feeling. We need to have it all the time! The business man in the movie who was spending more time in his office than with his family, he did not have the spirit of Christmas because he was too busy worrying about money, possessions, etc. But in the simple act of service for a young boy who wanted to give his dying mother a present, this man remembered what he was missing out on.

This is the theme song for the movie

I was crying for pretty much the whole last half of the movie because it was so touching. It reminded me what I should be doing. My family is what matters most, and anything that gets in the way of me spending time with them should become my second priority. They aren't going to be around forever, and might even have to go before it's expected. In fact, I might be the one that is called home before expected. So I want to make sure that I've done all I can to let the people I care about know how much they mean to me. And I want to know that I spent all the time with them that I could.

Earlier Today...

I seem to be having a similar trend with my stomach and holidays this year.. It's not a good one either! This past Thanksgiving I got the stomach flu, and now for Christmas my tummy has been acting up again! It's not the flu this time, but something else entirely, though I've no clue what. It's interesting because it's like a burning in my actual stomach, but it only really bugs me when I stand up. Luckily, I am just fine with sitting down all the time lol

But now I can't eat all the sweets that we've got! It's Christmas after all... And I had a great one despite my bothersome body. I just love my family so much!

Here is the final picture of the gingerbread house, with the scenery that my dad put up for it. This beautiful house on the side of a mountain has actual trees, a life-size nativity, a snowman worth mentioning, and reindeer wandering the yard! :)

That's all for now! I've got to go spend the rest of this special day con mi familia!

Here's to Christ and His Helper, Santa

As Christmas Day comes upon us, I would just like to say,

I BELIEVE.

That's actually a reference to two movies, both of which are great to watch during the holidays: Miracle on 34th Street and the Polar Express. 

I watched the Polar Express tonight and it really touched me. I wouldn't say that the overall quality of the movie is top notch.. But the whole point of the story really got to me; the theme with the bells was perfect. In the scene when the hero boy can see the bells and yet he can't hear them, he has to choose to believe. He had to believe BEFORE he could see Santa Claus. 

I appreciated this because one of my least favorite things about now-a-days Santa Claus is the ridiculous and false statement tagged to him, "Seeing is Believing." This goes in the complete opposite direction from what Christ said in John 20, "Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." Who in the world decided that the very man representing Christ's birthday would say the opposite? 

So as I was watching the Polar Express, I noticed that this movie paralleled Christ with Santa in many aspects. "Seeing is Believing" was said in the beginning, but then it adds, "but sometimes the most real things in the world are the things we can't see." Yes! That, and the fact that the boy was trying and trying to see Santa, but he couldn't. And yet, as soon as he chose to put faith in him, Santa came. I believe the director was trying to compare Claus to Christ with the angelic glow about him, the more solemn demeanor, and the way that he knew and cared about each child. 

All in all, this movie was a touching one, both in it's message of the real meaning of Christmas, as well as the way it was told in a light-hearted way with the story of the North Pole. 

Here's a new video of the Nativity to tell the true story of the first gift of Christmas. This really happened. And I don't need to have seen it to believe. :)

Merry Christmas!!

The House is Done!!

Decorating of the gingerbread house is finished! I am soo exhausted. It actually doesn't look to bad, even though I was pretty much throwing frosting on it so I could finish. Here it is...

TADA!!

 I say it's finished, but my parents still want to make surrounding scenery. Which was my original plan, until I realized how time-consuming the whole thing is. But you may be seeing yet another picture later on!


Have you ever had those moments when you feel extremely jealous about a situation when you have absolutely no cause to be? Yeah, that's how I was today. It's quite ridiculous. Ah well, what can we do? For starters, I need to stop being jealous, and just be happy for the couple I'm feeling weird about. They probably work very well together!


In church today, we had a Christmas music program, done by Valerie Rawlins. She did such an amazing job! I participated by playing half of the congregational hymns while another girl played they other half. Every one one of the musical numbers were very well done, and brought the Spirit into the meeting. I'm so happy that our little Singles branch in Mountain Home has so much musical talent! I love everyone here. :)

Not much else to report today, so hasta la vista!

End of the World, But I've Got Gingerbread

After getting on Facebook, I was reminded about fifty times that tomorrow (today) may possibly be the end of the world and I should say something interesting or revealing before we are all gone. But honestly, today was just a GOOD day, without any effort. If the world did end, I would be completely satisfied with the last day I had on earth.

But seeing as how the whole Mayan calendar predicting the end is a load of complete nonsense, I'll go ahead and assume that I'll be around for December 22. 

Besides, I need tomorrow, so I can finish my gingerbread house! 

I started one today... and it's not a mangy little graham cracker one. Oh no, this is going to be a full on gingerbread house, like I've only built once before. My mom was cool enough to save some pages from a very, very old magazine that had designs for gingerbread houses-- and pretty cool ones too. Take a look at the date. --->

But man, I never even realized how hard it is to make a gingerbread house! There's so many steps before you even get to the baking part, that I just want to throw the whole thing out and just get some graham crackers! I'm about halfway done with the building process, so hopefully I will be able to show the finished product by Saturday! 

Other highlights of the day: my little nephew Kru came over, I got some bonding time with my mom, and I had a crazy thought! 

Kru

What an adventure that kid brings when he is around! Kru is a 3yr-old little boy who loves what most little boys love. And I got to be with him all day today. First thing we did? Break into the new toys that I found a couple days ago as I was cleaning the house. 

*Sidenote: I don't know about you, but when I play with toys that I used to play with as a littlie, it really brings back the memories, adding a bright spot to my day. 

Kru also helped us finish decorating our tree with ornaments, and was very talented at putting them all on one branch. I ended up having to move quite a few of them, but it was so fun to see his excitement! Once again, here's what out tree now looks like:

Kru also got to make gingerbread cookies with mom and I! We couldn't stop laughing throughout the whole thing, both because of how funny that little kid is and because today was just accident-prone! Seriously every ten minutes something would drop. The best part was that the two played on each other. When we would make a mess, Kru would do something hilarious in response, and then later Kru would also drop something, which would start the laughter again! A viscous cycle, but worth it for the smiles. :D

Mom

Even though she can't help me physically make the gingerbread house, my mom was with me to provide support, help me decipher the directions, and just talk! We ended up having a good conversation, in which I explained to her the fascinating concepts of both communication styles and love languages. Both of these subjects were something that I was a fanatic about last year, when I first discovered them. I was always thinking about them, trying to figure out what I was, what others were, and how this affected me. If you don't know much about either of these, LOOK INTO THEM. I learned so much about humanity in general, my friends, relationships, and most importantly myself. 

Anyway, while having this conversation with my mom, we got onto the topic of what Jesus was. If you knew my mom at all, this would be no surprise; she manages to bring him into any conversation. It's something I admire about her. But this brings me to the last highlight:

Crazy Thought

It's obvious that because Jesus Christ was perfect, he was an assertive communicator. But what about his love language(s)? What is the perfect combination for the 5 languages? At first, I thought that it would be an equal degree for each, but I can't imagine Christ caring the same about receiving gifts as he does quality time. And my mom also pointed out that he would serve, serve, serve. This got me thinking about quality touch. I wonder if this was very high in Christ? There's no way of knowing how he communicated with others, whether he would place his hand on their shoulder, or embrace them as a greeting. And if he did do these things, was it because he knew that's what THEY needed, or was it because HE needed it? 

Who knows? I'm aware I'll never find out in this life, but I like thinking about it all the same. I feel it helps me realize what's most important, both in general and to myself. 

A couple more pictures to add to today's record :)

Kru and mommy makin' gingerbread men

My gingerbread house in the works

It's Started! or should I say Continuing?

Now that the class which started my blog is over, I've decided I may as well keep it up! We'll see how long this new-found desire stays, but for now I shall be posting about whatever the heck I feel like!

I'm not going to have a specific theme, until I've figured out what I want to do with this thing. I like the previous idea of analyzing what I've read or watched, and then telling how I felt and relating it to some deep philosophical idea, BUT I also like the idea of just having a carefree telltale about what goes on in my life! Especially with all the awesome things I have planned for the holidays.. :D So you can look forward to a short excerpt of my Christmas break throughout the coming weeks!

To start off, I'd like you to meet my parents:

This picture (taken today) is a great representation of both of them. My dad, with his surprising sense of humor and my mom as she studiously studies her scriptures. I love them both, and am happy that I get to be with them and just them for the holidays this year!

I know I keep mentioning this, but I am SO excited for the upcoming week. I've got so much planned! You'll be seeing a lot of my awesome activities (assuming I follow through with my plans) as I shall be posting all about 'em!

Before I go, I'd just like to post a picture of our tree that we put up today. Honestly this is mainly so that I can remember when I look back.. because for me, a Christmas tree is a big deal! In my family, we saw quite a few Christmases go by without a tree in our house, and that was something that I really missed having. It's not Christmas without one! So here it is-- our Christmas tree in all its glory, minus the ornaments.

We certainly piled the lights on; there is probably around six or seven strands of lights on it. But I think it's fantastic, especially because my dad helped me with it! There's only one thing better than getting a tree for Christmas, and that's having my dad help me trim it!

Simple Complexity

I would like to discuss an oil painting by Tarsila do Amaral: Central Railway of Brazil. In the Latin American art book it stated,

"The [city themes] have the flat facades of modern buildings, and no perspective, although space is constructed by overlapping and diminution of scale... The cityscapes, railways, etc. suggest a kind of industrial primitivism." (Ades 134)

The thing that caught my attention most when i first studied this painting was the way Amaral was able to portray a complex scene with simple shapes. Just as the quote states, there seems to be an oxymoron: “industrial primitivism.” Amaral showed the complex world of industry to look like a primitive society.

This made me wonder, is our world that much different from earlier societies? Even with all our gadgets that men have created in order to satisfy wants, humanity still has the same base desires as any other time period. Societies are still looking for the best way of living- for the most profitable lifestyle, whether physically, mentally, or spiritually.

Take government for example. Philosophers from as early as Greek or Roman time periods (Aristotle specifically) searched for the most just form of government. As much as we have excelled in technology, it seems as if the ideal government has still eluded us, although we have reached a couple steps closer.

Technology did not further understanding. The more we know about the universe and the physical properties, the more the complexity of it all seems to baffle us. The more humanity knows, the more it is aware that it does not know. While our landscapes have become full of tall buildings, airplanes, etc. the inside emotions and thoughts, as well as our problems, seem to have stayed roughly the same.

What makes society different than the societies of the past? Or what makes us more complex? Did the Central Railway of Brazil capture the truth of the industrial world?