"Sometimes we get too busy to actually dream. We find ourselves living in routine and we almost become patterned or unconscious of the fact that we are no longer choosing or creating, we're just imitating and conforming."
-Erwin McManus
I've been listening to Erwin McManus' podcast lately, and the first couple minutes of it seem to be replaying over and over in my mind.
I just finished my homework, and looking back on my day, I can't say that I did something that inspired me or encouraged me to keep learning and pursuing my dreams. I woke up, went to school, came home for ten minutes and then I went to work on an out-of-class group project. Following that, I began my homework, ate dinner, and then went back to homework. I skipped small groups tonight so that I would be able to have enough energy tomorrow to get up and do it all over again. So it's 10:55 right now. I know that I should go to bed because I'm tired, but it's nice to be doing something other than stoiciometry or reading spanish novels.

I guess I'm missing something. I guess I fail to see the reasoning behind students attending school from 8:00 - 3:00, and then doing homework for sometimes at least four hours after that. Maybe it's just schools in the western suburbs, maybe not all schools are this obsessive . But even if its only a few, does it make it right? I wonder what it would look like if dedicated students had time to actually be inspired, time to dream, time to create. There are so many things (including dreams) waiting to be discovered, and I wonder how many have been shoved aside or silenced. I honestly don't even know how I would go about doing this in the future, but that doesn't mean I won' try.

Christmas is for the kids.

Christmas is for the kids, and for those that still believe in Santa.

I disagree.

I was talking about Christmas with an adult today. Mainly about how he/she didn't really expect anything from anyone because he/she doesn't really need or want anything.

Christmas is for the kids.

This comment was sort of thrown out on the table, and with me being the way I am, I really picked it apart and over-analyzed it in my mind. I guess the logic behind this comment was that adults can buy things for themselves whenever they want, whereas kids look forward to the holiday in anticipation for gifts they wouldn't normally receive. Christmas is for the kids because it is the kids that open all the presents on Christmas morning, its the kids that decorate the cookies or the gingerbread house, and it is the kids that have stuffed stockings hanging from the fireplace.

Christmas is not just for the kids. As hard as it is for me to break away from the idea that Christmas is only about giving thoughtless gift cards and eating spiral ham, I have really started to think about how beautiful it is. That God would become human and walk among us, that He would be born in a barn, become homeless, eat with the outcasts, and ultimately give His life for us.
Christmas is not just for the kids. Christmas is for the lonely, for the discouraged, for the broken and bruised, for the hopeless. Christmas is for the convict, for the heroine-addict, for the alcoholic. Christmas is for the prostitute, for the homeless, for the hungry and the thirsty. Christmas is for the poor, for the rich, for the greedy and the needy.

Christmas is for those in need of salvation, grace, love, acceptance, worth, and peace. Christmas is for those that need to hear and know that God humbled himself for them, that God thinks they are beautiful, that God deeply desires an intimate relationship with them, and especially that they are deeply loved.

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life"
-John 3:16

My hope is that I would be able to communicate this message, and not only on December 25th. My hope is that followers of Christ would not only spread the Christmas message during the month of December, but would remember it every day of the year.

Christmas is not just for the kids.