Five on Friday

1.  This is what really gets me in the Christmas spirit.  I love our school program and that handsome king/wiseman and pretty girl from Bethlehem singing the songs I love really set my heart on the important things of Christmas.

2.  It's been one week since the horrible tragedy in Newtown.  I have gone up and down dealing with this.  I have cried thinking about those babies.  I have cried thinking about those teachers and how they gave their lives to protect those babies.  Walking in to Packy's Christmas party I cried because I know his teacher would have done the same thing.  Thinking of those presents under the tree that won't be open, I cried.  I don't think there will be any level of understanding why, except that there is evil in this world.  Makes it all the sweeter to celebrate the birth of our Savior, who came to save us from this evil and will come again to restore this world to what it was created to be like, without sin.
Here are some blog posts that were helpful to me:
God Identifies With Suffering: Rev. Tim Keller
Lamentations: Jen Hatmaker
A Tragedy at the Birth of Jesus: Rev. Chip Miller
A Connecticut Winter: Why our Hearts Break: Rebekah Lyons
(Did you read the 11 days before Christmas poem?  I wept.)

(SNL also made me weep.)
        
3.  Ann Curry created a 26 Acts of Kindness Campaign where people are participating in acts of kindness and tweeting it in memory of the people who died at Sandy Hook.  Now let me just say, I am not an Ann Curry fan, but this is really cool.  I love reading all the #26acts tweets and see how people are reaching out to others.  Shouldn't this be how we always live?  Taking care of others and finding ways to be kind?  Wasn't that what Jesus did while he was on Earth?
4.  I guess I am a big crybaby during Christmas. The TV shows and radio shows that I listen to are helping people and surprising people and it's just heart warming.  Kidd Kraddick, my morning radio show DJ, had a couple of weeks of helping people who were struggling financially during Christmas.  People would write a letter and "nominate" a friend or co-worker who was having a hard time and needed help buying toys.  I would cry just about every time.  I watched a story about Inner-City Arts, a downtown LA after school center that keeps kids off the streets and involved in the arts. Wal-mart came and donated an amazing amount of supplies, computers, and toys to these precious kids.  It's these stories that really get me out of myself and caring about others.
5.  I have had some anxiety for the past couple of weeks.  Like wake up and my heart starts racing anxiety.  I hate it, but I can deal.  I think the more I take the focus off of me and onto helping others, however that looks, the less the anxiety overpowers me.  The more I keep my eyes on Jesus, and the freedom that his birth, and ultimately death, gives me, the less I see the tiny things that are irritants in my life. So grateful for the gift of Jesus.