Christmas Daybook, 9: Savor winter beauty
Welcome to my Christmas daybook for these 12 days of celebrating. We'll be spending Christmastide with some favorite short films and video clips. Join me, won't you?
Trying To Save The Red Crowned Cranes Of Japan - Wild Japan - BBC & Hitch a Ride with Reindeer Herders | National Geographic
Brrrrr.....
Where you live, too? Even our friends in Austin got snow twice this winter already!
This is the time to savor the beauty unique to cold and snow. While I have no aspirations to be a reindeer herder in Finland or a farmer helping cranes live through winter in cold Japan, I love knowing about those who do. I applaud their heartiness, and hope I can think about them instead of complaining about the cold. There is an austere beauty in the frigid, and these are just two small, amazing examples.
May you enjoy something cozy on this ninth day of Christmas, friends.
All readings for today: 1 Kings 19:1-8, Psalm 34, Ephesians 4:1-16, John 6:1-14
Prayer for today from Evening Prayers For Every Day of the Year by Christoph Friedrich Blumhardt:
“O taste and see that the Lord is good! Happy is the man who takes refuge in him! Psalm 34:8, RSV
Dear Father in heaven, we come to you. With thanks we come to you, for again and again you have helped us. Again and again you have let your light shine out on us so that we could be glad and know that our lives are in your hands. Protect us on this earth, where it is so necessary. Protect us, that the light of true life may shine more and more brightly and we may praise your name with our whole heart. Be with us this night, O God, and touch our hearts with your Spirit. Amen.”
Savor warmth
I'm guessing many of you are back to work, maybe even school, today? Here's something to look forward to when you get back home snug and sound.
We keep a hot cocoa "station" up throughout December and January (well, sometimes February, too!). During the early days of Christmastide we tend to enjoy all the special delicacies that the cocoa takes a back seat. Today's a good day to enjoy again the simple pleasure of a mug of hot cocoa and your favorite add-ons (marshmallows, whipped cream, candy canes, schnapps, etc.) Bonus points for all those who actually venture outside before enjoying the hot beverage.
You may also want to invite along some friends. I love this idea shared at Like Mother, Like Daughter - Modest Hospitality: A Hot Cocoa Party
(See all Christmas Daybook posts from 2016 here.)