I first wrote about the great purposeful foreboding last year. I never thought it would apply to a second advent. Essentially, this foreboding narrative stems from a political message promoted this year by a godless joy-sucking White House: “A winter of death” awaits the unvaccinated. Seriously?
Seriously! Stop for a minute. Just stop.
Stop and think about the purpose of that narrative, and then ask yourself, are you succumbing to it?
This is the day of great joy, the greatest joy of all. A day when we celebrate a loving and purposeful blessing provided to us by our Creator. The universal truth. The pure perfection of a loving Child born in the most ordinary fashion for us, to us, to guide and share the most blessed and purposeful message that could ever be delivered to mankind: You are Loved.
Pause amid the human distractions. That message of love is pure.
Stop and sit in peace, and join together in the joy.
Yes, it is true, all around us is this great sense of foreboding ugh, and it’s not just connected to a virus; it’s everything before and everything since. Everything being created around us is weird, everything created around us is less comfortable, everything created around us is intended to project less joy – and as a consequence, it requires an intensity of thought just to carry on ordinary events.
Christmas, the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, is tonight and tomorrow. Yet, almost everything created around us seems purposefully placed to distract from that joy – and focus our attention on what joy we are missing. At the heart of that effort is an anxiety, a sense of foreboding. A sense of fear and worry, and a sense of trepidation.
In our daily lives, we encounter ordinary disconnects now. Masked faces are disconnecting our sense of interaction, our human connection. Unfortunately, and as a natural outcome of these challenges, we are accepting disconnect and creating a void inside ourselves. At the same time, COVID is physically disconnecting people from their families.
Many families will not gather this year to celebrate the joyous event of Christ’s birth. Many parents and grandparents will not see their adult children for the first time in years, perhaps ever. Many destabilized families are disconnecting as they succumb to fractures, instructions, created by people who appointed themselves as leaders.
It is almost unbelievable when you contemplate the damage. Politicians, yes P.O.L.I.T.I.C.I.A.N.S, have created terms and conditions, instructions for you and me, with the expectation that somehow we will adhere to their fiats or accept their aspersions.
I reject this.
I reject this effort with every fiber of my being.
Division, regardless of intent, is not a term or condition that I will accept. However, amid all of this bombardment, flux and ugh, even simple tasks like decorating the Christmas tree feel somehow senseless, seem less joyful.
Perhaps financial worry, again driven by the outcomes of man, stems the joy in shopping for family and friends. Perhaps the shine within the cheer is slightly dimmed, because all around us is something we cannot quite describe, yet we feel it.
Perhaps tears flow at times, and we struggle to understand what this unusual anxiety is all about. Then, we begin to struggle with the feelings of shame or guilt for being weak and allowing our humanity to pour out of our human selves. Then, at the worst possible time in the year, our faith organizations are slow to understand the importance of fellowship and community amid an upheaval that has taken our center from under our feet.
The insufferable lack of regional leaders standing tall only makes the anxiety worse. Where are the brave?
Where are the purposeful few who know the benefit of larger messages? I do not fault their absence, because their void reminds me to stop, look at that face I see while brushing my teeth, and remember the greatest strength of all is from within. Nothing has the capacity to remove the strength provided by a loving God unless we allow it to; unless we allow them to.
As our grip on our familiar surroundings becomes more tenuous, we are faced with dictates and mandates that only exacerbate the issues our community faces. Meanwhile, this ridiculous media drumbeats an incessant noise intent on destabilizing us. Perhaps we cannot quite put our finger on why the impact is worse now…. but it is. This effort of theirs is more impactful. It is all ugh. It is all just ugh.
If you find the assembly of these simple words familiar to your current sense, first understand YOU ARE NOT ALONE. Second, understand there is nothing wrong with you. This blanket of anxiety is laying across our entire nation, indeed the entire world, and no matter where we stand – we are all sensing a various level of this ‘ugh’ with some familiarity. However, that said, it is important to know this is transitional. We will not be in this place long. This too shall pass.
How do we shake these destabilizing feelings and emotions?
How do we reconnect to the core-spirit we carry in our lives?
These are the questions we should use to leverage ourselves back to a center of peace and hope. These are the questions that empower us to recharge our sense of purpose and life within the lives of others, including our community, family and friends.
♦ The first way we shake this ‘ugh’, is to give to others without reservation. Giving with purpose is the true spirit of human contact. The giving is not related to money or wealth, the giving is related to our human purpose. Perhaps we give a smile. Perhaps we give a kind word. Perhaps we give a compliment, or perhaps we just give time to another.
You could give a more valuable gift this year to anyone simply by reaching them. Perhaps send an email; or better yet, write a letter to a dear friend or family member, or just pick up the phone. Reach out and tell them they matter and express why their place in this life of yours is important. Remind them of your specific thankfulness, and connect to the purpose of why we endeavor in this thing we call life.
Years from now, it is unlikely anyone will remember that thing they unwrapped. What they will remember, what will have much greater impact, is a message from YOU to THEM that they matter, that they are loved. That moment, perhaps those moments, provided by you, will NEVER be forgotten. That look in your eye or sound of your voice that reached into them and emphasized their value, their worth, their importance. That is the gift they will remember in great detail, forever.
The important thing is to give, and to do it without any other intent or purpose than to fill your own heart.
♦ Within the giving, remind yourself what this journey is all about, and look around to recognize how fortunate we are to have this life. Choose to cherish the ultimate gift from a loving God who wants joy and hope to permeate our human sense.
Hope is the one necessary human element beyond all other facets of life. Give the gift of hope and light to those you love by first reminding yourself of the gift that a loving God has given us all. It is too easy in our human sense to forget the biggest gift we have been granted, the gift of life. The ability to live and choose how we engage in the lives of others.
Remind yourself of the kind of purposeful HOPE that would leave the most glorious throne to be born into a manger as a baby, only to grow into a Man willing to lay down His everything for the flawed people amid humanity. Why? Because that hope is pure. That love is perfect.
No politics or false sense of security can overwhelm the message of HOPE that a loving God has provided. No effort of man or human disposition can surmount the greatest love of all. The message of Christ’s birth is bigger and greater than any virus or legislative battle.
“No power of hell, nor scheme of man” can come close to the purpose of God’s intent and love for you as a unique person qualified to receive that love.
Wrap yourself in the blanket of that unconditional love. Stop what you are doing.
Pause in the peace of this moment… set down your troubles, LISTEN and FEEL.
“Long lay the world in sin and error pining, til He appeared and the souls felt its worth. A thrill of HOPE; the weary world rejoices, for yonder breaks a new and glorious morn…”
Let the tears flow, and with them release the foreboding. Engage in the next moment with a loving purpose filled with the HOPE that He provides. Fall forward to the centered purpose of your life, a very special life, and reflect on the gift we are too quick to diminish.
“Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there is no longer any sea. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne, saying, “Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and He will dwell among them, and they shall be His people, and God Himself will be among them, and He will wipe away every tear from their eyes; and there will no longer be any death; there will no longer be any mourning, or crying, or pain; the first things have passed away.” And He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” And He said, “Write, for these words are faithful and true.” Then He said to me, “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give to the one who thirsts from the spring of the water of life without cost.”
Revelation 21:1-6
Abiding love to all.
Steadfast,
~ Sundance
We are welcoming our formerly estranged brother back into the family this Christmas.
Many years have passed since he chose to be part of our Holidays.
The circumstances of the past seem so meaningless, these many years later.
Ill be sure to offer him acceptance and pray this attempt to reconcile succeeds.
This is a time for love and acceptance, and our families greatest gift may be this reunification.
God Bless all the Treepers!
Truly….a gift!
Thank you, what a beautiful message. Sundance, Merry Christmas to you and yours and all the Tree House crew. This wish also goes to all who gather here in the branches.
Sorry had to enter this as a response will not post otherwise.
I wrote earlier about working with Samaritan’s Purse cleaning up storm damage. This experience has affected me profoundly. I kept thinking one odd question. What brought these strangers together like this?
Yes, there was a family that needed help and they got help. They will have a forever memory about how God’s people came together to help.
The community knows that we were there as were a lot of other groups.
These things are indeed important but there is another thing. We often forget that we are a larger community than our home towns and churches. We looked at each other as God’s workers, sent by God to do a work for God. We did not discuss doctrines or systems or ecclesiastic orders. God brought us together and what I saw was only one thing, God at work. We became God’s hands. We were instantly bonded and guided by a love that came from outside each of us and that love filled us. There is no doubt that each of us would have sacrificed his own safety to protect any of the others should that have been needed. This is profound. We had known each other for only moments yet we were bound by eternity.
I learned that I am never alone. In addition to God, there are millions if not billions of people bound to each other through Christ. We do not see these bonds until God reveals them to us. It is much like the invisible army of angels that was unseen until God revealed them. I have hope because of the people that God has called.
We worked for a day or two and then returned to our communities. I do not doubt that others were changed in similar ways. The people from New York went home knowing that there were people in Georgia that would sacrifice for them if needed. We went back into our communities waiting for the next call. This has happened innumerable times in hundreds of events. God opened our eyes to the vast host of people that are at His call to respond to the work He has to do.
As bad as things may appear when looking with my limited vision, God has prepared an army. I only need to respond to His call. When I show up for duty, I will join an army sent by heaven.
That is indeed joyful.
Beautiful
Your posts on your experience have been a blessing to read. Thank you for posting about your service to the Lord first and Samaritans’ Purse and the people in need. Blessed to be a blessing.
Beautiful Sundance!!
“Praise to The Lord The Almighty The King of Creation”!!!!
Thank you SD. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this. I have not succumbed to the ‘ugh’. My cruise control is set at FU so I crank up the cheery greetings, give more hugs and Thank God for the good in my life. I poured my heart out in a Christmas card to my husband’s boss (who has been very generous and accommodating towards hubby’s health issues) and made him cry. Ha! Christmas is so much more than time with family, food and fun. But even on that level it’s great. Nobody will take Christmas away from me.
Besides the malaise, I’ve noticed a lack of holiday music in stores. Religious or secular, the music used to almost beat you into submission cause you couldn’t escape, it was played everywhere in every store. I’d hear it outside while pumping gas! I’ve mentioned this to friends and co-workers who stopped to think about it then said I was right after a minute. A big tell is no one complaining about it. Hope you treepers get all the holiday music you can handle (and more). Merry Christmas everyone!
In Mexico….everything is pretty much normal. The malls are full…people everywhere….music..kids smiling and happy. No cares in the world. Of course no politician dare take God or Christianity out of this God fearing nation. America let the Democrats take religion out of the schools.
I feel sorry for my family and friends stuck up north! God Bless and Merry Christmas to All…
AMEN!!!!!
I am spending Christmas alone this year, but NOT because of the sick, wicked, wiles of Satan whom is currently running things here in America. It’s because we all met on different dates and times due to scheduling. I’m not one bit down, depressed, scared, or sad. I KNOW WHOM MY REDEEMER IS!! What joy and peace I have. I’m actually enjoying the fact that I’m not on my feet for 12 hours straight for all the days of Christmas. LOL.
Amen, Sundance, Amen. May the Lord bless and keep you and yours.
Born Free American Woman Have a Blessed Christmas you will be in my thoughts this Christmas Day .
Thank you, Sundance. I needed that.
Merry Christmas to You and Yours
With great gratefulness. reading and listening what remonisant thoughts and emotions. Thank you, Sundance, for your commitment to good. His intervention has given anyone willing to investigate Hope and Spirit. Someone said darkness is a default until the light comes on. His coming is the world’s redemption. Eternal love
Blast from the past …… Merry Christmas, 1956
God Bless Us Every One!!!
Amen
God bless, and Merry Christmas to all.
Thank you Sundance, I know I sometimes come here with some negativity but it is post like this that makes me always come back for more. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
The evil ways of men cannot overwhelm those who are filled by the Holy Spirit. I speak from experience, having come to Christ 20 years ago after a life begun guided by atheist parents, then chasing material baubles, and working to maintain grumbling distance between myself and others. A fine acquaintance kept beating on me about salvation and eternity and, one beautiful day, I was overpowered. My heart filled with thanks to Jesus, and the precious blood he spent on someone as irrelevant as me. Accept this free gift of grace and the joy that it carries, brothers and sisters … put fear, doubt and alienation in your rear view mirror for good!
“… one beautiful day, I was overpowered.”
You share that experience with C.S. Lewis, who called it being surprised by joy.
Amen and a very Merry Christmas to you all. We will be celebrating the birth of Christ this season with friends and family and we are incredibly grateful.
“‘No power of hell, nor scheme of man’ can come close to the purpose of God’s intent and love….”
Yes!
How good it is–that that new heavens and new earth spoken of in Revelation 21 is not a different heavens and a different earth–but a new one. It will be remarkable and astonishing, but not essentially different.
God is not playing catchup and trying to figure out what to do next. He absolutely is not.
He has never changed His mind about what He set out to do, either with regard to creation itself (Romans 8:19-21) or about mankind. Blessed truths to treasure forever.
Amen Sundance thank you so much for your faith. And thank for a great testimony heavenward.
In times like these I am able to go back to the very fundamentals and remind myself while God gave many promises to the redeemed I keep close this one: “I will keep you until the end”,
This is how I remind myself no matter how I’m feeling at the time that no one is more important than His Son and those who belong to His son, the man Christ Jesus.
I am very thankful for this outlet shinning the truth thank you all and to all A very Merry Christmas. Sundance you are a blessed soul for allowing all of us to share in the discovery of truth and we thank you for that. Wishing you and your family a wonderful Christmas season and 2022.
I reject all of it right with you SD. From the onset till now…. life is always awesome when you place your trust in Jesus.
Have a very Merry Christmas to you and all admin… be blessed in 2022.
Thanks, you don’t know how much I needed that. I am in abject fear that my wife, my sons and spouses and almost all my friends are about to succumb to a scourge that will dwarf the terror of King Herod trying to kill the baby boys……And, I have studied, acquired the proper supplements to hopefully help them….if they will only listen before it is too late. My heart is breaking
Thank you for listening All. God bless and Merry Christmas!
Thank you, what a beautiful message. Sundance, Merry Christmas to you and yours and all the Tree House crew. This wish also goes to all who gather here in the branches.
” In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
–John 1:4-5
Thanks Sundance.
We are on our way to spend the night with our adult progeny and grandkids, we are on opposite sides of today’s issues yet that hasn’t stopped us from spending time together…I’m proud of mine for not believing so much of the narrative that they reject our unjabbed presence…. And I can’t change their choice to get it….
Sundance you remind me rather than worry, I need to trust God, and love them..because that’s all He commanded I do…love.
Praise the Lord and God bless the CTH family of all who visit, Sundance and all admins..
God bless you, Sundance. This is a wonderful encouragement!
O magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together. I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.
Psalms 34: 3-4
That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.
Romans 10:9
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:
Ephesians 2:8
Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the propitiation for our sins.
1 John 4:10
That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,
Ephesians 3:17
Keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life.
Jude 1:21
But he, being full of the Holy Ghost, looked up stedfastly into heaven, and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing on the right hand of God, And said, Behold, I see the heavens opened, and the Son of man standing on the right hand of God.
Acts 7:55-56
Tears in my eyes. God Bless you Sundance!
Me too!
Thank you for this meaningful message. Merry to you and your family.
Peace on Earth, Good will towards men.
Merry Christmas !
Hope Is Never Vain.
Treep On, mes chers freres et soeurs!!
“Great moments are born from great opportunity.” — Herb Brooks
Every day is Christmas. The story is a metaphor. An important one, still a metaphor.
Rush was the only person for 30 years that never once failed me.
Miss him dearly 🙌🏼
God is Good
All the Time
Rush was the best friend that I never met.
As if hadn’t cried enough with this wonderful post and thread…
Truly a life well lived.
So hard to watch this, again. He is greatly, greatly missed.
Amen!
Thanks Sundance 🙌🏼
That was Awesome
God bless you and yours
❤️🙏🏼🙏🏼❤️
Thank you.
And Merry Christmas to everyone reading this!
This article just made my Christmas! Thanks Sundance, wherever, whoever you are. For not letting Grinch Fauci steal our Christmas.
Thank you Sundance and crew for these “tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.”
Blessings for all this Christmas and in the new year. Stay true to your beliefs and principles and do everything with a smile!
I am focusing on prepping a 4 bone standing rib roast for the smoker. Praise the Lord for a bountiful Christmas Dinner.
Nice. Sauerbraten & bread dumplings here. Enjoy sir. Salute!
Nice! I am using Alton Brown’s horseradish sauce recipe but substituting wasabi as the horseradish component. Bon Apetit!
Thank you so very much for this last refuge; certainly a place where hope cam regather in the heart.
Thanks, Sundance and a Merry Christmas to you. This post was another of your reminders that I need to heed.
At this moment I’m visiting my daughter in COVID-crazy Chicago and we’re not letting that insanity quell the joy. On Monday I travel to equally crazy Minnesota to surprise my 93-year-old mom. It’ll be great.
We had the same famous painting of Jesus in our Sunday School.
Pelosi says his eyes were a different color (and he was a Democrat).
🙏
Thank you and God Bless you and your friends and families. Merry Christmas to you all, and remember, God has not brought us this far to abandon us.
Merry Christmas Sundance and all fellow Treepers.
So much in this post resonated with me. It was hard to read, real, until the end where it was so hopeful. Thank you, Sundance, and everyone for all you do for us. Besides my faith, this site gives me a foundation in this crazy, sick world. May you and yours have a Merry Christmas and a blessed and safe 2022.
Thank you Sundance. Very uplifting.
Yeshua Msheekha
Thank you, Sundance. I also thank God for gifting you and sending you out to us every day. There are but a handful of people whose words I trust, and you are among that very small group.
This is what it’s all about…think heavenly (not earthly) thoughts!
Our Lord wants us to love Him as much as He Loves us.
This Love goes beyond even earthly death since we have eternal life
in just believing that this little baby was God made into Man
to feel our shortcomings and offer His promises and forgiveness by dying and
resurrecting back to Life. Lord Jesus Christ is alive and He is coming
back to earth…soon. Hold tight to your faith in Him and love Him more.
(Ignore the world as much as possible.)
Christmas Eve Texas Tamales Tradition………
From the Tip of Texas, up the coast to Houston
Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt.
There is a deliberate strategy available to the powers that be to promote Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt {F.U.D.} The strategy and process is well-known to marketers and disinformation specialists but invisible to the public, which is the target:
Fear, uncertainty, and doubt – Wikipedia
“Fear, uncertainty, and doubt (often shortened to FUD) is a propaganda tactic used in sales, marketing, public relations, politics, polling and cults. FUD is generally a strategy to influence perception by disseminating negative and dubious or false information and a manifestation of the appeal to fear .”
What is scary is seeing family members get addicted to fear porn, consuming vast amounts of misinformation that reinforces their sense of doom and disaster. I’m sure I’m not the only Treeper who has family members suffering from this disorder?
Good stuff and thanks! Too often I focus only on the bad and get caught up in anger. It consumes me. I just started going back to church and I can definitely feel the difference. God bless you all and I love every one of you who keep the faith and struggle with me. Merry Christmas!!! It will get better 😊🌲
Amen and a very blessed and Merry Christmas Sundance. Let some of God’s peace come to all troubled people in all the world.
A very Merry Christmas to all of the tree house gang, past, present and future. May God bless our nation and all his children. 🎄
God Bless You Sundance. Thank you and Merry Christmas.