October and Christmas Decorating

Last day of October, and yes, I am working on Christmas decorations. With so many people celebrating death this time of year, I prefer to focus on life instead. Golden pine cones with their seeds waiting to be planted and become trees, snowflakes that cover everything in their white purity and speak of renewal, and evergreen branches that speak of faithfulness and fruitfulness during the harshest time of the year. And above all there is the central theme of Christmas, Christ Himself--all-powerful God becoming a helpless baby to make good on the promise He made to mankind when mankind committed the ultimate treason against Him. THAT is what I really enjoy to celebrate this time of year.

Like Cancer

So it's Breast Cancer Awareness month..a lot of pink, a lot of fundraising events, and of course the encouragement for exams to detect cancer. It's good and fine, but there's another examination that I would like to propose--an examination of the soul.

Have you ever had something eat at you "like a cancer"? I'm talking about grudges, things that were said or something that was done to us or even things that were not done that hurts us. Like the physical disease, these injuries to our soul can start out as something benign. But over time, if we are unwilling to forgive and let it go, the injury can begin to change and grow into a deadly poison. It can wreck our attitude and destroy relationships. It can cloud our perspective and keep us in very dark, unhappy places.

Fortunately, there IS a cure for this "cancer" of the soul. We can seek God and ask for His grace (i.e. Divine power) to forgive those who injure us. Cancer or not, this is a much better way to live, in forgiveness.

Jesse Tree Project

I have been wanting to do this for awhile now--create ornaments for a Jesse tree. The Jesse tree traces the lineage of Jesus through a variety of symbols used in the Old Testament. I haven't done this before due to the time factor, but this year I found a drawing template to work from. It saves me some time while still letting me be creative with the paint. Here's the first four that I started.