Posted in The Simple Life
The holiday season can be a time to draw closer to faith, family and friends and feed your inner spirit-in formal worship and devotions, but also in the midst of everyday life. You never know when a sudden blessing can shower you with joy. You can be out shopping, and the words of a recorded carol will suddenly bound, newly meaningful, into your mind. Perhaps you’ll see a mother with children who remind you of your brothers and sisters at the same age.
During the holidays, it seems easier to reach across the years. To forgive. To ask forgiveness. To open heart and pocketbook to the needy. Such are the season’s true gifts of the spirit.
- Remember those in need. Begin the season by buying a gift for a needy person whose name was plucked from The Salvation Army Christmas tree at a local mall. Get your children to select gifts and include notes with them.
- Experience different customs. Members of Nativity Lutheran Church in Minneapolis have collected more than 100 creches and paintings of the Nativity from around the world.
- Put a creche in your home. You can buy inexpensive, unbreakable wooden or molded rubber sets that are just right for families with young children. Start the Wise Men on their journey to the creche beginning in a child’s bedroom and move a little closer to the manger each day. Or, buy one creche piece every year and write the date on the bottom.
- Use your talents. Reserve time for your favorite cooking or crafts projects. Make your own Christmas cards; bake for friends, family and neighbours; play the piano for a carol sing at a seniors home.
- See beauty in traditions. Every year we put a ragged angel on the top of the family Christmas tree -and every year it looks a bit more tattered. One of the girls has it now. It says family to us.
- Give year-round. Reaching out to those in need makes the holidays precious to many of us. But charities, especially those that serve meals to the homeless, often report they have too many volunteers during the holidays, and too few at other times. Make a pledge to pitch in during another month of the year, put the date on your calendar and tell the charity to expect you.
- Shop for those who can’t. Ask friends or co-workers to bring a gift or a baby or young child-toys, diapers, formula, etc. to a party. Take the gifts to the women’s shelter so mothers will have something to give babies during the holiday season.
译文:
分享圣诞精神的7种方法
在假期，人们会有更多的时间接近信仰，家庭和朋友，让内心里多一份崇敬与奉献。其实，日常生活中也是一样的。你永远不知道何时会发生能带给你无尽喜悦的那份意外的祝福。在你外出购物时，一曲圣诞颂歌突然在你的耳边响起，或许会掀起你内心里新的感悟。当你看到一个母亲带着小孩的画面，或许又会想起那个年龄段的兄弟姐妹们。
在假期间，似乎更容易跨越年份。原谅与请求原谅，对穷人打开心扉与钱袋。这些都是假期里真正的精神礼物。
- 记住那些需要帮助的人。在当地商场的救世军圣诞树上取下一个穷人的名字，买点礼物送给他作为假期的开始。让你的孩子去挑选礼物，附上礼物的票据。
- 体验不同的风俗。在明尼阿波利斯有一座路德派基督诞生教堂，其成员收集了来自世界各地的100多个托儿所和基督诞生绘画。
- 把托儿所带回家中。你可以购买些便宜的，木制或模压橡胶做的比较牢固的家具，这些通常是为有年幼子女家庭配备的。在孩子的卧室里启动他们的托儿所旅程，试着每天都向马槽靠近一点点。或者，每年购买一个托儿所马槽并在其底部写上日期。
- 发挥你的才能。为您最喜爱的烹饪或手工业项目留点时间。亲自制作圣诞贺卡；为朋友，家人和邻居烘烤；在老人家演奏钢琴唱颂圣歌。
- 在传统中发现美。每年我们会在家庭的圣诞树上方放一个粗糙的天使，她看起来一年比一年破烂，现在已被一个女孩所拥有。其实她意味着我们的家庭。
- 长期的付出。深入到那些穷人中间使许多人的假期变得更加宝贵。但是，慈善机构，特别是那些为无家可归者提供饭菜的慈善机构，经常反应在假期志愿者太多，而在其他时间却太少了。发誓换个月再来，把日期写在你的日程上，让慈善机构期待你。
- 为买不起的人购物。聚会时，让朋友或同事带点礼物、婴幼儿玩具，尿布，婴儿奶粉等东西。把礼物带到妇女庇护所，使那儿的母亲们在节日里能送点东西给婴儿们。