A Living Christmas Tree Checklist!

This little checklist is more than a helpful hint for Christmas trees. It’s a check list for your approach and attitude toward Christ and Christmas.

Purchase a tree that will fit your home. They look a lot smaller in the outdoors. This point was driven home one year when we went to the wild, with the forest ranger’s permission, to chop down our own live tree. The perfect tree turned out to be nine feet tall and six feet wide. When I finished making it fit, it was a great looking Christmas bush. 

The size of the tree is not the only thing that needs to be checked.  Check your head size. Christmas isn't about you. It isn't about who has the biggest tree or the most decorative house. Christmas is about Christ.

There are no perfect live trees. Do not attempt to trim it to perfection. Another lesson taught from our nine foot tree. 

Despite what Hollywood portraits, there is no prefect Christmas.  The only thing perfect about Christmas is Christ.  The people you celebrate Christmas with are imperfect and you are too. Accept the fact that those that celebrate Christ birth are imperfect.  Don’t try to remake them and don’t be too hard on yourself. The dinner may not go perfect. Uncle Charlie might show up with a Rudolph nose or not show up all. The presents might not fit! 

Unless you are looking for the flaming tree effect, put live trees in a stand that allows you to water them often and water your tree. Your local fireman will thank you. 

During the holiday season and throughout the year, check your relationship with the Lord.  Water that relationship with prayer and daily time in His Word.  Many a fire of temptation can be prevented with proper watering.

Make sure the bulbs are properly fastened into the sockets before hanging lights.  Many a frustration meter has went off the chart because of a bad connection. Check the lights first and not last.

It is also wise to check your head and make sure it is screwed on straight.  People do many foolish things during the holidays. None is more foolish than spending more money than you have. The spirit of giving can be good. Don’t let it turn bad by over spending.

Hang only treasured ornaments on your tree. You are not out to impress the world with your tree. The kid’s painted ornaments are fine. Hang memories and not ornaments. 

During the Christmas season and throughout the year, do not try to impress others. The cost of impressing other is too high.  Love, respect, and acceptance are items that cannot be bought. They are given freely to those that give them freely.

Don’t let the tinsel hide the tree. It is amazing how much time and effort is given by Christmas shoppers to find the perfect Christmas tree; and then they hide it under a ton of tinsel. 

The meaning a purpose of Christmas can be lost in the tinsel of the holiday. Don’t allow Santa to overshadow the Babe in the Manger.  Allow Christ to be at the front of Christmas.

Crown you tree with a star or an angel. Both are symbols of hope. The star announced the birth of hope to the Magi. The angels proclaimed the hope of peace to be found in a babe born to a virgin. They are fitting symbols to top your tree.

Christ is our Prince of Peace. He is our hope. It stands to reason that He should be at the top of our life all year.

If you enjoy Pastor Jim's Wit and Wisdom, then you will love his book, For His Glory: A Kaleidoscope of Wisdom. Find out more and take a peek inside by Clicking Here. 

Check out these related articles: The Madness of Christmas and Is the Hassles of Life Dragging You Down?

Warning! Dangerous Curve!

The southern part of the State of Indiana is very pretty in the fall season. The natural woods and hilly terrain make for a very colorful drive on a sunny afternoon. But the hilly topography also creates some extremely dangerous curves and hills. The roads are peppered with yellow warning signs and speed reduction signs. Occasionally a driver ignores the warnings and the result is fatal.

The Bible warns us about living in a "I-have-arrived" state – the place where you think you have conquered sin and are little more saintly than others. That is an extremely dangerous condition that the devil seldom lets pass by and can be spiritually fatal. Traveling the "I'm better than you" highway has sharp turns and extremely slick and hilly roads that even the most seasoned saint will find difficult to handle. Heed what the Bible says!

Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. 1Co 10:12

This is a sample of the snippets of wisdom that Pastor Jim shares in his book, For His Glory: A Kaleidoscope of Wisdom. Currently Net 153 Publications is offering this book with a 30% discount. Find out more by Clicking Here.

You are welcome to link to this article or share in on facebook etc. 

What Suit Will You Wear?

Each day, Lord, I choose the "attitude suit" I will wear. Some days I put on my grump- doomsday-prophet suit; and on other days, I dress in my flaming red “angry bird” suit. This morning I found that I had worn to bed my cloudy-day pajamas; so I considered my poor-me blue suit. Nevertheless, with some reluctance, I chose to put on my it’s-a-great-day suit. And! Surprisingly it was a great day. 


For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he... (Proverbs 23:7)


If you enjoy Pastor Jim's snippets of Wit and Wisdom, then you will love his book: For His Glory: A Kaleidoscope of Wisdom. Biblical insights that will challenge and enrich your life. Take a minute and take a peek inside and view the video book trailer.

Follow @pastorbarr

Life-Experience: The Hiccup Curse!

By Pastor Jim Barr Follow @pastorbarr

Share 
For the last six days, I have had the hiccups.  I am not talking about the ordinary and annoying kind. I am talking about the rapid-fire kind that chokes you, makes you sick, and disables you. They have moved in and no doctor, nor hospital, nor high-priced pill, nor shot, nor any of the seventeen different home remedies have been able to convince them to leave me.  Needless, this is a “Life-Experience” I that would rather skip and one that I pray will end shortly.

Like all experiences, good or bad, there can be some powerful lessons taught by the Spirit through the Word in times like these. For example, I learned that you can pray long and hard while holding your breath while seeking immediate relief before you pass out.  The lesson I learned from these breathtaking experiences is that you better put “nevertheless not my will but your will be done” on the end of every prayer.
 

Pastor Jim's Book!

I also learned that willing something to be so doesn’t make it so. Occasionally, we believe that if we will something hard enough that somehow that translates into super faith and God must act. God does not move according to our will; but rather we move towards his will.  Faith is an important element that is required in every prayer; but we must remember, we are placing our faith in God – the God who holds the perfect will for our life and only gives good gifts to His children. Real faith, super faith, trusts in the only God that knows what is best for you. Our will doesn’t move mountains. God is the mover of mountains and He does so only when it is for the best.  I must and I do place my faith in Him.

The curse of the disabling hiccups has also taught me humility.  Think on this for a moment, you walk into a clinic seeking urgent medical attention and the check-in nurse ask you, “And what seems to be your problem today?” First, you want to knock her in the head because you have been hiccupping all the way to the room; and then she wants you to confess, the reason you are there is because of the hiccups. “I ha—ve—th—hic—hic—ups,” you reply. She then gives you that school nursery look and says with all amazement, “The hiccups???” You replay the same scene at the ER three or four times and get the same you-have-got-to-be-kidding look. You know humbleness.

I would like to finish this little self-indulgent piece with a particular cornerstone of wisdom that I have learned; but since I am up at one o’clock in the morning writing this between hiccups, I can only share this current wisdom lesson in this affair so fat: God can be trusted and He never leaves you.

Maybe someday when the hiccups are but a bad memory, I will write more about this simple truth and all that went on in my mind and my heart. For now it is enough to simple say God can be trusted – even when the thorn remains in your side  ̶  and He never leaves your side.

The Apostle Paul Said:
So to keep me from becoming conceited because of the surpassing greatness of the revelations, a thorn was given me in the flesh, a messenger of Satan to harass me, to keep me from becoming conceited. Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me. (2 Corinthians 12:7-9 ESV)