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A Different Kind of Christmas

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In a world where consumerism thrives, we are bombarded with a message of “more”.  In a world where Pinterest reigns, we are flooded with images of how to create the perfect Christmas.  In a world that says our worth comes from what we do, we believe that Christmas is a time to do EVEN more.

Let’s choose this Christmas to declutter.  Let’s simplify the season.  Let’s choose to have a different kind of Christmas.

Christmas is one simple message.  Christmas is simple and it needs more simple.  Christ was born to die for you.  It’s that simple.

Let’s get back to the basics.

Let’s not allow ourselves to feel anxious this Christmas.  Let’s allow ourselves the freedom to not have a Pinterest perfect Christmas.  We can’t change our culture.  We can’t change the commercialism of the season.  But we can choose how we interact with it.  We can choose how our family keeps what is sacred sacred.

I wrote Seeking Christmas so that my family could step off the busy train on a route to commercial land and step onto a train that inched its way along a track that leads to Holy. Along the way, we will stop, we will experience, we will breathe deep, we will create, and we will hold dear that which is most important.

We will have a season filled with memories and traditions.  And I don’t need to consult any blogs or boards to find out how to make it perfect.  Because imperfect is just perfection in disguise.

Simplicity is beautiful and it needs nothing to adorn it.

Our savior was born in a simple setting, a simple birth, to a simple girl.  Descended from Heaven into a complicated world.  With Him He brought a simple message.

Seeking Christmas is a different kind of devotion.  It’s surprisingly short, surprisingly simple. Intentionally created in  a way to help you step off the path our world takes to Christmas.  It will disappoint the readers who are looking for a book full of ideas and activities.  If you are looking for a book of 100 ideas for Christmas, please don’t buy it.  You will not like it.  At all.

If you are looking for a way to slow Christmas down, a way to intentionally enter the season, a way to create memories and traditions that don’t require online research and multiple trips to the craft store, a way to capture the hearts of your children and direct them to Christ, then Seeking Christmas is for you.

Seeking Christmas was written intentionally simple- because we need a little more simple at Christmas.  The true meaning of Christmas will emerge when you keep your Christmas season simple.  Guaranteed.

 

Seeking Christmas Giveaways

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It’s giveaway time and this week I’m giving away 1 book here.  Plus I’m giving away 3 copies through Goodreads.  So you have 2 different giveaways to enter.  Bought your copy already? Enter to give one as a gift!
To enter:

  1. Subscribe on the home page to receive Inspiration for your inbox (Bonus: you will receive a free download to create your Seeking Christmas ornaments and Seeking Christmas Journal).  This is necessary to qualify you for the giveaway here.
  2. Share on FB, Twitter or Pinterest and comment back with your links.  This gives you an additional entry
  3. Leave a comment:  Share a Christmas memory.  This gives you an additional entry.

Entries must be in by Thursday, September 5th at 11:59 pm.  Winner will be announced Friday morning.

In addition to the giveaway I’m hosting here this week, you can enter on Goodreads where I’m giving away 3 copies.  The contest is open until September 30th.  Check it out…

Goodreads Book Giveaway

Seeking Christmas by Renee Robinson

Seeking Christmas

by Renee Robinson

Giveaway ends September 30, 2013.

See the giveaway details
at Goodreads.

Enter to win

 

Barefoot Walks On The Move

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It’s official.  The book has launched.  The new website is up and running.  Barefoot Walks is moving to.

Check out my new site at www.renee-robinson.com.  Current subscribers to Barefoot Walks, please subscribe on my new website.  (You get some incredible, free stuff for use with Seeking Christmas!)

Love,

Renee

 

 

When family bonds reach outside their own

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Oscar

Photo courtesy of Disneynature

Watch this video:

http://video.disney.com/watch/oscar-looks-contemplative-4c7bca7e2269453ab4a09f37

In Chimpanzee by Disneynature, Oscar is a playful, adorable little chimp you fall in love with immediately.  His spunk mingled with tenderness captivates your heart.  He’s a baby, completely dependent on his mama, Isha, who patiently and lovingly guides and cares for her little chimp. She is his world.  “Day after day it takes a committed mom to teach him to make it in the jungle.”  Sound familiar, mamas?

When a rival chimpanzee group attacks, Oscar loses his mom, Isha.  In a moment Oscar finds himself an orphan.  No mama grooming him, no mama nursing him, no mama teaching him to crack nuts and gather food.  He is left alone.

Oscar tries to make it on his own within the group.  And like us all, he wants to be accepted.  His attempts to find a new mom left him feeling rejected and alone. He even found himself rejected by friends.  Completely alone in the world, yet surrounded by his own.  Hopeless.

Freddy is the powerful leader of the group.  Unapproachable.  Yet Freddy had his eyes on Oscar from afar.  Through an amazing turn of events, Freddy allowed Oscar to ride on his back, something only a mother would do.  Freddy began to groom little Oscar, the highest ranking member grooming the lowest.  Servanthood at its finest.  The movie described Freddy as the savior that no one could’ve expected.  Freddy adopted Oscar.  He became Oscar’s savior.

I know a Savior like that.  One who descended from Heaven in the form of a baby, an unlikely Savior for sure.  The most humble of births for a King.  One who came to serve, and serve the lowliest.  One who came so we could each be adopted into His kingdom.  Saving is His specialty.

Through my involvement with New Horizons for Children, I have seen hearts madly, deeply in love with Jesus, reaching out to save the orphans of the world- to show them their true Savior.  I have seen God perform miracles for the least of these that have radically transformed my relationship with Christ.

When you host an orphan in your home, or you meet an orphan hosted by another family, everything changes.  A face, a name, a life becomes a part of your heart.  They are no longer just a number, a statistic.  They are a human, hopeless and desperate, in need of a Savior.  In need of love and acceptance.  Aren’t we all?

Through the sale of Seeking Christmas, I am committed to donating 10% of my royalties to NHFC and orphan ministries that reach out to change the life of an orphan.

Seeking Christmas is an attempt to unite families through guided, tradition-building activities that center around Christ.  To help families reclaim Christmas in their home.  Families will cherish memories that will long outlive any material gift.

Orphans do not have families creating rich memories for them.  They aren’t experiencing the security of traditions.  My prayer is that Seeking Christmas will not only strengthen your own family, but that it will be used by God to give an orphan what no one is giving them.  The love of a family.

A Father’s Christmas Blessing

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Years ago my sister introduced me to their friends, the Ropers.  Kathryn was one of the first people who shared her knowledge of all things health and opened my eyes to a world that was foreign to me at the time.  Through the years I have learned much from this family through stories my sister shares with me.  They are a family that lives out the gospel, lives intentionally with their children, and is surrounded by people who love and respect them for the way they live their lives.

Today I’m sharing with you the words of Tracy Roper as he shares a heartfelt Christmas tradition in their family.

I can’t wait to begin this tradition in our own family this year.  I can’t imagine a more special gift to receive.

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“Many years ago, I was convicted that there was so much that I needed to do as a Father and as the spiritual leader of my home about being intentional with my words, my actions, my time, my resources, etc.  Pulling from my own life and the lack of involvement or any positive influence from my father really led me to a place where I knew I could not leave the way my children viewed themselves and their place in our family and in this world to chance. 

So many children grow up and never reach their full potential of what God truly wants them to be.  I blame most of that on the father of the family and his lack of intentionality when it comes to, what I call, “Giving a blessing to your children.”    A mom can try to do this, but to a child who does not receive this from their father, walks through their life feeling like something is missing. 

I also believe that a child’s first image of our Heavenly Father comes from how they view their own earthly father.  It was because of all of this that I began many years ago writing a blessing to each of my children for them to read and to have so that they could have in writing how I felt about them and what traits I saw in them that I felt were wonderful. 

The most important thing that I think that is in that letter was the statement that I always make sure is in the letter – I make sure that they have in their blessing every time this statement, “ If I had the chance to choose you from millions and millions of children, I would choose you every time – God blessed me with the gift of you and I would not change anything about you – God gave me the desire of my heart when he gave me you.”  Again, I try to say this in some form or another.  Words are powerful and then to back those words up with behaviors that prove that, it is unbelievable!

 The way that I do this every year is that I choose a very special type of parchment paper and a special pen – I hand write every letter.  After writing the letter, I place it on the Christmas tree on Christmas Eve with their name on the letter.  On Christmas day, I pull each child off to themselves and I read the letter to them.  Then Kathryn places each of their letters in their box where she keeps their special things.

 

Words that come to mind when I think of this and other things are:

  1. Intentional
  2. Purposeful
  3. Priority
  4. Vision
  5. Investment
  6. Development

 

I never want to leave the development of my children to chance.  God certainly does not do that with me, so why would I do that to my children?  This has been a powerful event in my children’s lives.  It is hard to see the results of this investment, but I am convinced that it has and will continue to make a difference in my children’s trajectory in their potential.”