Not only have we ended another month; we have crossed over into another civil year.
You know I greatly prefer and favor the Hebraic way of keeping time; but it is also necessary to continue to be “of” the world yet not live “in” the world. So; we must think about the civil calendar of the current day too, which is now in use by most of this earth and we must consider how and why it will bring newness into our lives.
We can still make the sacred calendar of God our first priority. That is of foremost importance to those with Hebraic hearts. Still; lack of knowledge is not wise. This is also a very Hebraic concept. We must be keeping up with the times of today; yet living out the times that God set into practice at the very foundations of the earth. He never said that would be easy!
Therefore; It is time to look back on all that happened with The IN SEASON Lifestyle Community in this past calendar month of December as well as the whole year of 2018; and then it will also be time to look forward to all that we have planned for this blog for the month of January and the year of 2019. I think you are going to love our plans!
LOOKING BACK
Let’s go backward first:
Could December have been better?
Yes; if my Mom had not fallen and broken her hip and had hip-replacement surgery we might not have spent Christmas Day in the hospital; but just the same; we actually enjoyed our visit with her that day and December was also filled with many other blessings and more delightful moments than we can even begin to count. She is home now and doing so well! A big thank you to all of the people who prayed with us!
God always seems to come through with those wondrous little things that we need just when they are appropriate and just when our souls are ready to handle them. This year He has taught us a lot about making the best of our circumstances and being joyful in every moment during every season of life.
Looking backwards now, I can truthfully say that December actually was a good month in spite of all our troubles. It certainly made me more aware of those everyday blessings which we tend to take for granted and helped me to pray about how they tend to intensify during the holidays.
Did you catch that article about THE GLORIOUS IMPOSSIBLES FOR 2018? If not you can read it here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-glorious-impossibles-2018/
You can actually get a good glimpse as to how far we have come in this blogging process if you go back and review all of The Glorious Impossibles that I have posted at the end of every year. God has shown us amazing things! We are so very grateful.
Last December was FULL of glorious impossibles. The season turned out to be very beautiful, and I have a little video to show you here of how it all wrapped up at our house on Christmas Eve. What a special night it was! Just click the link below to peek into our
Christmas Eve celebration: https://photos.app.goo.gl/MzSkNNJYUX6DwPQu9
Did you catch our articles leading up to Christmas which explained all of our theological thoughts about things that are Christmas related? If not; you can review them here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/truth-about-christmas-trees/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/pondering-advent/
https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/conception-of-christ/
WE ENJOYED ADVENT
I hope you enjoyed the season of Advent as much as we did! The IN SEASON Lifestyle posted an Advent meditation for each week. You may review them here:
https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-third-sabbath-of-advent-a-meditation-on-joy-and-love-seasons/
https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/the-first-sabbath-of-advent-a-meditation-on-waiting-seasons/
ONE REGRET
I only have one regret about December. We usually post Hanukkah meditations during the time of Hanukkah because we DO celebrate Hanukkah from a Christian perspective. That wasn’t done this year because I spent all of Hanukkah sleeping at the hospital while my Mom was recovering from breaking her hip.
Don’t worry; these things will return next year.
We haven’t forgotten them!
PEN ART
We DID get Hanukkah, Christmas and Epiphany all rolled into one lovely little story for the season though.
Did you catch our PEN ART for the month and our short story called JUST ONE LITTLE STAR? We loved it so much that it was read at our family gathering on Christmas Eve.
If you missed it; you can find it here:https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/just-one-little-star/ .
STUDYING THE BOOK OF NUMBERS
The COME AS A CHILD BIBLE STUDY crossed over into the book of Numbers during December and we are well underway with our Numbers study now.
If you missed any of those lessons; you can find them here:https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/introduction-to-the-book-of-numbers/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/introduction-to-the-book-of-numbers/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/my-god-is-a-rock-come-as-a-child-lesson-240/ https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/when-god-calls-you-by-name-come-as-a-child-lesson-241/ .
OUR COMMUNITY IS GROWING
Looking back over the whole year of 2018 – we can see how this little community where we share The IN SEASON Lifestyle by attempting to be living out 2 Timothy 4:2 and trying to do everything inside out and upside down (counterculture) as Jesus did has grown. We even have a logo and our own coffee mug!
We all have become more and more supportive and I feel we are together making at least a tiny little bit of difference in the world. It feels as if more and more of the truth of The Gospel of Jesus Christ is becoming known and we are getting glimpses of people who are moving and shaking the world with those concepts, thoughts and ideas for moving into God’s truth instead of following the traditions of men and cultures of the world; simply because they always have done so.
It is always our prayer that eyes are being opened!
We’ve worked on improving the blog a lot this year and we started by adopting a new logo and creating some popular new product lines. We’ve updated our articles to keep current with how we feel led to live, and we are actually being brave enough to speak up when the culture goes against what we think God intends for mankind.
Expect more and more of this in the future.
With all of these serious things; we haven’t forgotten fellowship and how to enjoy each other’s company. We’ve put a lot of focus on our homes and we have joined in with our Creator to make the world a more beautiful place.
THE HOUSE DOCTOR as well as MONDAY NIGHT MENUS contributes in these areas. I hope you caught our visions of a “White Christmas” as well as the article that explained how we once had a “Blue Christmas.” If you missed them; they are right here: https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/my-blue-christmass/and https://theinseasonlifestyle.com/white-christmas/
A FRESH NEW PAGE
January 2019 brings us into a fresh new page. This means we all have a story to write and it can be whatever we choose.
We must choose wisely!
This blog wants to enhance those wise choices for the upcoming civil year. We want to bring our hearts, minds and souls into a better place, through a loving community where we all can learn and grow and live in love and laughter surrounded by God’s ways and God’s guidance. It is our hope that this blog can be your support in living out 2 Timothy 4:2. We want to help each other to be prepared to take the gospel to the world – in season and out of season.
HOMES DEDICATED TO HOLINESS
We will continue in 2019 with all of the article topics that we have enjoyed in the past and hopefully bring a fresh perspective to each one. Some elements we want to add into the mix are more articles about Christian family daily living. I’ll go even further with that and say that we want to emphasize the fact that our homes are our sanctuaries; and we will be exploring how Christian homes should be growing and contributing to planet earth.
THE HOUSE DOCTOR will still be full of seasonal decorating ideas; but they will often be sprinkled with more and more articles about turning our homes into sanctuaries of family worship.
Are you aware of the fact that just breathing can be an act of worship?
We want to bring an greater awareness of God and His holiness in all of our everyday life routines inside our homes, lifestyles and community.
ASKING GOD TO GRANT US HEALTH AND WHOLENESS
You will see more and more of this focus in the AN APPLE A DAY articles during 2019.
Keeping ourselves healthy includes living in holiness. It isn’t easy and we all need support and encouragement along the way. We can’t do anything to make ourselves more holy; only God can accomplish that; but we will be pointing out how to take efforts to show God that we desire such things. He hears and answers our prayers. We serve a loving and generous Father.
Again; we are not afraid of going counterculture when we feel it is God’s will.
ART, MUSIC AND LITERATURE
Do you realize how much literature, music and art effect our community and our worship?
Hopefully; your eyes have already been opened to this fact.
In 2019 our blog wants to explore more venues of art, music, literature, dance and the theater; basically every form of art that glorifies God.
We are always on the lookout for articles and products that focus on wholesome, godly living instead of the cheap imitations our culture often tries to pawn off on us. We want all that we do to reflect who we are.
It is our desire to encourage all of those who are using their energy and talents to promote the glory of God in the world.
January’s PEN ART topics will bring more book reviews, more art and more poetry; perhaps even more inspirational stories about musicians and artists that are out there pursuing their passion; those who are not afraid to give God the credit for all of their talent. Keep watching the PEN ART topics for January as well as the rest of 2019!
SEASONS WITH REASONS
The first few days of the month will start a new season with Epiphany. We love sharing our thoughts with you through our SEASONS topics. You know we are going to give you some thoughts to ponder!
Look for the star and look for the wonder; it is there if you seek it out.
MONDAY MENUS will be cooking up a New Year’s feast; and we might even try to sneak in our favorite recipe for making cookies for Epiphany too.
HEROES OF THE MONTH
January isn’t minus it’s heroes either. After Epiphany and The Wise Men we have Martin Luther King Day to celebrate; and we will be sharing our thoughts about this amazing man with everyone.
Also; we want to recognize a few heroic trees when we publish an article on Tu Bishvat in our SEASONS section of the blog. Did you know that trees have been given their own New Year’s Day? Keep reading in January to find out more.
Are we going to mention those new year’s resolutions that we all break in about 15 days?
No – but we might give you a few tips on getting the new year organized. How about that? Perhaps it might be a bit easier and less stressful than trying to change the world again year after year after year.
Fortunately; some things never change and that includes our love and admiration for all of The IN SEASON Lifestyle community of readers.
Here’s wishing you and yours the happiest year ever in 2019!
Sheila Gail Landgraf/Editor/The IN SEASON Lifestyle