Month: December 2018

Putting The “Christ” In Christmas And Wishing You All A Merry One…

Merry Christmas everyone! I wanted to personally wish each and every one of you the very best, as we celebrate a day that has come to mean a lot more to me in recent years. For years, Christmas was always a time to exchange lavish gifts and brag about what I got to others. But over the past few years, I have been dwelling far more on the true meaning of Christmas, one that focuses on the “Christ” in “Christmas”.

While I’ve read the actual birth of Jesus was definitely not on December 25th, it’s the meaning behind His birth that actually means something to me for this holiday now. Because it’s Jesus who demonstrated quite clearly to me what unconditional love was throughout his life, something that I ultimately think is the real spirit behind Christmas.

Sadly, I feel that meaning has gotten lost in translation over the past century with all the commercialization that Christmas seems to bring nowadays. But for someone like me who doesn’t have much to offer in the line of money and gifts anymore, without any type of employment or regular income coming in, I’ve been experiencing the last few December 25th’s in very different ways from my lavish-living days of old. Now, I look for other ways to express Christ’s unconditional love on December 25th. Sometimes that’s simply in me reaching out to someone I normally wouldn’t and letting them know they’re loved.

There are plenty of people out there, and probably in your very life, who have no one to spend this day with, who aren’t going to even have a special meal or receive a single gift today. Speaking from personal experience, having gone through a Christmas like that in years past, sometimes the very best gift one can receive is simply having someone reach out through a phone call or stopping by in person, solely to remind you you’re loved.

So, remember that today as you go through all the festivities. Try to make a difference in one person’s life that you normally wouldn’t, by letting them know they’re loved. In doing so, you might just be living out the true meaning behind the “Christ” in Christmas.

Have a blessed, Merry Christmas everyone!

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Grateful Heart Monday

Welcome to Grateful Heart Monday everyone, a day to reflect on an important piece of gratitude from life, which for today is for an early Christmas gift I received from a friend that was truly unexpected and extremely generous.

This story behind this piece of gratitude stems back about two weeks ago, when I completely screwed up my 12-year-old MacBook Pro laptop during a routine upgrade to some software on it. I have been milking this laptop for a very long time, as you can see by its age. Most computers don’t ever last this long and usually begin to have serious problems within 5 years or less. But for whatever the reason, this one has lasted me this long and its primary purpose has been my blog work while on any trip out of town. While it indeed is exceptionally slow anytime I’ve used it anymore, it’s managed to handle the bare minimum purpose I’ve needed it for. Thus, when I messed that installation up and somehow caused its operating system to get into a continual reboot mode, I figured my old laptop had finally had its last dance.

Without a functioning laptop and a trip looming on the horizon to my sister’s home, I got into a slight panic mode, because I really couldn’t justify buying new Mac laptop with my current financial situation, as they are overly expensive. And unfortunately, given all my work on my blog has been Mac-based, it really wasn’t possible to consider buying a cheap PC-based laptop without some serious complications arising. In light of that, I hoped my sister might have a spare one around for me to borrow during my upcoming visit there that I could use while at the hotel I was staying in. Unfortunately, she didn’t, so I opted to call a few friends locally to see if any of them might have a spare one I could borrow for my trip.

After checking around, I finally found a friend who actually had one in his possession he wasn’t regularly using anymore and was completely willing to let me borrow it for my trip. A few days later, when I met up with him to get it, I noticed in his hand was a neatly packaged Christmas gift instead. When he handed it to me and said Merry Christmas, I immediately could feel it was the laptop.

Without assuming anything though, I thanked him and said I’d return it to him after my trip, but he quickly responded in saying it was mine to keep and was an early Christmas present from him. I was utterly speechless and shocked, and a few tears came to my eyes, not only because of the notion that he’s relatively new to my life here in Toledo, but also because it was something completely unexpected. It was a true unconditionally loving gift.

I’m very grateful for this friend, whom I’ve decided to keep his name anonymous, given I wasn’t sure if he’d be ok with me sharing it in here. Nevertheless, I’m filled with an incredible amount of gratitude for his generous gift and thank my Higher Power as well, because ultimately, I know it was my Higher Power that moved my friend’s heart to offer this wonderful gift to me.

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson

Thought For The Day

Quote #1

“Sometimes when it feels like everything is falling apart, God may actually be orchestrating everything to fall into place.” (Unknown)

Quote #2

“God works in mysterious ways! Don’t get mad when you cannot achieve what you want. There is a RIGHT TIME for everything and God will deliver. And for that stay faithful.” (Unknown)

Quote #3

“There will be times in your life when all your instincts will tell you to do something, something the defies logic, upsets your plans, and may seem crazy to others. When this happens, do it. Listen to those instincts and ignore everything else. Ignore logic, ignore the odds, ignore the complications, and just go for it. God works through mysterious ways…” (Unknown)

Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson