Hey there, Hi there, Ho there, You're as welcome as can be......wait, that's another theme....we'll keep working on it, but in the mean time.....Welcome to Tuesday and the Christmas Notes!!! Do you hear sleigh bells?
"Over the ground lies a mantle of white, a heaven of diamonds
shines down through the night, two hearts are thrillin' in spite of the
chill in the weather...." thus begins the perennial favorite, "Winter Wonderland". There really is something special that happens when it snows. The traffic stops and most people see their lives proceed a bit slower than usual.
For a brief couple of days, priorities shift from getting to work on
time, to getting your snow man built before the temperature rises. Hot chocolate and coffee taste better and you seem to find more to talk about with family and close neighbors. Christmas is an extra special time to begin with, and if you add the potential of a wintry forecast, the celebration of Jesus' birth can take on a more memorable aura. Can you remember how many times there has actually been a Christmas where the ground was covered with snow? If you were curious about your area and what the potential is for a White Christmas, as usual, The Notes has your answer! Mouse click away, mouse click away, mouse click away!
Will It Be A White Christmas Where I Am?
In the Guiness Book of World Records, you can find the tallest man, the biggest hamburger, and the smallest island. You can also find several interesting musical records, including the best selling single of all time which surprisingly isn't by the Beatles or Elvis. This title of best selling single of all time belongs to......(drum roll here),
Bing Crosby. (and with the state of the music industry, this record will probably stand forever) His rendition of Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" has been estimated to have sold over 50 million copies. When including other recordings of the song, "White Christmas" has been estimated to have sold over 100 million copies as a single. Estimations are due to the fact that the US and UK singles chartst weren't in existence when "White Christmas" was released on a 78 rpm record in 1942 as a part of a 6 piece set of what we would consider the soundtrack to the movie Holiday Inn. Only Elton John's 1997 remembrance to Princess Diana, "Candle in the Wind 1997" has come close by selling 33 million copies.
Cinematically, "White Christmas" was used in the aforementioned Holiday Inn, where it won the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1942, as well as in its namesake 1954's White Christmas, which was the highest grossing movie of that year. Let's have a better look at "White Christmas" from the first time we hear it in Irving Berlin's hit musical Holiday Inn:
"White Christmas" from Holiday Inn
The color white is often associated with purity. In fact, Isaiah 1:18 uses the word white to describe the transformation that comes over someone when their sins are forgiven: "18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord:
though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though
they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool." This passage says that God wants to get together with us so He can reason (induce a change of opinion in us through debate and discussion) with us. When we become reasonable with God, sins are forgiven and lives become as pure as snow. When was the last time you accepted God's request to "reason together"? If we were to be authentic before God and ourselves we might realize that we often times come to meet with God with our requests being the priority that we wish discuss. God, however, wants to have a reasonable conversation regarding His mission for us in the world or that habit that we need eliminate from our lives that is causing us to be "red like crimson". It is so easy, especially in this season to get caught
up in the "I wants", that we tend to forget who's we are and that our
priority should in fact be, "His wants". We should be so in tune with
the work of the Holy Spirit that we put on the "mind of Christ" that Paul speaks of in 1 Corinthians 2.
Has there ever been a time in your life friend where you realized that you weren't pure in the sight of God? Looking through the eyes of God and the mind of Jesus, what color would be attributed with your life? Have you had the opportunity to meet with God and "reason together" with Him? He is waiting to do just that. I would love to have the opportunity to visit with you about this further. Just email me back or comment an email address in which you can be reached. As we come into the season where people around the world, recognize and celebrate the birth of Jesus, our Savior, let's take a moment and ponder what color our Christmas hearts will be. "May your days be merry and bright, and may all your Christmases be White!"
'Til Tuesday,
Loving HIM by loving you,
Randy
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