Life - An Education in Patience

I have finished by 1st run through studying about patience, but the process is a continuous. You can control what you say and do, but you cannot control how someone else will respond. I have been trying my best to apply this education to every part of my life.

 I have stated this more than once in my head and wondered why things weren't really going my way. It was only until I truly waited for God to answer did things begin to make sense and begin to work themselves out.

What I have also found is that although you believe that your patience has improved, those around you may not believe it has.  I press you to continue in your journey, it will soon avail itself to them and they will see your change.  And it may even show them that they may need to look at themselves as well.

I do have to admit that it has not been easy. I must admit that if it was not for my mother, I would not have been able to withstand the trials I have gone through over the past several months.  I still have a few hurdles to overcome, but she is still behind me supporting me and giving me unbiased advise. I will come back to this topic as its significance arises as life goes along.

The Meaning of Christmas (cont.)

We described yesterday how the legend of Santa Claus began. Today we discuss the birth of Christ. The birth of Christ is recorded in Bible Books Matthew (1:18-25) and Luke (2:1-20). The story is simply told as the Virgin Mary was found with child conceived of the Holy Spirit.

No one knows precisely when Jesus was born; even his year of birth is only an educated guess. There is a good historical basis as to why the traditional date of December 25^th, accepted by the ancient Greek and Latin churches, may be a good approximate date. The date of the birth can be fixed with some precision, since Matthew 2:19 makes it clear that Jesus was born near the time of Herod the Great. Josephus mentions that Herod’s death occurred between an eclipse and Passover. The only eclipse recorded in this period in March 4 B.C., while Passover would have been in med-April. So Jesus was born at least a few months before spring 4 B.C., either the winter of 5 B.C. or the following spring. The fixing of the date of Christmas as December 25 dates to at least from the time of Constantine (A.D 306-337). The celebration became the church’s way to celebrate Jesus’ birth and have and alternative to a popular pagan feast.

Christmas literally means the Mass (celebration) of Christ. 

References:

*Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Commentary, 1999 5^th ed., p. 1252