{"id":1741,"date":"2023-01-31T01:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-01-31T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1741"},"modified":"2023-01-30T18:45:28","modified_gmt":"2023-01-31T00:45:28","slug":"lost-that-lovin-feelin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1741","title":{"rendered":"Lost that Lovin\u2019 Feelin\u2019<\/strong>"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\u201cDear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.\u201d 1 John 4:7<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This past Christmas Day, even though it was a lovely time spent with friends, I had\u2014as I always have\u2014a let-down feeling. I\u2019d had the feeling many times before, but I had never framed the question, \u201cWhy do I feel this way?\u201d As soon as I asked myself, I knew the reason I felt a little blue was because the Christmas season was over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

December is such a wonderful month, filled with good things: Christmas lights and decorations everywhere, get-togethers with friends, good food and drink, Christmas cards, presents, anticipation. And, most of all, the holiday spirit that permeates us, making us feel more connected to one another, and therefore more benevolent toward one another.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In early January, only days after my Christmas Day insight, I spent a few minutes talking books with a friend. \u201cI reread A Christmas Carol<\/em> over the holiday,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was so good, and I found in it the best paragraph I\u2019ve ever read.\u201d At my prompting, he located the passage. Scrooge and his nephew Fred were discussing the profitability of Christmas. Of course, Scrooge\u2019s opinion was that Christmas has never done anyone any good, including his nephew. Here is the response from Scrooge\u2019s nephew:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say,\u201d returned the nephew. \u201cChristmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round\u2014apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that\u2014as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

January is all about profitable efforts. We collectively turn away from the relaxed camaraderie of the holidays and gird ourselves for the year ahead. Enough playing around. Time to take care of business. How sad that on the heels of Christmas, as we turn our eyes toward a new year\u2019s promise, we also turn our focus from our fellow passengers on the journey that is life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What if the most profitable business for 2023 is to continue to make time for the camaraderie of December? \u201cSo teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom,\u201d prayed Moses (Psalm 90:12). Thinking about my own numbered days\u2014fewer ahead of me than behind\u2014creates an urgency to push toward life-long goals I have not reached. But is this wisdom? I may strive and strive and not reach them at all, a definite possibility since all my efforts haven\u2019t been enough so far.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maybe all the tasks I plan and execute, which are many and satisfying, aren\u2019t the best parts of my day, or the most profitable in the long term. Will they keep me company when I am old and gray and nodding by the fire?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u2019s a canvas in my study with this C.S. Lewis quote: \u201cYou can\u2019t go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not bad words to live by in a fresh new year. Wouldn\u2019t Scrooge agree?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cDear friends, let us continue to love one another, for love comes from God. Anyone who loves is a child of God and knows God.\u201d 1 John 4:7 This past Christmas Day, even though it was a lovely time spent … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Mo02-s5","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1674,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1674","url_meta":{"origin":1741,"position":0},"title":"Rules of Engagement","author":"lsimonds","date":"February 20, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"So now I am giving you a new commandment: Love each other. Just as I have loved you, you should love each other. Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples.\" John 13:34,35 (NLT) This past Christmas, while we were loading our plates\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2022"","block_context":{"text":"2022","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=23"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1125,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=1125","url_meta":{"origin":1741,"position":1},"title":"Christmas Feast","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 24, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"\"Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good.\" Psalm 34:8 Taste is our most intimate sense. We kiss to taste another whom we desire. Less intimately, we share the taste of food with people we like. Eating a good meal and talking about the flavors is an experience we\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2018"","block_context":{"text":"2018","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=18"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":330,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=330","url_meta":{"origin":1741,"position":2},"title":"Make Room","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 31, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cBut many who are first will be last, and the last first.\u201d Matthew 19:30 The moon was so bright during December. When it reached fullness before Christmas it rose dramatically in the east and hung round and silver throughout the night. All during the season I couldn\u2019t help thinking it\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2013"","block_context":{"text":"2013","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":958,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=958","url_meta":{"origin":1741,"position":3},"title":"Own It","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 20, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cFor the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.\u201d 1 Corinthians 1:18 I used to think it sounded \u201cbetter\u201d when someone said they were an agnostic instead of an atheist. Agnosticism seemed less\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2017"","block_context":{"text":"2017","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=17"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":50,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=50","url_meta":{"origin":1741,"position":4},"title":"Anticipation","author":"lsimonds","date":"February 1, 2002","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cBut if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.\u201d Romans 8:25 The Lord convicted me about worrying the other day. I know it was Him. You see, I spend a lot of time\u2014I mean, a really lot\u2014hoping for things I don\u2019t have.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2002"","block_context":{"text":"2002","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=1"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":258,"url":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?p=258","url_meta":{"origin":1741,"position":5},"title":"Close of Business","author":"lsimonds","date":"December 31, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"\u201cFor the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light; reproofs of instruction are the way of life.\u201d Proverbs 6:23 In his 1939 Christmas broadcast to the British Empire, a nation on the brink of war, King George VI quoted an excerpt from a 1908 poem by Minnie Louise\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "2012"","block_context":{"text":"2012","link":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/?cat=7"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1741"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1746,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1741\/revisions\/1746"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/melissakaysimonds.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}