Well we are back. I thought perhaps I could keep things going during the Christmas break, but our family did not have a computer that worked properly, so I just let things ride and soaked up the benefits of family.
It is nice to spend time with those you love and simply spend time talking and sharing - kids included. I think I spent a total of zero minutes watching actual TV. We did watch The Bourne Ultimatum, which was a gift, but other than that, I stayed away from the TV and read, talked, played with Eli, or just sat and enjoyed the company of family. It was rather nice.
We attended a Christmas eve service at a nearby church - Keith and Audrey have not landed on a church home yet - and it was rather unusual.
As part of their service they were doing the Lord's Supper. That struck me as odd since the chances of having a great number of visitors was pretty high. That part of the service had a "common cup" and large loaves of bread. You would go down, tear off some bread and dip it in the cup. It was probably very close to what Jesus and the Apostles did, but it was a procedure I had not done before. I don't think I liked the process but cannot say for certain.
I also managed to get several chapters read in Jeremiah. It is a hard book. Not so much regarding content, although that is difficult at times, but rather keeping things straight since his ministry covered such a large period of time and the book may not be in chronological order. One thing I did note is that God has done some serious "relenting" so far. Not only that, the people of God make some rather bizarre choices when confronted with options.
Making bizarre choices may be something we all do. For apparently no serious rationale, we make choices to our detriment rather than for our good. I suppose some of it has to do with temporary pleasure to the sacrifice of long-term good. A sort of "it feels good now" mentality with a willingness to endure the consequences later thinking "they can't be that bad." When in reality the consequences are severe. However, once we discover that it is too late to retract our earlier choice. Some of us do not even learn from those who have gone before us and attempt to point out our error.
With the New Year approaching, many of us will make some "resolutions" that have to do with critical choices in our life. Certainly some of them will be just like the year before, unfulfilled, but that will not deter us from making new ones. And a few weeks in or a few months in to the new year, we will abandon our efforts. We will do that primarily because the "old way" is more comfortable. The new way is awkward and often difficult. The consequence is we do the same thing with the same results.
I believe I will be a bit more cautious about my "choices" this year. I would like to have different results in some areas of my life.
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