Inspirational Author
By +Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka
I promised myself I was not going to do it again this year. I always come to December First, determined to not let my calendar get the best of me. Determined to make Jesus the center of all I do.
Almost without fail, I enter into Christmas morning, weary. Not excited to create a special breakfast for my family. Opening presents? Sure it’s great, but then there’s the dish to prepare for that evening’s celebration with my family, an hour away.
By +Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka
My Five Minute Friday prompt this week is—DEAR. This largely unedited “rough draft” form of writing stretches this perfectionist, in the best of ways. I write for five minutes on a given topic. If you’re interested in learning more about 5-Minute Fridays, check out our hostess, Kate Motaung’s site. Or, click on the link at the bottom of this post. As you read my simpler Friday posts, I hope you’ll join in the conversation!
DEAR
Why is it easier, during the Christmas season, to make sure those I hold most dear to my heart know they have claimed that place?
I buy gifts for them, take time to write personal messages in cards and letters. I look for opportunities to bless them in special ways.
I am purposeful.
Why not be purposeful during the rest of the year? Purposeful in dropping a line via email, or even on social media, to say, “Hey, I was thinking about you today.”?
Why not leave a note in my kids’ lunch box for them to discover sometime during their day? Reminders of my love for them, of what they mean to me?
It’s fine to take time during Christmas to make sure my dear ones know how I feel about them.
Wouldn’t it mean even more to them if on say, June 12, I sent them a note in the mail, of all things? Just to tell them, “I’m thinking about you? You matter to me.”?
I love receiving notes like this. They take me out of the normal of my day and leave me feeling special.
I want those I call dear to know by my actions that they are important to me. I may not have the money to buy them expensive gifts, but I have heartfelt words to share.
I can be intentional in letting them know they matter. To me. To others.
Sometimes it’s in that extra thought that a life is changed, that someone knows they are significant on this big blue earth filled with masses of people.
Even more, what if I was able to share with people just how dear they are to God? The Creator of these masses of people. And how amazing is it that we as individuals are dear to God—each one of us? I can’t quite fathom it.
I guess I’ll have to focus on the way He showed us this: through the birth of his Son. Jesus. Amazing taking on the flesh of humble.
What better way for us to know just how dear we are to our heavenly Father?
What about you? How do you show people they matter to you? What’s one way someone has shown that you are dear to them?
Visit Kate Motaung’s site for her Five Minute Friday: Dear post and a giveaway she’s doing until midnight tonight.
By +Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka
The kid had been asking for weeks.
“We’re having breakfast pizza for Thanksgiving breakfast, right Mom?”
“Yes, honey. We are.” I assured him and made the mental list of the ingredients to pick up at the store.
Jeanne Takenaka 