5 Tips to a Having a Positive Christmas

December 21, 20151 Comment

under tree

Although we sing about Christmastime being the “hap, happiest time of the year,” a majority of people experience quite the opposite. Whether it’s family relationships, financial struggles or stress-filled schedules, this time of the year can be a challenge for even the most joyful of people. Here are a few holiday happiness boosters to help you discover delight in the season.

Determine to find the treasure in everyone. Let’s face it, during the holidays we are surrounded by a few (or more) negative and annoying people. But just as every coin has two sides, so every person has both difficult qualities and pleasant ones. Sometimes we have to dig a little deeper to find the hidden treasure in a person. Make it your own personal challenge to discover the treasure in every person you encounter from the lady in front of you at Target to your odd uncle from California.

Choose to forgive. Make a positive decision to give up the grievance or bitterness you are harboring in your heart toward someone. It is only weighing you down and making you unhappy. Move forward and let go of whatever you are holding onto, and you will experience a great sense of relief and freedom. You may need to continue to set wise boundaries from hurtful people, but hand your unforgiveness over to the Lord. He came at Christmas to offer forgiveness for all our sins, how can we not do the same for others?

Stay healthy. Be deliberate about taking care of your body during the holidays. Get the rest you need and don’t forget to take your vitamins (I know I sound like your mother). A good stress-relieving walk will strengthen you, both physically and emotionally. And be thoughtful about what you are putting in your mouth. If you eat crap – you will only feel crappy. Try to be intentional about eating green and lean when you can throughout the holidays.

Give joyfully. Keep your gift-giving perspective bright and loving. Instead of getting frustrated and stressed out as you shop, turn your attitude toward the wonderful thought that this is an opportunity to bless others. Pray for each person on your list and ask the Lord to show you what would be meaningful to that person. Remember, you can choose your perspective, so shop with a heart filled with love rather than grumbling.

Be Thankful. Every morning this week, take a moment to thank the Lord for at least five ways He has blessed you. Gratitude to God brings a fresh delight to your day. As you thank God for your immediate blessings, take a moment to reflect on the fact that Holy God came to this earth as a humble baby to bring us the greatest present of all – His Presence. He came to show us love and to offer His life as a sacrifice for our sins.

My hope for you this Christmas is that you will find your strength in Him and that you will know the love He has for you.

This is how God showed his love among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:9,10

The Joy of Knowing God

November 8, 2010Leave a comment

Hello Positive Friends,

We will be getting together soon as we meet one week earlier in November. At Presontonwood Country Club on Nov 16 and at Cottonwood Creek on Nov 17. Looking forward to seeing you soon. The following is a devotional thought from my book Thrive, Don’t Simply Survive.

Saint Bernard of Clairvaux said, “If we begin to worship and come to God again and again by meditating, by reading, by prayer; and by obedience, little by little God becomes known to us through experience. We enter into a sweet familiarity with God, and by tasting how sweet the Lord is we pass into . . . loving God, not for our own sake, but for Himself.”4 We can fall into the arms of a God who we know and love, but it is difficult to trust someone we do not know personally.

We cannot understand all of God’s ways, but there are certain qualities we can know about him. Where do we begin our journey of knowing him? The Bible gives us glimpses of the High King of heaven and his marvelous attributes. Here are a few of the numerous qualities we learn about God as we see them revealed in the Bible. I have provided just one biblical reference for each attribute, although there are numerous others.

He is:

Almighty (Genesis 17:1)

Everlasting (Genesis 21:33)

All-Powerful (2 Chronicles 20:6)

Abundant in Strength (Psalm 147:5)

Abounding in Love (Psalm 103:8)

Sovereign (Deuteronomy 3:24)

Merciful (Psalm 62:12)

Trustworthy (2 Samuel 22:3)

Our Keeper (Psalm 121:2)

Our Provider (Matthew 6:26)

Our Good Shepherd (John 10:11)

Able—nothing is too difficult for him (Genesis 18:14)

I want to get to know a God like this, don’t you? Certainly He is worthy of our respect, obedience, and yes, trust. Consider where you are with God right now in your life. What do you believe about him? We don’t want to make assumptions about God; rather, we want to explore who he claims to be. As we get to know the God of the Bible, we begin to recognize his abiding love for us. He is worthy of our trust. I encourage you to continue your journey of engagement with God.

The Joy of Anticipation

June 28, 2010Leave a comment

Hello my positive women friends. I hope you are having a wonderful summer. We had a great meeting last week, with our guest teacher Kathleen. We learned about trusting God through the difficulties. It was a powerful lesson. I hope you will join us on the fourth Tuesday in July as we hear another wonderful guest teacher.

Joy's Wedding Portrait

This past weekend I hosted yet another wedding shower for one of my friend’s daughters who is getting married in July. Yes, this certainly has been wedding season around the Ladd house. The thing I love most about the bride-to-be is seeing the joy of anticipation as she heads toward her big day. It’s interesting in the Bible we see the illustration of the groom and bride used as an analogy of Christ and the church. As followers of Christ, we are His bride and we too should be living in anticipation of the day he comes to bring us home.

Can you imagine if a bride showed up at her wedding and said, “Oh goodness, am I getting married today? I’ve been so busy with other stuff in my life that I haven’t really prepared. And oh, is that the groom? I’d kinda forgot what he looks like. I’ve been really distracted you know.” That seems ridiculous doesn’t it? Yet we too must examine our own hearts and consider if we are so distracted and busy about the stuff in our lives and not thinking about Heaven.

Jesus told his followers to lay up treasures in Heaven. He told his followers to remain watchful and to be ready for the day He returns. He used the parable of the Ten Bridesmaids to teach about the importance of being prepared. If you recall, five of the bridesmaids were foolish and unprepared and five were ready. He ends the story by saying, “Therefore keep watch, because you do not know the day or the hour. You can read it in Matthew 25:1-13.

This summer as I have observed precious brides (including my daughter) as they were getting ready for their wedding day, there were certain attributes I noticed in their joy of anticipation.

Their resources were spent wisely as they saved and invested for their wedding.
Their thoughts were consumed or dominated with wedding details.
Although preparation was not always easy, they knew it was worth it as they looked forward to their wedding day, and they knew that soon they would be married.
They desired to be exceptionally beautiful for their groom.
They chose to forsake all others as they were fully devoted to their husband-to-be.

Now I want you to read back over that list and think about how the same joy of anticipation relates to our preparation for being in Heaven with the Lord. Are you living for that Day or are you living with your eyes on the here and now. There is great joy in our life here if we live in anticipation of the day we will meet Christ face to face. Live for it! Be consumed by it! May we continually set our hearts on things above and draw close to our bridegroom in love.

Here are Jesus’ words found in Revelation 22. A beautiful invitation for us to be His bride.

12“Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done. 13I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.

14“Blessed are those who wash their robes, that they may have the right to the tree of life and may go through the gates into the city. 15Outside are the dogs, those who practice magic arts, the sexually immoral, the murderers, the idolaters and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.

16“I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star.”

17The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let him who hears say, “Come!” Whoever is thirsty, let him come; and whoever wishes, let him take the free gift of the water of life.”

Dear friend, if you have never accepted His invitation to be a part of his family, I encourage you to place your hope and trust in him today. Jesus loves you as a bridegroom loves and cherishes his bride. Call 1-888-Need-Him to talk with someone about a relationship with Christ.

Life Lessons from the Mother of the Bride

June 8, 2010Leave a comment

Me with daughter Grace

Curt escorting Joy down the aisle!

Yes, my daughter Joy was married this past Saturday, and it was a glorious celebration! Adam and Joy are tremendous young people who want to honor God in all they do. It was beautiful event, and everyone seemed to have a fun and memorable time.

In the days following the wedding, I have reflected on the memorable moments of the ceremony and the reception. I thought about how happy I was to see everyone else so very happy, most importantly the bride and the groom. To tell you honestly throughout the entire planning and celebration I was continually filled with peace and joy. As I considered the specific reasons why I never felt frazzled it occurred to me they may be worth sharing with others, because they not only apply to the Mother of the Bride but to life in general. So here are a few life lessons learned from the Mother of the Bride:

Focus on what really matters. In a wedding, what really matters is honoring the bride and groom and making it a wonderful experience for the guests. It is not about showing the world what a great event-planner I am. Also, it is important to continually keep in mind that the marriage is more important than the wedding. In life we must always readjust our focus in order to remember it is not about me, it is about honoring God and serving others. We must continually and deliberately turn our focus to the bigger picture of eternity and fix our eyes on Jesus.
Fret not about gossipers and complainers. “What will others think?” ought to be four little words that are banned from your brain as you plan a wedding. Remember, you will never be able to please everyone. Someone who enjoys gossiping and complaining will still do it no matter how perfect or traditional or expensive your wedding is, so don’t try to please them. This is your daughter’s wedding, not theirs. Generally speaking we ought to always live to please one person and that is God. He wants us to love Him and love others. He does not call us to live our lives with the goal to impress others.
Enjoy the moment. The wedding goes by so fast. Before you know it the couple is preparing to run through the gauntlet of rice, birdseed or bubbles and drive away. During the entire event I encourage you to set worrying aside, be flexible and enjoy the people and the festivities. Live in the moment! Embrace it! Similarly, choose to enjoy the place in which God has placed you and the people He has brought into your life. Why waste time complaining and arguing? It all goes by so quickly.
Put the right people in place. We prayerfully and carefully selected the florist, photographer, DJ, printer, cake lady and wedding coordinator. They all did their jobs incredibly well and made the event a great success (email me if you want their names and numbers). It makes all the difference when you have people in place who do their jobs well. In life we must recognize we can’t do everything, but we can associate and connect with others who are talented in specific areas where we are weak. Be wise and prayerful as you bring others on board to help you do what you cannot do on your own. We need each other and most importantly we need the Lord. Where we are weak, He is strong.
Love. That’s what a wedding is celebrating anyway. Love your guests, love your family members (even the annoying ones) and also extend God’s love to the wait staff and people who are working with you. There is great joy when we sincerely reach out and love those around us with a kind word, a warm smile and a helping hand. Love is patient and kind, it does not envy or boast, it is not proud or rude. It is not easily angered…love never fails. The wedding event will be a success if you extend love and kindness to all. Equally, you will experience joy in life as you reach out and choose to love the people around you.

Well, that’s my top five lessons learned as we went through the wedding process. I hope you found them helpful. One last thing I must mention, I can testify to the fact that when you pray and give your cares to God, He will give you a peace that passes all understanding. Every time I felt even a twinge of fear or worry, I gave it to God and sought His direction (with thanksgiving) and I want you to know He is faithful! Joy and I decided that every Wednesday leading up to the wedding would be “Wedding Wednesday Prayer Night,” so on Wednesday’s we got on our knees together and gave every aspect of the wedding to Him. Remember to cast your cares on Him for He cares for you!

Christmas Joy

December 14, 2009Leave a comment

Hello my dear friends! I’m looking forward to seeing you Tuesady at PWC. If you haven’t RSVP’d yet, go ahead and do so today. 972-380-0123) I know we will have a delightful time together.

Here’s a devotional thought for you to reflect on this week.

JOY, JOY, JOY! We see the word everywhere during this season. I’m especially in tune with the word JOY because one of my daughter’s name is Joy. And yes, everytime I see something with the word Joy on it I’m tempted to get it. We have JOY pillows, JOY hand towels, JOY Christmas ornaments, and even JOY cookie cutters! It’s ironic that although this season is supposed to be the season of JOY, so few people seem to experience it. Between family issues, past hurts, anger, unforgiveness, busyness and a bit of self-centeredness, JOY seems to be a rare commodity.

Of all things, this week we celebrate the Advent week of Joy. As Christians, we can find our joy in the Lord and in the fact that He sent Jesus to this world as a gift to pay the penalty for our sin. There is lasting and true joy IN THE LORD. As we turn our faces toward Him and consider His lovingkindness and goodness toward us there is a great joy that no one can take from us. Now there may be some things that are clouding your joy that you need to consider in your life. This is the time to give the gift of forgiveness. This is the time to cast your cares and worries on the God who loves you. This is the time to get rid of the sin which robs you of your joy. Find your joy in the Lord this Christmas season.

There is great joy in serving others as well. One tradition I started just recently is going downtown to help out with Operation Care. This is a giant Christmas party for the homeless in downtown Dallas. It is an incredibly beautiful gift of love to the people in our community. Hundreds of volunteers help literally thousands of homeless people, some of whom are bused in from surrounding cities. If you live in the Dallas area consider helping out on Saturday, Dec 19 at the Dallas Convention Center. Go to www.operationcaredallas.org to sign up as a volunteer and for more information.

Joy to the World the Lord is come! Let earth receive her King! May we proclaim His love as we experience a joy that no one can take from us. I hope you have a wonderful week of enjoying family and more importantly drawing close to Christ.