2020 Home for the Holidays

Page 4 2020 Home for the Holidays LINCOLN DAILY NEWS November 25, 2020 Making this holiday season the best ever I have heard and read a great deal of lament about this holiday season being completely ruined, even destroyed (their words) because of the pandemic, masks, social distancing, the government regulations/ recommendation that families not even get together for Thanksgiving and Christmas. Responses from people often exceed Scrooge’s “Bah humbug!” The attitudes many people are harboring are exactly the opposite of the normal joyous feelings the holidays usually evoke. With this tumult in mind we themed this magazine “Making this holiday season the best ever,” not in jest or with sarcasm but instead as a reminder of who we truly are, the evocative power of the holidays, the choices we can make, and what we indeed have to celebrate. We have been created by the awesome power of God Himself in such a way that our internal path does not need to be a reflection of what is happening on the outside. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 4:11-13 that he had learned how to be content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry. We too can learn and choose, despite external circumstances, difficulties, negative situations, and hardships to be happy, content and satisfied. These three positive attributes: happiness, satisfaction, and contentedness are choices that we can all make. In this holiday season we start tomorrow with Thanksgiving, is a holiday given over to appreciation and gratitude. While experiencing dissatisfaction a person has great difficulty expressing appreciation and gratitude, and their attitude can spiral down into darkness, anger and distance. But consider for a moment that there is great power when we frame situations differently and look upon the positive rather than dwell on the negative. 1. APPRECIATION: What a person appreciates, appreciates! It grows. It gains value, priority, importance and significance to us merely because we change our attitude toward it and turn our ugly frown upside down! This Thanksgiving give your thoughts over to all you have to appreciate. And like the Grinch, they say, your heart too will grow three sizes that day! Continued n