{"id":23333,"date":"2014-12-12T00:15:31","date_gmt":"2014-12-12T05:15:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/?p=23333"},"modified":"2014-12-11T23:41:59","modified_gmt":"2014-12-12T04:41:59","slug":"every-day-like-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/2014\/12\/12\/every-day-like-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"If Every Day Was Like Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-23090\" src=\"http:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg\" alt=\"phssChristmasgraphic2014\" width=\"560\" height=\"280\" srcset=\"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg 560w, https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014-300x150.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 560px) 100vw, 560px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">I hear the bells<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">Saying Christmas is near<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">They ring out to tell the world<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">That this is the season of cheer<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">I hear a choir<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">Singing sweetly somewhere<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">And a glow fills my heart<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">I&#8217;m at peace with the world<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">As the sound of their singing fills the air<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 60px;\"><em><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">Oh why can&#8217;t every day be like Christmas<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em> <span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">Why can&#8217;t that feeling go on endlessly<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em> <span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">For if everyday could be just like Christmas<\/span><\/em><br \/>\n<em> <span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">What a wonderful world this would be<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">I hear a child<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">Telling Santa what to bring<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">And the smile upon his tiny face<\/span><br \/>\n<span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">Is worth more to me than anything<\/span><\/p>\n<p><center><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/A6kyMsdVlEg?rel=0\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/center><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u00a0Performed by Elvis Presley ~ Written by Red West<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">* \u00a0 \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0\u271d \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2605\u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>What if every day we could be more Christ-like&#8230;and treat people with kindness and good cheer everyday&#8230;and not just at Christmas?<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up,<br \/>\nas fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear.<br \/>\nAnd do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by Whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.<br \/>\nLet all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you,<br \/>\nalong with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted,<br \/>\nforgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.<br \/>\nEphesians 4:29-32 ESV<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Finally, all of you, have unity of mind, sympathy, brotherly love,<br \/>\na tender heart, and a humble mind.<br \/>\nDo not repay evil for evil or reviling for reviling,<br \/>\nbut on the contrary, bless,<br \/>\nfor to this you were called, that you may obtain a blessing.<br \/>\nFor \u201cWhoever desires to love life and see good days,<br \/>\nlet him keep his tongue from evil and his lips from speaking deceit;<br \/>\nlet him turn away from evil and do good;<br \/>\nlet him seek peace and pursue it.<br \/>\nFor the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous,<br \/>\nand His ears are open to their prayer.<br \/>\nBut the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.\u201d<br \/>\n1 Peter 3:8-12 ESV<\/p>\n<p>Christmas-time should not be the<strong><em> only<\/em><\/strong> time to help someone else in need. \u00a0We should be aware <strong>every<\/strong> day of those who God places around us that need something we have to give.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">\u201c<em>The purpose of life is not to be happy.<\/em><br \/>\n<em> It is to be useful, to be honorable,\u00a0<\/em><em>to be compassionate,<\/em><br \/>\n<em> to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.<\/em>\u201d<br \/>\nRalph Waldo Emerson<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Are we too busy to notice those who God places around us? \u00a0Do we brag to others when we do help someone in need as to bring glory to ourselves? \u00a0God has much to say about this. \u00a0In Matthew 6:1-4 (NIV) it says,<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: justify;\">Be careful not to do your &#8216;acts of righteousness&#8217; before men, to be seen by them. \u00a0If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven.<br \/>\nSo when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by men. \u00a0I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full.<br \/>\nBut when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,<br \/>\nso that your giving may be in secret. \u00a0Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>When God calls us to help those around us&#8230;if our heart is to self-glorify then that is the only reward we will receive. \u00a0So be careful your heart is in the right place when you are helping those in need around you.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\">Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.<br \/>\nPsalm 51:10<\/p>\n<p>This Christmas season, let&#8217;s remember the <strong>true<\/strong> reason for the season and the sacrifice that Jesus made. \u00a0To get outside of ourselves and pay attention to those in need around us everyday of the year&#8230;not just one season.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"color: #a11e24;\">* \u00a0 \u00a0\u2665 \u00a0~ \u00a0\u271d \u00a0~ \u00a0\u2605\u00a0 \u00a0 *<\/span><\/h4>\n<p>Heavenly Father, thank You for the opportunities You give each of us everyday to love and help others as Jesus has loved us. \u00a0May we have the right heart in doing so. \u00a0In Jesus\u2019 name. \u00a0Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I hear the bells Saying Christmas is near They ring out to tell the world That this is the season of cheer I hear a choir Singing sweetly somewhere And a glow fills my heart I&#8217;m at peace with the world As the sound of their singing fills the air Oh why can&#8217;t every day [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":159,"featured_media":23090,"comment_status":"open","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,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"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},"version":2}},"categories":[4937],"tags":[7993,4663,5788,7992,1287,425,7990,4654,7991,846,4932,7994],"class_list":["post-23333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-psalms-hymns-and-spiritual-songs","tag-1-peter-38-12","tag-christmas-carols","tag-elvis-presley","tag-ephesians-429-32","tag-gch","tag-girlfriends-coffee-hour","tag-if-every-day-were-like-christmas","tag-kim-golds","tag-matthew-61-4","tag-psalm-5110","tag-psalms-hymns-spiritual-songs","tag-true-reason-for-the-season","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/12\/phssChristmasgraphic2014.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p39pHp-64l","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/159"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23333"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23348,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23333\/revisions\/23348"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/girlfriendscoffeehour.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}