Saturday Spiritual Uplift - The Bishop of Myra

The Bishop of Myra

Now that Thanksgiving is over our thoughts inevitably turn to celebrating the birth of the wonderful gift of Jesus, our Savior, who the Father sent to us. As a young mother, I wanted my sons to experience the spiritual richness that is often missing from the holidays. I had a book called Celebrating the Christian Year, by Martha Zimmerman, which offered different ways of focusing on Christian holidays.

Something often lost in the focus on Santa Claus is how his legend came about. He was based on the 4^th century Bishop of Myra, who was known for his generosity. He’d been brought up by wealthy parents who died when Nicholas was quite young and left him well off. They had been devoted Christians and Nicholas learned about Christ’s teachings from them. He wanted to share what he’d been given, as Jesus taught.

We attempted to curb the greediness of Christmas morning by celebrating St. Nicholas Day on Dec. 6^th. We read Santa Are You for Real?  by Harold Myra, each year as a family and put out the stockings that night. In this short biographical sketch, the book includes how young Nicholas provides dowries for each of three daughters of a poor man, so that they could marry and wouldn’t have to be sold into slavery. As the legend goes, Nicholas tossed a bag of gold coins through their window and they landed in shoes or a sock, drying by the fire, which brought about the custom of hanging stockings by the fireplace.

In the children’s stockings we tried to include the customary wooden toy to symbolize St. Nicholas’ love for children, an orange to remember how he cared for the poor, and gold-foil covered chocolate coins to represent his generosity. We tried to focus on the example of a man who devoted his life to Christ.

Many other stories and some miracles are attributed to the life of St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, from resurrection of the dead to prayers that rescued a ship full of sailors. He was persecuted and thrown into prison for his faith. We can assume that he was a man who considered his relationship with Jesus more important than his wealth, who cared about the children and the poor, who heeded the words such as those from the book of James:

Believers who are poor have something to boast about, for God has honored them. And those who are rich should boast that God has humbled them. They will fade away like a little flower in the field. (James 1:9-10)

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you. (James1:27)

Russian Orthodox statue of St. Nicholas
(picture in public domain)

Of course, Jesus is our best example of all in showing love and concern for others, but we can be inspired and teach future generations about people, empowered by the Holy Spirit, who lived Godly lives despite the odds. We can remember these people and endeavor to learn from them, knowing that a new life of faith in Christ is truly a gift as we also remember the birth of the Savior. With His help, may we truly keep Christ in Christmas this year!

If you’re interested in learning more about St. Nicholas or how to incorporate more about him in your family traditions, here is a link: St. Nicholas Center/Celebrate at Home.

What family traditions do you have that help make Jesus the Reason for the Season?

Please share or just leave a comment. What do you think of celebrating St. Nicholas

Eve/Day?  

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Wednesday Whimsy--Meet Wild Cat and Writer, Elaine Stock

Interview with a Cat: Meet Wild Cat and human companion, writer, Elaine Stock

Elaine Stock is one of Mom’s writer friends who has been an encouragement to her. Today I am interviewing her feline friend, Wild Cat, to find out the real story on Elaine. As usual, I think it’s important to give the cat’s eye view.

Hi, Wild Cat, thanks for joining me today on Wednesday Whimsy. How long have you owned your human? What’s the best way to train your human?

My human companion and I go back eighteen and a half years. Despite all the jokes about cats owning humans, Elaine and I are more dear friends than slave master and slave. I used to be the bottom rung of a 3-cat household, but after my adopted siblings went to a far better place than I can imagine right now (I mean, life here with Elaine and Wally is beyond purr-fect) I became rightly the center of attention. So much that my humans promised no more furry additions for as long as I rule the home turf. That’s way okay with me. I hate to admit it, but in human terms I’m really about a 100 years old and I hear my humans say to others that I’m “frail and wobbly.” Ah, the joys of aging! I try my best not to let the arthritis in my legs bother me… I won’t go on about my other ailments.

Although I’m not in this photo (my past step-siblings are),
this is a purr-fect example of how we cuddled in the laundry basket

The best way to train humans is to be cute as anything. In my youth I used to jump onto the washing machine and hop into the laundry basket with my siblings—we’d curl up in twists and turns and look downright adorable. Since my she-human is glued to her computer when not abandoning me for hours during the day (something about working for a living to make cat food money, but I can’t grasp this concept) I’ve been curling up beside her. Every time she bounces up to retrieve something, answer the phone, or any lame thing that takes her away from me, I sit right up and make sure I look pathetically longing upon her return. I just don’t get why she can’t get off the computer and curl up with me for a 3-hour nap… something about making up pretend stories and trying to get others to see them. She might have used the phrase “vying for publication” a few times. I have better stuff to think about—like dreaming of steak dinners served to me by mice—than to pay that much attention to her human goals.

What does Elaine write?

If you look all over my house-nest, it’s loaded with Bibles, crosses, religious pictures, and these Christian-themed books, both fiction and non-fiction. After many years of trying to write stories for just anyone, she’s now knuckling down to write these stories that offer hope, with the strong message that God’s love for us—even for dogs!—is so incredibly powerful that it can help humans out of hard-pressed situations or relationships. My human, Elaine, is really attuned (not bad vocabulary for a cat, huh?) to how people interact with each other, especially families.

Wild Cat helping Elaine

How do you help her with her writing?

Again, it’s the adorable-factor. I give her my best cute and cuddly look while beside her. This makes it difficult to not only jump up and walk away from the computer but makes her realize that she doesn’t want to keep leaving the house to go to this thing called a “day job.”

Also, I must say I’m a bit computer savvy. Back in my youth Elaine used to have this funny looking Mac computer that looked like a weird dome from a bad sci-fi movie. I used to hop on top and sleep—you know, just to make sure the computer wouldn’t move on her. And, before she bought her recent laptop, the old laptop was so bad that she was using it with her old desktop keyboard hooked into it. My self-appointed job then was to rub my chin against the keyboard and help her to open files and pages. Despite her saying she didn’t need those things opened just then, I knew better! Cats are always right.

Absolutely, Wild Cat, keep up the good work! 

Any advice to budding feline muses? How can we best help our writing humans?

This was me in my younger days (my he-human restores pianos for
a living and I’m making sure this piano doesn’t walk away).

    1. Always remember that your needs come first before your human author’s needs. A well fed, warm, and happy cat improves the concentration of the human writer.

    

    2. If you see your human becoming frustrated while she clicks away on the computer keyboard, create a distraction. Sure, a hairball attack is the old standby, but first try running throughout the house bellowing like the place is on fire when all you want is that steak those silly mice failed to carry in on gold platters.

    3. I know it’s difficult to let the human sleep throughout the night. (What’s up with that? Why they don’t want to play all night is beyond obscene.) But believe me, a happy and well-rested human tends to create much better and abundantly. If they’re happy, that means we get more cuddling. Remember, the object is to be perpetually satisfied and whatever it takes to get the human to make us happy is worth doing!

 Thank you, for letting me interview you today, Wild Cat. Cats everywhere will appreciate your advice to remember it’s most important to meet the cat’s needs first. I can see wisdom has come with your age, indeed!

Elaine Stock never expected that a college major in psychology and sociology would walk her through the see-saw industries of food service and the weight-loss business; co-ownership with her husband in piano restoration; and ten years in community leadership. All great fodder for creating fiction. She writes contemporary fiction, exploring the dynamics of family and other relationships. Her first short story was published on Christian Fiction Online Magazine and in the spring of 2011 she shouted with joy that she'd placed in the Semi-finals category in the ACFW Genesis Contest for her novel WALK WITH ME. In 2013 she received the honor of My Book Therapy's Frasier Bronze Medalist award for her novel NO GOING BACK.

Elaine Stock's fabulous blog, Everyone's Story, is a place where she 

encourages writers, readers and well--everyone. Visit Everyone's 

Story to learn more about Elaine and her writing life.

Please leave a comment. Wild Cat and Elaine would love to hear

from you! Leave a comment or follow to be entered in this week's

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Thanks for participating and happy reading to you!

Monday Motivation - Think about what you see . . .

Monday Motivation - Think about what you see . . .

Well, I told you I would reveal the secret location of last week’s writing prompt photo this Monday. I took the picture next to the historic site of Tom Walker’s Grist Mill, now known as the Parshallville Cider Mill, at the millpond. Parshallville is a little town tucked between Hartland and Fenton, Michigan. If you blink, you might miss it! Here’s another photo I took, looking in the other direction the same day. 

Stories can spring from what may seem the most mundane things. I picked up a catalog I’d received from L.L. Bean the other day. On the cover, a couple sat on the back end of a pick up truck in an idyllic autumn scene. With a lake and evergreen trees in the background, as well as crisp brown leaves around their feet, they looked like the perfect couple to star in a contemporary romance novel. I started to think what conflict could come into play to start things out right.

What if they were being watched and an SUV speeds into view. The intruders kidnap the guy at gunpoint and knock the woman out. But why? What had he been involved in? What did he know? Was he in the witness protection program? And how would she ever find him again? Voila! My imagination was off and running with the beginning of a romantic suspense novel. (Either that, or  I've been watching too many Castle episodes lately.) I’m going to keep that catalog cover with a few lines about my ideas, tucked away for possible future use. Sparking the imagination is always good
exercise for the creative side of the brain!

Writers: Your challenge this week is to keep an eye out for pictures that inspire your creativity. Write down your ideas. Save the pictures.

Has a picture ever inspired you to write a story? Please share your thoughts about this week’s post or about creative inspiration in general. Or follow to be entered in this week’s drawing for a chance to win a paperback edition of Brave New Century, which includes my debut novella, The Pocket Watch, and a package of assorted Lindt Lindor Truffles.

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Saturday Spiritual Uplift - More than Just a Turkey Day

More than Just a Turkey Day

Give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! His faithful love endures forever.

(Psalm 107:1, NLT)

As much as I loved celebrating Christmas and Easter with my children while they were growing up, I always felt as though it was hard to get all the fun in and focus on the real meaning the way I would like. Thanksgiving, on the other hand, seemed a much simpler holiday. Family and friends get together to prepare and share a meal. Parades and football sometimes blares from the television. It’s the holiday I enjoyed hosting the most.

Image in public domain from Wikimedia Commons

There were a couple of traditions I tried to implement in our family. When the Pilgrims were going through their toughest winter they were said to have subsisted on a ration of five kernels of corn a day. Later, to remember how the Lord preserved them through that harsh time, a tradition of placing five kernels of corn on each plate, before the feast, was observed. Since we didn’t usually have corn on Thanksgiving, I instead put five candy corns on each plate and we talked about what they symbolized. For a couple of years, we placed a construction paper tree on the door to the kitchen and taped colorful fall paper leaves to the branches, each leaf having something we were thankful for written on them.

As the boys grew older and our feast moved elsewhere, these two traditions have been lost. I am glad that we can at least remember that first Thanksgiving in 1621, when the Pilgrims, grateful for their autumn harvest, feasted with the Wampanoag, by celebrating each November. And I try to remember that every day should be one of giving thanks.

The First Thanksgiving by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris {{PD-US-not renewed |1= }}

We are blessed daily with the Lord’s mercy and grace. He is ever present with His children and His help is only a prayer away. In our country, our tables overflow with abundance. We have shelter and clothing. Salvation is preached freely and available to each of us through Jesus’ sacrificial death and resurrection. We are free to worship and read our Bibles. There are so many things I often take for granted, including God’s love and the wonderful people He has put in my life.

Thanksgiving traditions can help families grow closer together and assist us in keeping our perspective. It’s a day for us to pause and be truly appreciative for what we’ve been given. I need to remember to make every day a mini-Thanksgiving. What about you?

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Wednesday Whimsy - The Kitten Chronicles

Lilybits - Not large, but in charge.

The Kitten Chronicles – Part 1

This Wednesday I am interviewing my distant cousin, Tasha. I’m going to find out what her life is like for a kitten in Minnesota.

Tasha, how old are you, and what kind of cat are you?

My name is actually Natasha, or Tasha for short, although my goofy human servants often refer to me by other annoying names such as Poozy. I was born on March 27 of this year in Mankato, Minnesota to my Russian-born parents who immigrated there. I am a Siberian cat, and am descended from nobility.

(Aren't we all?) I’ve been in captivity for over 1700 days. It’s been fairly tolerable, since I have my humans well trained. How is your human training going?

My Siberian cousin, Natasha

I am only about 245 days old, and was forcibly transferred to my current penitentiary in Lakeville, Minnesota, where I have now been for about 145 days. At present, I have two human servants; a husband and wife by the name of Tom and Betsi. They are very foolish, and slow to learn, though I have been patiently trying to train them in the proper methods of serving me. 

The other two cats I now live with obviously did not do a very good job in training them prior to my arrival, and I have been endeavoring to correct their many deficiencies. I would particularly like to curtail their most annoying habits, such as continually bothering me when I am napping or studying the outdoors through the window, or not presenting me with enough food of sufficient variety.

You sound like quite the intelligent female kitten! I hear you have big stepbrother cats. Please do tell me something about them.

Tasha warming up by the fire

Indeed, I live with two older cats; one is a fourteen-year-old Himalayan named Harley and the other an eight-year-old Persian named Elliott. I really enjoy my cat-mates, especially Elliot, who has been nicknamed “the Galoot” because he is such an oaf. He has a lot of really long hair, and I love to wrestle with him and swim in all that marvelous hair; he is such a push over. I generally take a great deal of pleasure in bugging both of them while they are sleeping, and I especially like to employ my strategy of licking them, which they detest. They will move to get away from me, and then I get to chase them around the house or otherwise lay claim to their resting spot.

I like being an only cat. I’m quite the diva! Do you like having other cats in your house? If so, why?

I am very fast and love to leap across the room and over the furniture. Oddly enough, my human servants get nervous when I do this, which gives me even more pleasure.  Though it is annoying to be held captive, this house has many advantages, and there are a lot of fun places to explore especially among the antique china and glass candlesticks.  One of my favorite pass times is relaxing upside down in front of the fireplace to warm my sensitive underside.

I definitely rule here, and claim most of the servants’ attention, and the food, for myself.  I have taught the older males to show proper deference to my person, and have claimed all the best toys, sleeping places, sunny spots and so forth for myself. I do enjoy the other cats, however, since they are a source of much entertainment for me.

Tasha and the Galoot 

Thank you, Miss Tasha, for being my guest today. We will check back with you on a

later date about how your captivity is progressing.

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Monday Motivation - What's a Picture Worth?

What’s a Picture Worth?

As the saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words. Yes, it is cliché, but photographs can make great writing prompts.

Most of the trees have lost their leaves by now, but I captured this peaceful autumn

scene last year. While the image is limited to the camera lens, what you write about the picture is only limited by your imagination. The photo I’ve included could have been taken in many different locations and lead to various stories. It can evoke a river in an old-fashioned American village or across the ocean on property at an estate in England. The water could be a meeting place for WWII Resistance spies who must cross a border to escape their enemies. Or perhaps, it’s the setting of a romantic rendezvous. What does it make you think about? Write about it for five to ten minutes. Next week I’ll tell you where the photo was taken!

Please share your thoughts in a comment below for a chance to be in this week’s drawing for an ebook copy of Brave New Century and a $10 gift Amazon gift card!