'When It's Always Winter But Never Christmas'

It never fails, Oklahoma weather is confusing no matter the season. Christmas Day felt like a beautiful spring afternoon, and now it's two days after Christmas and, it finally looks and feels like Christmas.

It will probably feel like winter for at least two more months, with a few warm days mixed in here and there, making the cold months drag on. There's just something depressing ​about this. When it's cold outside with nothing to do, it's just kinda sad. The grass and trees lay dormant giving the landscape and 'dead look,' and the nights come super early. Basically, when it's just winter and the Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year's holidays are over, the cold weather just kind of loses its appeal. 

The things I like about cold weather tend to revolve around the holidays, like most people. I enjoy the Christmas feeling, snow, fireplaces and flannels, but after New Years, I'm just kind of ready for it to be over and ready for spring. ​

Today is a prime example. There's a north wind of 30 mph, it's sleeting and it's 30 degrees outside. Every inch of me is ready for spring, but that's just not how things work; however there is that longing for spring. 

I'm not sure what I would do it I knew in my mind I had zero hope for warm weather ever again. If there was no hope for green grass, blue skies and baseball games, I think I'd go crazy. It's that little ounce of hope that keeps me going and keeps me bearing through the winter season because it is just that, a season. ​

I want to look at life more like this now too. I want to be able to look at it in a way that has hope for new seasons if I'm in the midst ​of a tough one. It won't always be winter, and life won't always be difficult. There are seasons and times for everything, and it's the hope of those new seasons that keeps us all going. 

-Cliff​

Cliff's Note: "It's always winter, but never Christmas." ​

The Day We Turned Jesus' Birthday Into Our Own

May 15th is a special day; it's my fiance's birthday. This year, I already have in mind what I'm going to do to celebrate with her. This year for her birthday, I'm going to take her fishing. She doesn't really like fishing all that much, but I think it will still be a good time. We can have some good conversation while we're waiting for the fish to bite, and I can give her some nice compliments and tell her how beautiful she always looks while we're sitting there. It should be a great time. . . for me. 

I like to fish, and in reality, if I were to really take her fishing for her birthday, she'd be pretty upset with me because:

1) she doesn't like to fish all that much
2) going fishing would be more for me than it would be for her
and
3) it's her birthday, not mine

When it comes to birthdays, it should always be more about celebrating the other person and doing what they want to do, rather than celebrating and treating their birthday like it's your own birthday. Birthdays should be times of selfless celebration of someone else. In my fiance and I's case, celebrating her birthday would look more like me taking her shopping, then out to a nice dinner followed by some spontaneous, adventurous activity. I would want to celebrate it in a way that was best for what she wanted, not what I want.

I feel like Christians, myself included, struggle with this same issue when it comes to celebrating Christmas, aka: Jesus' birthday. When it comes to celebrating Christmas, we try to turn it from His birthday into our own birthday just like Jesus turned water into wine. We easily become wrapped up in how we want to celebrate His birthday, more so than how He would want us to celebrate His birthday. It's so easy to take Christmas and turn it into our own party. We become obsessed with what we want, getting all our shopping done and what foods we're going to eat. None of these are bad things, but at the same time, they're things that become more about celebrating us than Him on His day. We become content with going to a service on Christmas Eve and saying a family prayer before the big meal, and then we're good to go. It bothers me just how much I've removed Christ from Christmas, as cliche as that sounds. 

When it comes to Christmas this year, I want to be able to slow down enough to put into practice the answer to the question: How would Jesus want want His birthday celebrated?

I think Jesus would want His birthday celebrated by us serving others, just as He came and served us. He came and "though He was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, by taking the form a a servent, being born in the likeness of man" (Phil. 2:6-7).

This Christmas, try to remember that you aren't celebrating your birthday; you're celebrating His. Try not to get wrapped up in how perfect you want everything, and instead get wrapped up in delighting to be a servant to those around you. 

Have a Merry Christmas Eve, everyone!

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Don't be that guy that tries to turn someone else's party into your own. 

When Working Over the Holidays Gets You Down

This year, I feel a lot like Santa. This isn't because it's been nearly two months since I hit the gym or because I've been eating two of my mom's Christmas cookies before bed every night; it's because for the first time in my life, I'm having to work over the holidays.  

At first (and still at times) it seemed like a major downer having to work over the holidays. Knowing that while all my friends and family would be enjoying their time on vacation I'd be sitting at work bummed me out, as it would most people. All I could think about were the things I would be missing out on: the time with family, binge watching the Harry Potter series or ABC Family's 25 Days of Christmas and sitting in front of the fire place late into the night in my PJs. These are the things I've done on my Christmas holidays for years, but not this year. This year is different. 

What a downer; however, while most of my thoughts about working over the holidays were on the negative side of things and the things I'd be missing out on, my thoughts should've instead been on the things I'm getting to do, things like feel like Santa.

The job that I'm having to work is rather 'North Pole-ish.' I'm not giving toys away to thousands of children or riding in a sleigh anywhere, but I do get to help bring the spirit of Christmas to tons of children, couples and families. Essentially, I'm helping manage an event in Tulsa called 'Winterfest.' What's more North Pole-ish than that? I'm helping run a Christmas festival full of lights, hot chocolate, horse & carriage rides, and ice skating. These are all things that do nothing but fill people with the holiday spirit and put smiles on their faces, just like Santa. 

You see, the interesting thing about Santa is that he has to work on Christmas Eve and Christmas too. Weird, huh? The one guy you'd think should get some time off on Christmas has to work. He doesn't get to sit around with Mrs. Clause by the fireplace watching Harry Potter either. Instead, he spends his holiday working and bringing joy to others.   

Maybe you feel a little bit like Santa this year too. Maybe you got stuck working a shift at the hospital, or it's your first year at a company so you don't have any vacation time. Whatever the situation is, you've found yourself working throughout the holidays, and so far, you've had no reason to smile about it. Until now. I want to give you a reason to smile about it. 

If you're working through the holidays this season and start to cry every time, "I'll be Home for Christmas" comes on the radio, I've got good news for you. You're not alone; you're just like Santa, and just like Santa does, you get to have the opportunity to spread some Christmas joy with people on a day when everyone deserves to be filled with some Christmas joy. It's a pretty sweet opportunity when you think about it. Yes, there will always be the things you're missing out on, but there are also things you're getting to be a part of that not everyone gets to do. One of the coolest parts of the Christmas season is having the opportunity to serve others, and you'll have just that. So, if you're working this holiday season, take heart and know you're not alone, and that you're getting to play Santa Clause for someone who probably needs it.  

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Even Santa won't be home for Christmas.  

When God Sat in Mary's Womb

Yesterday, I asked and prayed for some rest, encouragement and creativity, and today I received all three. Basically, it's amazing what hearing from friends and going to church can do for you. Realization: there's something about hearing from your Creator that sparks creativity. 

Today's message at church was one of the most creative messages I've ever heard. It was a Christmas message, but it was unlike any other Christmas message I'd heard before. It was unique. It was a message not just about Jesus being born, but also about the obstacles that God Himself had to overcome to be born.  

Essentially, the pastor talked about what it must've been like for the God of the universe be in Mary's womb.  He talked about the vulnerability, the humbleness, the sacrifice and the complete transformation Jesus went through to go from the super-natural realm to the natural realm. This blew my mind because it was something I'd never thought of before. The pastor had some great points.

For Jesus, being fully God, to come to earth, be mortal, be vulnerable and become fully dependent on humans to take care of Him sounds completely ludicrous. He literally went from speaking galaxies into being into having to cry in order for His mother to know when He was hungry. He went from having all authority over all nature to shivering and having to be wrapped in a blanket. Jesus went from being in a place where He was completely understood and worshiped as God for Who He truly is to a place where He was completely misunderstood and hardly treated or worshiped as God. This blows my mind.

To have my mind blown today was exactly what I needed. It was just the boost of creativity and thought I needed to get my mind centered on what it should be centered on.  After all, what better boost of creativity is there then to know and think about the Creator of the entire world becoming a baby and living as a human? 

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: There has been no greater obstacle overcome than the one that God overcame when He went from sitting on His throne to sitting in Mary's womb. 

The Secret Behind 'Happy Holidays'

You don't need me to tell you that Christmas time is a special time of year. There's so much going on, so many parties and so much joy, it's no wonder that it's every other person's favorite holiday. Why is it so special though? There are other holidays out there like St. Patrick's Day, Labor Day and Thanksgiving, so what is it about Christmas that makes it so special?

Today was my company's 'Holiday Party.' Yes, like most of the culture around us, we have to be 'careful' and 'politically correct' when it comes to Christmas terminology. We have to be careful to say 'Happy Holidays' in our signage, our media and most of our content, but still, there's something about 'Happy Holidays' that has a lot more joy behind it than 'Happy Columbus Day,' and I think it's because we all know that 'Happy Holidays' really means 'Merry Christmas.'

At work, we may have had a holiday party, but, secretly, I really think it was a Christmas party. There was too much joy for it to just be a holiday party. Everyone was stoked. It didn't really matter what dirty Santa gift they got (minus the girl who got the $10 pizza I wrapped from Pizza Hut), if they won a raffle prize or not or how much vacation time they would be getting over the next couple of weeks. Honestly, everyone was just really happy, and that made me happy. It was a kind of special, unnatural happy that you only see around this time of year. It was a Christmas happy.  

Christmas is funny, what it does to people. It shows us something: for one day we can all come together, and somehow, someway, we show the whole world that we all know how to love one another. Every year on Christmas, that special day, the world shows that it knows how to love. People smile at one another, wave at one another and care for one another. There's this other-wordly joy, and I think it's because at the center of all this other-wordly, Christmas joy is Christ.

-Cliff

Cliff's Note: Christmas has it's miracles, but the biggest one may be the joy and love the whole world seems to experience.