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From METRON and Ken — We wish you ALL a Merry Christmas!

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I – A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, 1st published in London by Chapman & Hall in 1843 & illustrated by John Leech. A Christmas Carol recounts the story of Ebenezer Scrooge, an elderly miser who is visited by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley & the spirits of Christmas Past, Present & Yet to Come. After their visits, Scrooge is transformed into a kinder, gentler man.
Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol during a period when the British were exploring & re-evaluating past Christmas traditions, including carols, & newer customs such as Christmas trees. He was influenced by the experiences of his own youth & by the Christmas stories of other authors, including Washington Irving and Douglas Jerrold. Dickens had written 3 Christmas stories prior to the novella, & was inspired following a visit to the Field Lane Ragged School, one of several establishments for London’s street children. The treatment of the poor & the ability of a selfish man to redeem himself by transforming into a more sympathetic character is the key themes of the story. There is a discussion among academics as to whether this was a fully secular story, or if it is a Christian allegory.

A Christmas Carol captured the zeitgeist of the mid-Victorian revival of the Christmas holiday. Dickens had acknowledged the influence of the modern Western observance of Christmas & later inspired several aspects of Christmas, including family gatherings, seasonal food & drink, dancing, games & a festive generosity of spirit.
– Wikipedia

II – 4 And they shall rebuild the ancient ruins; they shall raise up the former desolations and renew the ruined cities, the devastations of many generations.
(Isaiah 61:1-4 AMPC)

III – “I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys.” – Charles Dickens

IV – “Small shifts in your thinking, and small changes in your energy, can lead to massive alterations of your end result.” ― Kevin Michel

V – Dr. Wayne Dyer’s famous quote, “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change” is absolutely true…it’s been proven in the world of quantum physics & is explained as ‘The Observer Effect’…Jesus said, “Unless a person changes his/her mind (μετανοέω: metanoeó), he/she cannot enter the Kingdom of God”…and, ideally, the Christmas season is all about changing the way we look at things…You don’t have to jump off of a bridge, & have Clarence the angel jump into the icy water after you to save you, to show you that you’ve really had a wonderful life…you can realize it right now, & change your present by changing the way you look at your past…you don’t have to have 3 ghosts visit you in the middle of the night to scare the bejeezus out of you, & cause you to have a completely transformational paradigm shift about life, about money, about relationships, & about yourself…you can have that paradigm shift right now, right here, in the light of day, & enjoy the season for what it is…you don’t have to steal Christmas from the people of Whoville, only to realize that Christmas is something more, & then have your heart grow 3 sizes bigger…you can look at someone differently & experience rapid heart-growth right now…you don’t have to witness a massive angelic choir serenading shepherds out in the middle of nowhere, in the dead of night, for no apparent reason…you can embrace the concept of “peace on earth, good will to the people” in your own relationships right now, right where you are…you don’t have to wait for eastern magician-astrologers to be led by celestial light to a foreign country to worship an infant King…you can follow your own star right now, into another dimension, & worship your God in your own way… Today is a great day to connect with the nexus for the visible and invisible realms, where a virgin can somehow conceive, &, inexplicably, the Word can actually be made flesh & dwell among us…today is a great day to allow Him to appear, and to allow your soul to feel its worth…you need a little Christmas, right this very minute…you need a little Christmas now…” – Jim Swilley

VI – (Genesis 28:16, 17 – The Message)

VII – “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year. I will live in the Past, the Present, and the Future. The Spirits of all Three shall strive within me. I will not shut out the lessons that they teach!” – Ebenezer Scrooge

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Bishop Jim’s insightful messages help others find THEIR METRON through M~otivation E~nlightenment T~ranscendence R~enewal O~utreach and N~etworking

12-8-19 – ‘IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE!: Freeing Yourself from the Ghost of Christmas Past to Follow Your Star into Your Future’, Part II

Today’s Notes:
I – “Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer” is a song by songwriter Johnny Marks based on the 1939 story Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer published by the Montgomery Ward Company. Gene Autry’s recording hit No. 1 on the U.S. charts the week of Christmas 1949.
– Wikipedia

II – “Being an atheist is okay. Being an atheist and shaming religions and spirituality as silly is not okay. Being a Christian is okay. Being homophobic, misogynistic, racist, or otherwise hateful person in the name of Christianity is not okay. Being a reindeer is okay. Bullying and excluding another reindeer because he has a shiny red nose is not okay.”
– Author Unkown

III –
“All of the other reindeer
Used to laugh and call him names
They never let poor Rudolph
Join in any reindeer games…”

To everyone who has ever been marginalized, ostracized, or made fun of because something about you is different, or considered to be odd by the mainstream, let me encourage you to embrace the ‘Gospel According to Rudolph’ and be inspired to celebrate the very thing that sets you apart from the herd…the uniqueness or eccentricity that made the others laugh at you, or make you feel less than, is the very thing that the world needs, even though they don’t know it yet…and when the right time comes, the thing that they thought was weird about you will be exactly what makes you so special and valuable, and will cause you to lead the pack…

When the lyric says,
“Then how all the reindeer loved him,
As they shouted out with glee,
Rudolph the red-nose Reindeer
You’ll go down in history”,

It always makes me think of when Joseph’s brothers finally realized how amazing his gift was…it was a long time coming for him, but his latter was most definitely greater than his former at the end of Genesis…so hang on…your “foggy Christmas Eve” is coming…
– Jim Swilley

IV – “You’re blessed when you’re content with just who you are—no more, no less. That’s the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can’t be bought.”
(Matthew 5:5 – The Message)

V – Meme (cartoon of Rudolph)
They used to laugh and call him names. Now they call if Bullyin

VI – Meme (see thumbnail)
Photographic evidence That Rudolph Wasn’t Allowed to Play Reindeer Games…

VII – “Train up a child in the way he should go [and in keeping with his individual gift or bent], and when he is old he will not depart from it.”
(Proverbs 22:6 – AMPC)

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Bishop Jim’s insightful messages help others find THEIR METRON through M~otivation E~nlightenment T~ranscendence R~enewal O~utreach and N~etworking

12-01-2019 – IT’S A WONDERFUL LIFE! Freeing Yourself from the Ghost of Christmas Past to Follow Your Star Into Your Future, Part I

Today’s Notes:
I – “The Little Drummer Boy” (originally known as “Carol of the Drum”) is a popular Christmas song written by the American classical music composer and teacher Katherine Kennicott Davis in 1941. First recorded in 1951 by the Trapp Family Singers, the song was further popularized by a 1958 recording by the Harry Simeone Chorale; the Simeone version was re-released successfully for several years and the song has been recorded many times since.

In the lyrics, the singer relates how, as a poor young boy, he was summoned by the Magi to the Nativity of Jesus. Without a gift for the Infant, the little drummer boy played his drum with approval from Jesus’ mother, Mary, recalling, “I played my best for him” and “He smiled at me.”
– Wikipedia

II –
Come they told me,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
A newborn King to see,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
Our finest gifts we bring,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
To lay before the king,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
Rum pum pum-pum, Rum pum pum-pum

So to honor Him,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
When we come

Little baby,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
I am a poor boy too,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
I have no gift to bring,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
That’s fit to give our King,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
Rum pum pum-pum, Rum pum pum-pum

Shall I play for you,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
On my drum

Mary nodded,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
The ox and lamb kept time,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
I played my drum for Him,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
I played my best for Him,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
Rum pum pum-pum, Rum pum pum-pum

Then He smiled at me,
Pa rum pum pum-pum
Me and my drum