Sunday, November 30, 2008

A Delightful Christmas Book for All Ages



From The True Meaning of Christmas by Santa Claus with Mitch Finley:

Listen to Christmas Music

During the Christmas season, the air is filled with Christmas music. Everywhere you go, in the stores and in the streets, you hear Christmas music of all kinds. Sometimes the Christmas music may seem loud and frantic, which does not add to the true spirit of Christmas. Instead, it creates a feeling of holiday chaos and uproar. Bang, bang, bang? Do not allow that to be your only Christmas music. Make sure to listen to some good Christmas music sometime during the Christmas season.
Whether you are a child or a grown-up, if you can, attend a live performance of Handel's Messiah; that would be good. Sit there and soak in Handel's music. If you look around, you may find me there, as well. Let the music warm you from the inside out. If you cannot attend a live performance, listen to a good recording.
Would you like to know a secret? One of my all-time favorite recordings of Christmas music is by a group that was popular in the late 1950s and early 1960s, called the Kingston Trio. This album is titled The Last Month of the Year and it is, for me, always beautiful, entertaining, and uplifting. Sometimes I listen to it through earphones on my portable music player as I fly through the night skies. If you look, you may find this Kingston Trio collection yourself. Of course, there are many other beautiful recordings of Christmas music.
Remember: Christmas music should not just be background music. Instead, make time to sit down and really listen to the music. Listen, really listen. Let Christmas music fill your heart and help you to feel more deeply the true spirit of Christmas.

If you would like to learn more about this book, or purchase a copy, click here: The True Meaning of Christmas

Saturday, November 1, 2008

An Amazing Story for the Month of All Souls' Day



From Whispers of God's Love: Touching the Lives of Loved Ones After Death, by Mitch Finley:

Frederick Buechner Receives a "Visit" From an Old Friend

Frederick Buechner, Presbyterian minister and bestselling author, reported his experience in a talk he gave in 1987, sponsored by the Book-of-the-Month Club, which appeared later in Spiritual Quests: The Art and Craft of Religious Writing, edited by William Zinsser (Houghton Mifflin, 1988). Buechner told his audience that a good friend had died one year ago, and a couple of months later he and his wife stayed overnight with the man's widow. That night, he dreamed that his friend stood there in the guest room "looking very much the way he always did in the navy blue jersey and white slacks that he often wore . . ."
Frederick Buechner told his friend how much they missed him and how happy he was to see him, and his friend acknowledged this. "Then I said, ‘Are you really there, Dudley?' I meant was he there in fact and truth, or was I merely dreaming that he was? His answer was that he was really there. And then I said, ‘Can you prove it?' ‘Of course,' he said. Then he plucked a strand of blue wool out of his jersey and tossed it to me, and I caught it between my index finger and my thumb, and the feel of it was so palpable and so real that it woke me up. That's all there was to the dream."
It seemed, Buechner said, as if his friend came to do what he did, and then he left. The next morning at breakfast, Buechner described his dream, and he had barely finished when his wife spoke. She declared that she had seen a strand of blue wool on the guest room carpet that morning as she was getting dressed, and "she was sure it hadn't been there the night before."
Buechner wondered if he was losing his mind. "I rushed upstairs to see," he told his audience, "and there it was--a little tangle of navy blue wool that I have in my wallet as I stand here today."

To learn more about this book or to purchase a copy click here: Whispers of God's Love