{"id":146,"date":"2007-01-08T08:59:00","date_gmt":"2007-01-08T08:59:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/ok-im-bit-behind-on-reading-my.html"},"modified":"2007-01-08T08:59:00","modified_gmt":"2007-01-08T08:59:00","slug":"ok-im-bit-behind-on-reading-my","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/ok-im-bit-behind-on-reading-my.html","title":{"rendered":"Ok, I&#8217;m a bit behind on reading my Christmas cards"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;but I read this card from a friend yesterday and was struck that it is as true now as some weeks ago. (It is just that some weeks ago thinking about these things was part of the &#8220;Christmas spirit,&#8221; and now we are &#8220;back to work&#8221; and &#8220;back to life&#8221;&#8230;.)<\/p>\n<p>Note: originally the &#8220;still&#8221; was a red word arranged atop green words forming a Christmas tree shape.  I don&#8217;t have that technology!<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It is so hard to be <span style=\"font-style: italic\">still<\/span> in a world where we no longer answer, &#8220;How are you?&#8221; with &#8220;Fine, thank you,&#8221; but instead say &#8220;Busy!&#8221; and where the ordinary tempo of life seems to be to fall further and further behind. How can we stop and be <span style=\"font-style: italic\">still<\/span> and do I really want to anyway? I may complain about the constant burden of my busy-ness, but isn&#8217;t that also a way to keep score? If I am always frenetically busy, busy, galivanting about, my life at least looks like it has purpose, while if I am <span style=\"font-style: italic\">still<\/span> I might discover that it doesn&#8217;t.  I might have to face my own emptiness. But would that be such a bad thing? WE cannot be filled until we admit that we are empty. Then we can stop, be quiet and be <span style=\"font-style: italic\">still.  <\/span>Like on that first Christmas long ago&#8230; It was not to the noisily busy the proclaiming angels came, but to shepherds keeping quiet watch in the fields&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>May you hear good tidings of great joy&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>..still<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>I think we need to send each other Christmas cards all year long.<\/p>\n<blockquote><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8230;but I read this card from a friend yesterday and was struck that it is as true now as some weeks ago. (It is just that some weeks ago thinking about these things was part of the &#8220;Christmas spirit,&#8221; and now we are &#8220;back to work&#8221; and &#8220;back to life&#8221;&#8230;.) Note: originally the &#8220;still&#8221; was&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":99,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Ok, I&#039;m a bit behind on reading my Christmas cards - J Walking<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/ok-im-bit-behind-on-reading-my.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ok, I&#039;m a bit behind on reading my Christmas cards - J Walking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"&#8230;but I read this card from a friend yesterday and was struck that it is as true now as some weeks ago. (It is just that some weeks ago thinking about these things was part of the &#8220;Christmas spirit,&#8221; and now we are &#8220;back to work&#8221; and &#8220;back to life&#8221;&#8230;.) Note: originally the &#8220;still&#8221; was&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/ok-im-bit-behind-on-reading-my.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"J Walking\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-01-08T08:59:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"J-Walking\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ok, I'm a bit behind on reading my Christmas cards - J Walking","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/jwalking\/2007\/01\/ok-im-bit-behind-on-reading-my.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ok, I'm a bit behind on reading my Christmas cards - J Walking","og_description":"&#8230;but I read this card from a friend yesterday and was struck that it is as true now as some weeks ago. 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