{"id":3331,"date":"2012-12-17T05:53:56","date_gmt":"2012-12-17T10:53:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/simplelife\/?p=3331"},"modified":"2012-12-18T12:59:06","modified_gmt":"2012-12-18T17:59:06","slug":"purchasing-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html","title":{"rendered":"Purchasing time"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/18\/purchasing-time\/christmas-presents\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6980\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/christmas-presents.jpg?w=193&amp;h=128\" alt=\"Christmas presents\" width=\"135\" height=\"90\" \/><\/a>There are few times of the year that present the Church with a greater degree of purchasing power than the time from Thanksgiving to New Year\u2019s Day. \u00a0I\u2019m actually not thinking about purchasing gifts or other stuff but purchasing a more valuable commodity\u2013time.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/18\/purchasing-time\/christmas-clock\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6981\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright\" src=\"https:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/christmas-clock.jpg?w=510\" alt=\"Christmas clock\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a>During these weeks, as we abandon our vocations in order to celebrate the birth of Christ, time can seem to slow to a creep as we share these hours and days with family or friends. \u00a0We are often moving in a whirlwind of activity. It is because we are thrown with our closest associates and family that we can purchase time and make memories that will last all during our lives.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/18\/purchasing-time\/family-at-christmas\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-6983\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/family-at-christmas.jpg?w=510\" alt=\"family at Christmas\" width=\"259\" height=\"194\" \/><\/a>Time may be the most valuable thing we can give the people who live with us and around us. \u00a0I\u2019m not suggesting that the purchasing of gifts isn\u2019t important; but it is the time we spend playing and laughing that will be cherished as precious memories.<\/p>\n<p>During these precious days, we can speak about our Savior, sharing the love of God in many abstract and concrete ways. \u00a0As I sit in the dining room of my daughter, I hear a whispered, \u201cI love you\u201d shared from mother to child as she hands her daughter a towel and clean school clothes. \u00a0It\u2019s an important day in school and the preteen woman\/child needs the added assurance of love and acceptance.<\/p>\n<p>Time has been purchased in a second for a young woman for whom Jesus came in order to purchase her with his own blood.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>There are few times of the year that present the Church with a greater degree of purchasing power than the time from Thanksgiving to New Year\u2019s Day. \u00a0I\u2019m actually not thinking about purchasing gifts or other stuff but purchasing a more valuable commodity\u2013time. During these weeks, as we abandon our vocations in order to celebrate&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":387,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,334,20,3,40,186,49,16,8,4,41],"tags":[690,21,688,739,696,7,165,699,715,701,694,689,724,6,687,700,461],"class_list":["post-3331","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-christmas","category-church","category-developmental-disabilities","category-faith","category-hope","category-inspiration","category-intellectual-disability","category-mentally-challenged-community","category-simple-truths","category-spirituality","tag-autism-spectrum","tag-christian","tag-christianity","tag-christmas","tag-church","tag-developmental-disabilities-2","tag-eliminating-stress","tag-faith","tag-hope","tag-inspiration","tag-intellectual-disability","tag-mentally-challenged-community","tag-redemption","tag-simple-scriptural-truths","tag-simple-truths","tag-spirituality","tag-time-management"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Purchasing time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith<\/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\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Purchasing time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There are few times of the year that present the Church with a greater degree of purchasing power than the time from Thanksgiving to New Year\u2019s Day. \u00a0I\u2019m actually not thinking about purchasing gifts or other stuff but purchasing a more valuable commodity\u2013time. During these weeks, as we abandon our vocations in order to celebrate&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-12-17T10:53:56+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2012-12-18T17:59:06+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/christmas-presents.jpg?w=193&amp;h=128\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Linda G. Howard\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Purchasing time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","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\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Purchasing time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","og_description":"There are few times of the year that present the Church with a greater degree of purchasing power than the time from Thanksgiving to New Year\u2019s Day. \u00a0I\u2019m actually not thinking about purchasing gifts or other stuff but purchasing a more valuable commodity\u2013time. During these weeks, as we abandon our vocations in order to celebrate&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html","og_site_name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","article_published_time":"2012-12-17T10:53:56+00:00","article_modified_time":"2012-12-18T17:59:06+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/christmas-presents.jpg?w=193&amp;h=128"}],"author":"Linda G. Howard","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html","name":"Purchasing time - A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/christmas-presents.jpg?w=193&amp;h=128","datePublished":"2012-12-17T10:53:56+00:00","dateModified":"2012-12-18T17:59:06+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/christmas-presents.jpg?w=193&amp;h=128","contentUrl":"http:\/\/specialgathering.files.wordpress.com\/2012\/12\/christmas-presents.jpg?w=193&amp;h=128"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/2012\/12\/purchasing-time.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Purchasing time"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/","name":"A Simple Life, a Childlike Faith","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Linda Howard","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/#\/schema\/person\/a10d3530d8432a656d648135fe6da739","name":"Linda G. Howard","description":"Linda G. Howard is the best-selling and award-winning author of four books, including MOTHERS ARE PEOPLE, TOO and THE SECRET LIFE OF A HOUSEWIFE. Currently, she serves as area director of The Special Gathering, a ministry within the mentally challenged community. Additionally, she is the co-publisher and editor of CONNECTING POINT, the ministry newsletter. Her husband is a retired aerospace technologist who worked for NASA. They have three children and four grandchildren.","sameAs":["http:\/\/specialgathering.wordpress.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/author\/lhoward"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3331","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/387"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3331"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3331\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3332,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3331\/revisions\/3332"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3331"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3331"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/simplelife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3331"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}