Giving Out of Love

Wow, it has been over two weeks since I've written anything. I'm so sorry. My life has consisted at half hearted attempts at working on papers (one down and working on the other one), church, and hanging out with my friends. Life has slowed down to a pace that is almost too slow. I'm trying to enjoy it. But I don't think that I could handle life at this pace much longer. I know that when next term starts I'm going to wish that these lazy days were back. So I'm trying to enjoy them as much as possible.

The High Street has been buzzing with people every time I go into town. It was particularly bad today, as it usually is. I got my shopping done a while ago and sent my package a bit too late. So I haven't really had any reason to go down and shop. One thing that I hate about Christmas is that I'm always looking for things to buy others and end up finding tons of things I want to buy for myself. Including all the products at both kitchen stores I have found (I LOVE kitchen stuff). Why is it so hard to give without wanting in return? Maybe because it is expected. But I don't want to expect people to give me things. I think that gifts are a form of showing love from one person to the next. I want to give out of love, not cause I'll get something too.

We had a Christmas service at church this past Sunday. It was an interesting service. The pastor is on vacation to South Africa, where he and his wife are originally from. So they played these clips from the previous year of Mike out talking to other people in town. They were all talking about how Christmas is getting to be commercialized and people skip over baby Jesus. And then they had Father Christmas, aka Santa, come and give presents to the children in the congregation. I'm still trying to wrap my mind around their thinking, but they are English and they aren't know for their efficiency. But it almost contradicted what they were trying to teach. I know that it was a form of giving, but the children were getting and expecting. I have to think about it a bit more....