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Good morning, Grace Harbor. It's Dan.
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Happy Tuesday!
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I hope you're staying warm
wherever you are because it is CHILLY
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here.
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But it's also a beautifully bright
and clear morning,
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and I have a hot cup of coffee,
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so I'm all ready for our time together
this morning.
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I don't think I got the chance to tell you
yesterday that we have the official
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lighting of the town Christmas tree
in the Village Green tomorrow.
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This is one of my favorite events
we have all year.
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It's a big Christmas block party, and
it feels like everyone in town comes out.
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There's hot chocolate and snacks.
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There's live music. There's games.
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And of course, there's the chance
to get your photo with Santa and Mrs.
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Claus.
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Practically every business
and organization in town
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is responsible for some part of the event.
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Our church does a cookie booth,
and by that
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I mean we give away 500 cookies.
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As you can imagine,
this event takes a lot of work.
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There's actually a Tree Lighting Committee
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that starts meeting in the summer,
just to be sure everything's organized.
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And for our part, we start organizing
the cookie baking a month ahead of time.
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That's because, while we have folks
who bake cookies for us every year.
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There are always families who are either
new to the church or want to help out
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for the first time, and we don't want them
to feel stressed out by any of it.
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We want them to have fun,
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both when they make the cookies
and when they attend the event.
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So we put intentional thought
into our preparation
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to be sure
everyone gets the most out of it.
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And hey, you know what?
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That's actually not a bad way
to think about the special season
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we just started on Sunday called Advent.
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It's when we spend four weeks
getting our hearts ready for Christmas.
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I mean, we could just wake up on
Christmas,
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open some presents, eat some cookies,
and have a good time.
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But Christmas is about
so much more than that.
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But don't worry,
we have plenty of time to talk about
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all of this as Christmas approaches.
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For now, let's prepare for our day.
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We're going to do that
by practicing one of our core disciplines:
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Setting intentions.
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Take a minute
and think about what you're doing today.
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It might look the same as yesterday,
like going to school.
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But that's okay because ordinary days
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are part of extraordinary lives.
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And a big thing we're going to talk about
over and over again
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is the idea that how we do things
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is as important as what we do.
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And how you approach your day today
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might be different
than how you approached yesterday.
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So let's do a little time travel
using our imagination.
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Whether you're a kid heading to school
or an adult heading to a day
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full of work or errands,
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let's pretend the day is already over
and we're getting ready for bed.
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How do you want to be able to describe
today?
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Let's pick one word that captures
how you want your day to feel.
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Maybe it's “fun.”
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You want to have a day
that brings you joy.
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Maybe it's “patient.”
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You know,
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today might have some frustrating parts
and you want to handle them calmly.
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Maybe it's “helpful.”
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You want to help someone else
have a brighter day. For me,
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with 500 cookies
to be ready to hand out by tomorrow,
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I'm choosing “organized” because I want to
stay focused on meeting that goal.
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Now take a moment to think about the word
you want to be able
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to use to describe today.
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If you're not sure, that's okay.
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Your adult can help you think of one.
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Once everyone has their word.
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Go ahead and share it with each other.
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If you need more time,
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you can pause the podcast,
and I'll be right here when you get back.
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Now here's
something important to remember:
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We can't control everything about our day.
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And despite our best intentions,
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things may go wrong,
or at least differently than we planned.
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But the word we focus on helps
us decide how we might respond.
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So, for example, I'm planning on driving
around to all of my volunteer bakers
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this afternoon to pick up the cookies
and bring them to the church.
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But what happens if I get a flat tire
and I can't make it to everyone's house?
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I could focus on how I can't
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do what I planned to do
and get mad about it.
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Or I can remember that
my goal was to be organized,
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and I just have to find a new way
to be organized -
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like calling some friends and asking them to
help me pick up the cookies.
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Okay,
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let's close our time together this morning
with a prayer.
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If you want to, you can close your eyes
and fold your hands.
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Dear God, we thank you
for all of the exciting things
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that are coming today and tomorrow
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and over the next couple of weeks
as Christmas approaches.
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Help us to balance both
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getting ready for all that's coming
and being fully present today.
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Amen.
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All right, friends.
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Have a great Tuesday,
and I'll talk to you tonight.
