December 19

Written by Bill Grandi on December 19th, 2023

It used to be that one blogger would feature another blogger for the purpose of helping the other to be “heard.” I also had another reason: I felt what the other person said was worth others hearing it. I used to read a blog which has since almost ceased due to a lack of readers (I just may be including my own in that statement). 🙂 Her name was Diane Ronzino and she blogged at Hadarah. Yesterday (Monday) she emailed me to tell me Merry Christmas but also to let me know of a blog she published. Now…for some reason Feedly does not include her blog in any feed to notify me of a new one and there is no place to sign up for an email from her. But this time Diane personally emailed me. I went to her blog and read her post. It was beautiful and since I am not a poet, it struck me even more. I’d like to ask you to head over there to read her post. You can find it here.

While you are there please leave a comment for her to read. In the meantime, I want to comment further on her post.

The poem/reading Diane offers is simple, yet contains profound truth. The HOLY came to be with the unholy. The HOLY came to be with what was once holy and sinless. The HOLY came to be with the broken. But He didn’t just come to be with the broken, He came to make the broken whole. He came to take care of the sin problem we all have (Romans 3:10, 23).  He came to set the captives free. It is easy to talk about how He came to break the chains of shame and addiction and (you name it). But it is far more concise to say that He came to break the chains of sin. Period. All else- our shame, our addictions, our struggles-are a result of that sin that entered the world- when the Holy became unholy-when our parents (Adam and Eve) decided they knew better than the ONE who was and is completely HOLY.

This Christmas season is more than a jolly good time. It is more than lights twinkling on a tree or a house. It is more than greeting people with a smile, a howdy-doody, a “Have a merry Christmas” or singing about chestnuts roasting on an open fire or dreaming of a white Christmas. It is much more about a holy night where joy entered the world in a form of a baby who grew, lived, died, and rose again…all to make the unholy Holy.

May the real truth of Christmas ring in your heart louder than any bell.

 

 

6 Comments so far ↓

  1. I did go over to visit Diane, Bill. She’s on Blogger, but doesn’t have a portal to actually subscribe through Blogger itself,which is the only way I would be able to subscribe again. I do miss her presence here.
    Blessings!

    • Bill Grandi says:

      I’m glad I’m not alone. I thought it might be because I was technologically challenged.

  2. First of all, thank you so much Bill for sharing my post. i do appreciate it. And Martha, thank you for reading once again as well. I’ve tried everything I know to fix the problem. I even tried starting a whole complete different blog, but blogger seems to almost be defunct at this point as it wouldn’t let me personalize it. So…UGH….Merry Christmas everyone!

    • Bill Grandi says:

      You’re welcome Diane. I’m glad to do it. I know some others have gotten off blogger as well. I am using wordpress so I have no answer to your problem. next time you write something please let me know.

  3. gail says:

    Diane’s poem was very nice. I am reading back through Romans now, it’s a reminder of just how much we can get caught up in religion, philosophy, and Christmas sprit. We can even misquote the Bible so that it says what we want, we convince ourselves that we are doing all the right things with all the right intentions. Without Jesus coming down to earth, to reunite us with Our Father, to restore the relationship, and to impart His righteous on us, for Jesus to stand in our place and take our punishment, to be justified through His grace, without all of that, all we would be able to do is to stand accused and guilty.

    • Bill Grandi says:

      You are right Gail. It is so easy to get caught up again in those things that can pull us away from Jesus. Misquoting the Bible is all too common.