"Strengthen the weak hands,
and make firm the shaking knees. Say to those who are of a fearful heart,
‘Be strong, do not fear!
Here is your God.
He will come with vengeance,
with terrible judgement. He will come and preserve you.’
Then the eyes of the blind shall be opened,
and the ears of the deaf unstopped;
then the lame shall leap like a deer,
and the tongue of the speechless sing for joy. For waters shall break forth in the wilderness,
and streams in the desert;
the burning sand shall become a pool,
and the thirsty ground springs of water;
in the haunts of jackals reeds and papyrus will grow.
A highway shall be there,
and it shall be called the Holy Way;
the unclean shall not travel on it,
but it shall be for God’s people;
no traveler, not even fools, shall go astray. No lion shall be there,
nor shall any ravenous beast come up on it;
they shall not be found there,
but the redeemed shall walk there.
And the ransomed of the Lord shall return,
and come to Zion with singing;
everlasting joy shall be upon their heads;
they shall obtain joy and gladness,
and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."
Isaiah 35:3-10
"Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine
jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings."
William Arthur Ward
"Christmas is more than a time of joy and gift-giving and receiving presents. It is a time to recall our blessings and to gain strength in the grace of our friends and bosom of our families and loved ones. And above all it is a time to remember that greatest, almost incomprehensible gift in all history, how our Lord made himself as us, as we are in our true selves, and came to us in the flesh, the incarnation of selfless love.
And thereby those who are no longer present in body at the Christmas hearth may still be there in spirit with us, as we will some day be with them. Not bound up in crippling self-pity, not immobilized by faceless fear, not fleeting as a merely morose remembrance, but to be there vitally in our lives as our good angels, reminding us that the Christmas spirit is to be found, as Charles Dickens noted, in 'active usefulness, perseverance, cheerful discharge of duty, kindness and forbearance.'
This is how we may not only honor and cherish their memory, but actually live again in love with them.
What greater gift could we possibly desire to receive, than the ability to do good, to persevere in love, and to thereby live in the love of those for whom we care and who care for us, always? That gift is there, if only we will not shut the door of our hearts, and be open to it.
Repentance, forgiveness, and thankfulness.
It is not always easy to act on our light, because at times our love is clumsy and awkwardly done, and can even turn back against us when we serve it out of selfish expectations. But if we never stop trying to serve it in the true Christmas spirit, for the right reasons, then it will light a fire in our hearts."
Jesse, 16 December 2015
Just another day in Scam-land, with stocks rallying and then dumping into the afternoon.
The markets seem to be stuck here on a never-ending wash and rinse cycle.
The one percent must be paid.
Gold and silver were a little higher in this roller-coaster of risk perception.
A big chunk of physical gold took a hike out of the Hong Kong warehouses.
Wax on, wax off.
The Dollar was a bit higher as well.
VIX rose, bouncing off its moving averages.
The markets will be watching to see what the Fed does, and especially says, on Wednesday.
There will be the last big option expiration for the year this week on Friday.
Have a pleasant evening.
