by Roseanna White | Dec 3, 2015 | Thoughtful Thursdays
It’s officially the advent season. The time of year when decorations are everywhere you turn, where cheerful lights proclaim Christmas around the corner, where you expect smiles from your fellow man and sales in the stores and happy greetings to be upon lips.
The season where, in recent years, everyone finds something to . . . complain about.
Yep. Let’s face it. This has become a season of glaring at one’s fellow man as often as smiling at him.
I honestly have no idea where the chain of offenses began. Were people who don’t celebrate Christmas offended at storekeepers wishing them a happy one? Is that why some of the big stores dispensed with “Merry Christmas” and opted for “Happy Holidays”? I don’t know.
But I do know this. My job as a Christian is to save my offense for matters of sin. Of ungodliness. Of things that endanger the soul. And a non-Christian not celebrating the day of Christ’s birth isn’t one of those. Honestly, it’s kind of right, isn’t it? We shouldn’t get offended at non-Christians not celebrating Christmas. If anything, we should get offended at how many do, and then twist the meaning. But I digress…
My job is not to get all up in arms over a greeting. Or, heaven forbid, a coffee cup. (I mean seriously?) I’m not going to get offended at schools calling it Winter Break. I’m not.
For me, this decision came easily when I was a sophomore in college, working at an insurance agency after school. We sent out a lot of mail and had a printing scale to apply the postage to it. We could choose our postmark, and around this time of year, we chose one that said, “Happy Holidays.” Why? Because we had Jewish clients, and we wanted to respect them.
I have no problem with that.
What’s more, we used that stamp for nearly two months–beginning in mid-November through January. Guess what–that covers more than just Christmas. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years…not to mention Hanukkah or Kwanzaa (which still baffles me, but let’s not go there…) were all included.
I’m 100% cool with that. I always thought that was part of the fun of this time of year–the multiple holidays we get to celebrate. So why do so many Christians get offended at “Happy Holidays”?
I don’t know, but the joke’s kinda on the users who think they’re stripping the time of year of religious meaning, isn’t it? Holiday literally means “holy day.” Holy. As in, hallowed, sacred, dedicated to God. (Didn’t know you’d get a bonus Word of the Week, did ya?) 😉 Tell me, why should that offend a Christian?
There is plenty in this world, and in this season, to be offended by. I’m offended by the mass commercialism that has taken it over. I’m offended that people think gifts are more important than Christ. I’m offended that
Santa Claus has been so distorted that he’s seen as a pagan elf rather than who he truly was–a saint dedicated to giving in Christ’s name.
But I will not be offended by:
* Happy Holidays (holy days are by definition days given to God. So yeah. Wish me happy holidays.)
* Santa Claus in principle (because I know his true story, and it’s inspiring. Read this blog I wrote last year if you’re not familiar with the amazing early church tradition of St. Nicholas)
* Red cups (I mean, really.)
* Snowflakes, penguins, etc. decorations (because, yo, folks–it’s winter. I’m not offended at fall leaf decorations either. Or flowers in the spring.)
* Schools calling it Winter Break (because it is, and while it’s Christmas break for many, it isn’t for all. I’m okay with that.)
Yep, there is plenty in the world to get upset about. But as Christians, we’re supposed to answer to a higher standard. Let’s not get riled at the world acting like the world, or even at the world not taking part in what is supposed to be our holiday.
Let’s save our offense for where it counts.
by Roseanna White | Nov 30, 2015 | Word of the Week
I was surprised to realize this weekend past that the Advent season is officially begun–I thought it would start next weekend, but my calendar is obviously off. 😉
As a child, I knew that advent marked the season leading up to Christmas…but it wasn’t until later that I realized advent actually meant “the approach, arrival, or coming.” But once I learned that bit of information, I naturally assumed that the word had always meant “the approach, arrival, or coming,” and hence was applied to the Christmas season as it counted down to the arrival on earth of our Savior.
As it happens…not exactly.
It wasn’t until 1757 that advent took on that general meaning–then that people may have begun saying things like “the advent of summer” or the like. Until then, the word meant only the Christmas season.
Advent was present in Old English as such, taken from the Latin adventus (which does indeed mean “coming, arrival” etc.), but in Church Latin (what would have been used in English-speaking realms at the time) it was used only for the season leading up to Christmas.
As for the Advent wreath many churches and families keep today–the tradition was begun by a German pastor and missionary, Johann Hinrich Wichern, in 1839 (though there were a few earlier versions that didn’t catch on dating back to the Lutherans of the 16th century). The original version counted down the whole month for the children of the mission school where he served, with 20 red candles and 4 large white ones.
The purple and rose candles most churches use today were made to match the liturgical colors in the Catholic church for those Sundays in December.
by Roseanna White | Nov 19, 2015 | Thoughtful Thursdays, Uncategorized
It’s been an ugly week. A terrible week. My heart and prayers have dwelt much with the people of Paris after the horrible attacks. My heart is heavy that so many have tried to use it as a platform for their own agenda. I won’t be one of those. I just want to talk today about all that evil in the world.
And how we can fight it.
Terrorism is evil. I’m positing that as an axiom, so if you disagree with that general statement, then don’t bother reading on.
Terrorism is evil, and those who commit it have let that evil dwell in them, which makes them by extension evil as well. Not beyond redemption, but so committed to their cause that they are unlikely to hear opposing views.
Terrorists, then, are evil. And they are committed. And as people committed to evil, they will work hard to achieve their goals. They will find ways in. They will plot. They will plan.
But their plan isn’t just to kill–it’s to terrorize. That’s part of the definition, right? That they are trying to instill terror into a people group. Not just to hurt and kill them, but to make those who are unharmed fearful. To make them quake. To make them hate them back.
Wait, what?
No, I didn’t mistype. Think about it. If these people are working for evil, let’s examine what we know about the ultimate Evil. It too has a goal–to steal, to kill, to destroy. And to turn hearts away from God. What turns hearts away from God?
Hatred. Unforgiveness. Bitterness. Fear.
If terrorists can make good people hate Muslims, then they’re happy–because they’re polarizing the world. They’re ending peace, even where war hasn’t been officially declared. They’re convincing endless nations to greet with hate anyone from the Middle East, which will only help them in their efforts to radicalize more young people. “Look,” they’ll say, “how the West treats us. Look how they hate us.”
I will not hate them.
I will not fear them.
Are the radicals out there, planning ways to sneak into Europe and America? Absolutely. Will they take advantage of the flood of refugees? Absolutely. If the refugees are forbidden entrance to a country, will the radicals find another way in? Absolutely.
So how do we react? Do we lock down our borders? Do we pick up our weapons? Do we declare every Muslim the enemy?
I pray, with everything within me, that we do not.
Eighty years or so ago, there was an evil regime in control of a country. It perpetrated unspeakable evil. It terrorized an entire continent into subjugation. It killed. It raped. It mutilated. It convinced its youth that it was right to do so. And anyone who didn’t agree was either killed or forced out.
I have some German blood in me. Does that mean I’m evil by association? Does it mean people were right to distrust any German Americans during WWII? Were we right to force Japanese Americans into internment camps during the war?
I hope you think the answer is “no.” But just think, for a moment, how afraid that generation was. How they said, “We’re just protecting our country.”
Now fast-forward to this regime in Syria who is killing or forcing out millions of its own citizens who don’t agree with its beliefs or politics. These people are already victims–and now they’re facing a world who will blanket them with hatred, because they fear that one of those evil people–the very people who beheaded their friends and blew up their neighbor’s car and burned down their house–might be hidden among them.
This is what our generation will be judged for. How do we respond to this crisis? This tragedy?
We don’t defeat terror by reacting from fear or anger or hatred. That is how they win. They steal our peace, they steal our security . . . and they steal the love from our very hearts.
We have to be wise. Absolutely. While we’re praying, we would do well to pray that those in authority have discernment. We don’t want to be responsible for bringing in those few evil ones. But we also don’t want to be responsible for destroying the innocent. We don’t want to be responsible for hating an entire group of people because of what a mutual enemy has done. We don’t want to step on a slippery-slope of blanket judgment that leads us to become the villain in our effort to protect ourselves. But that is a possibility. We have decisions before us, and some of them would lead us to committing terrible sins in the name of security.
But other paths lead to millions of people hearing the truth about God. Seeing how He loves them. Seeing what it really means to be a Christian. To be part of a faith that isn’t founded on killing, like parts of Islam are, but on sacrificing for the salvation of others.
My Jesus didn’t kill his enemies. He died for them.
He didn’t hate them. He loved them.
This isn’t a question of how the nation will respond. It’s a question of how you will. Will you hate, or will you love? Will you fear . . . or will you trust in Him?
by Roseanna White | Nov 18, 2015 | Remember When Wednesdays
I’m feeling unaccountably tired (and, ahem, lazy) this morning. So I thought I’d just share some of the historical covers I’ve done recently. Not going to do a behind the scenes post right now (cause that takes energy, LOL), but if any catch your eye and you want to know more about the process, just let me know!
A couple months ago I was designing covers for WhiteFire and came up with these for a really fun novella collection (in two parts) that we’re publishing in 2016.
Here are closer images of the two volumes.
As you can see, they both feature the same model, but in different positions, and in the background is a picture of historical Austin, Texas. Awesomely, the city skyline is from an old postcard we’ve been given permission to use! So these two are clearly part of the same set, and yet different enough to be memorable. The authors are setting these 8 novellas based on Jane Austen’s novels in historical Austin and have included in them all a school called “Austen Academy.” They based the descriptions of the academy on a certain old house, which you see in the series badge. Fun, huh? =)
I also designed covers for the individual novellas, which will be on sale individually in digital formats (compilations will be available both digitally and in print). Well, the first four are ready. The others will come later, since Vol 2 doesn’t release until next September. 😉
Again, I wanted a design that spoke to the series aspect–and the fact that they belong in that first volume–but had something individual. So they’re all on the background of their volume, but with an image of their heroine. And of course, the novella title is large rather than the series title.
Not long after these covers went live, I got two inquiries on cover design from writers of Jane Austen fan fiction. =) That resulted in two covers for each.
Those first two are full-length novels by Brenda Webb.
Next up were two collections of P&P-based short stories by Renee Beyea.
As a side note, I found it so much fun to work with these authors and see the different ways they viewed Elizabeth and Darcy!
Then it was time for another fun one that required some characters with attitude.
(How fun is that??)
And I’ll leave you today with some Christmas covers!
This first one sounds super-interesting, following the cloth eventually used to swaddle the newborn Christ on its long journey through the house of David.
Then we have a fun Western novella that’s part of a bundle you can get. I’ve worked with Heather Blanton before and loved taking the “Heather” design styling into the holidays. And then she also recommended me to another author in the same collection. A Mountain Man’s Redemption was one of those covers that I put together not AT ALL following her questionnaire, simply because that photo wouldn’t let me go. I sent it to her rather wincingly, fully expecting to have to go back to the drawing board and make one like she said she wanted, LOL. Instead, she loved this one as much as I did!
So there we have it. My lazy morning, but following months of productivity. (And those are just the historical covers! I’ve been a busy girl, LOL.)
Do you have a favorite? Any you want to see the design process on? Let me know!
by Roseanna White | Nov 16, 2015 | Word of the Week
This one is quick–but interesting!
Anyway dates from 1560, though it was traditionally two words until the 1830s. And up until modern history, it was quite literally “any way.” As in, Is there any way I can help you? I’ll get there any way I can. It quite literally meant “in any manner.”
It wasn’t until 1859 that it took on the sense of “regardless” that it now often has. So, historically, no “I’m going anyway!” unless you mean “by any path.”
Yeah, pretty sure I may have used that one incorrectly at some point or another, LOL. But now we know!
Roseanna M. White is a bestselling, Christy Award winning author who has long claimed that words are the air she breathes. Having successfully launched two homeschool grads, she now spends her time writing fiction, designing book covers, and pretending her house will clean itself. Roseanna is the author of a slew of historical novels that span several continents and thousands of years, as well as a fantasy series and contemporary mysteries and romances. Spies and war and mayhem always seem to find their way into her books…to offset her real life, which is blessedly ordinary.