{"id":13751,"date":"2012-12-16T01:35:55","date_gmt":"2012-12-16T06:35:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=13751"},"modified":"2012-12-16T01:40:15","modified_gmt":"2012-12-16T06:40:15","slug":"12-pearls-of-christmas-day-3-who-is-mr-carbunkle-by-debora-m-coty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=13751","title":{"rendered":"12 Pearls of Christmas | Day 3 – Who is Mr. Carbunkle? by Debora M. Coty"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"12PearlsOfChristmas\"<\/a>Welcome to the\u00a012 Pearls of Christmas blog series!<\/b><\/p>\n

Merry Christmas from\u00a0Pearl Girls\u2122<\/a>! We hope you enjoy these Christmas \u201cPearls of Wisdom\u201d from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you\u2019ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next few days.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re giving away a pearl necklace in celebration of the holidays, as well as some items (books, a gift pack, music CDs) from the contributors!\u00a0Enter now on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0or at the\u00a0Pearl Girls blog<\/a>.\u00a0The\u00a0winner will announced on January 2, 2013 at the\u00a0Pearl Girls blog<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you are unfamiliar with Pearl Girls\u2122, please visit\u00a0www.pearlgirls.info<\/a>\u00a0and see what we\u2019re all about. In short, we exist to support the work of charities that help women and children in the US and around the globe. Consider purchasing a copy of\u00a0Mother of Pearl<\/i><\/a>,<\/i>\u00a0\u00a0Pearl Girls: Encountering Grit, Experiencing Grace<\/i><\/a>\u00a0or one of the\u00a0Pearl Girls products<\/a>\u00a0(all GREAT gifts!) to help support Pearl Girls.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Who is Mr. Carbunkle?<\/b><\/p>\n

By: Debora M. Coty<\/b><\/p>\n

In a dream this November, I was playing Clue (remember that board game from your childhood?) with three friendly strangers. We were each moving our pieces from room to room in the mysterious mansion trying to figure out who-done-it.<\/p>\n

So far we knew it wasn\u2019t Miss Scarlet in the parlor with a candlestick . . . or Colonel Mustard in the drawing room with a wrench.<\/p>\n

With a voice bursting with sudden enlightenment, the player to my right announced, \u201cWhy, it\u2019s Mr. Carbunkle!*\u201d<\/p>\n

My other two opponents and I looked at one another in bewilderment. Everyone knew there was no such character in this game.<\/p>\n

It seemed my lot to state the obvious. \u201cWho is Mr. Carbunkle?\u201d<\/p>\n

The words continued to ring in my head as I sat straight up in bed. I must have spoken the question aloud to jerk me awake so.<\/p>\n

Who is Mr. Carbunkle? \u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n

And then I knew. I knew just as surely as if the Almighty had sent me an e-mail titled, \u201cHey, Deb, here\u2019s your answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

I had been praying for several weeks about how Papa God would like me to use my writing tithe this year. It\u2019s been my custom, for the nine years I\u2019ve written professionally, to give away each December (anonymously, if possible) ten percent of that year\u2019s income from my writing ministry to someone the Lord designates.<\/p>\n

The sum isn\u2019t really all that much in the grand scheme of things (contrary to popular belief, Christian writers don\u2019t get rich), but it\u2019s enough to bless somebody in their celebration of Christ\u2019s birth with the knowledge that their Heavenly Father knows about their needs . . . and\u00a0cares<\/i>.<\/p>\n

I thought about the only Mr. Carbunkle I knew\u2014the one who attends our church, a quiet, unassuming man who\u2019d been out of work for more than a year. I confess that I knew about his plight but hadn\u2019t really given it much thought\u2014or prayer\u2014lately. Although he never complained, I knew his family must be struggling.<\/p>\n

So Mr. Carbunkle it is.<\/p>\n

You know, there are lots of Mr. Carbunkles out there who would be blessed mightily by a love-gift from you this Christmas. It doesn\u2019t have to be money; it could be help with yard work, or home repairs, or a loaf of banana bread, or best of all, a gift of your time. Thirty minutes of your undivided attention for a lonely soul who needs to know Papa God knows his or her needs \u2026 and cares.<\/p>\n

Who is\u00a0your\u00a0<\/i>Mr. Carbunkle?<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t have a Clue? I know someone who does. Just ask Him.<\/p>\n

*Name changed for privacy<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Debora Coty<\/i><\/b><\/a>\u00a0is an occupational therapist, a piano teacher, and a freelance writer. She’s also involved in the children’s ministry at her church and is an avid tennis player. Debora began writing to fill the void when her last child left for college, and it has since become a passion. Debora has a real knack for getting across sound biblical concepts with a refreshing lightheartedness as attested in her monthly newspaper column entitled “Grace Notes: God’s Grace for Everyday Living.” Look for\u00a0<\/i>Fear, Faith and a Fist Full of Chocolate<\/i><\/a>\u00a0in February of 2013.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welcome to the\u00a012 Pearls of Christmas blog series! Merry Christmas from\u00a0Pearl Girls\u2122! We hope you enjoy these Christmas \u201cPearls of Wisdom\u201d from the authors who were so kind to donate their time and talents! If you miss a few posts, you\u2019ll be able go back through and read them on this blog throughout the next […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christmas"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13751"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13796,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13751\/revisions\/13796"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}