Blessings And Joy

"For surely, O LORD, you bless the righteous;
you surround them with your favor as with a shield." Psalm 5:12

I wasn't totally sure I was going to blog this morning. Every once in a while it's nice to take a day or two break, and while usually it's when I'm sick or on vacation, this time, I just liked having my mornings with my kids. And as I thought about that, I thought I needed to blog this morning, because this has just been such a wonderful couple of days.

In the past, we've really gotten caught up in Christmas frenzy. Not so much in the last year or two, but beyond that, I can look back and see how we totally lost Christmas in with how busy we made ourselves. We'd commit to activity after activity, and in between commitments, we'd be stressing about all the gifts we needed to buy and the lack of funds for doing so. I would even stress about being in the kitchen, about having to make so many cookies and candies, and inevitably all the stress the several weeks prior led to me not feeling well sometime during Christmas week. It's interesting how the lack of stress leads to a much healthier holiday season.

But I've been blessed by several months of focus prior to Christmas...focus on God, and because of that, Christmas has been especially blessed. Not only has it been a time to focus on God and what he has done for us this past year, but it has also been a time of rest, if you can believe it. Other than a few household chores, it's been a time to simply spend with family, enjoying each other's company and sharing what God has done with us. I woke up this day after Christmas, and I truly do feel as if I've had a vacation- you know that feeling? The feeling where you've had several days where you have not needed to really worry about much more than what's for dinner, it's a wonderful feeling, and not one I expect to have in the midst of a normally harried holiday season.

I am so thankful to God this morning for that. I do feel rested, and I expect this feeling to continue well into next week as we finished out the year of 2008. I thank God for his peace, for his provision that provides that peace, and for rest. I feel completely blessed, and it's not because of a gift I might have found underneath a Christmas tree, but rather, it's because of a gift that dwells inside of me.

"Therefore my heart is glad and my tongue rejoices; my body also will rest secure" Psalm 16:9