A Very Special Gift

Do you have one of those people in your life that no matter how many days go by since you have last talked or seen each other, you remain kindred spirits?

I do. And today was one of my favorite days.

I met this dear friend for our annual Christmas get together. We eat, drink coffee, exchange gifts and yada yada yada...you know gab about kids, life, family. But most importantly, we encourage each other. Sometimes it involves tears, like today, and always it involves laughter.

Sometimes we head to our favorite costume jewelry store after eating our soup and salads. Sometimes we have our favorite Trim Healthy Mama dessert brought from home to share over coffee. Today over lunch, we shared our struggles, cried over burdens. Being real with each other is the most important thing. And being a great listener, which I cherish in this dear friend. She always knows what to say, and when to say it. The talk always goes back to the Gospel and our need to grow in Christ, be bright lights and keep Him central in our lives.

After having eaten lunch, we exchanged gifts. As I opened my bag I knew there was something special inside. One of those gifts that speaks of love and heartfelt thoughtfulness. Something that can be a constant reminder to be of what I need to be doing each and every day.

Choose joy.

Believe.

Two things that I find daunting, yet required by my Lord. Two things I want to do more than anything else. Life spits out lemons so often. It is a choice in how to respond.

We both spoke of how this journey is fleeting and now both of us, heading into midlife, have much to contemplate.

What and how are we believing.

Are we choosing joy even when the burdens seem to weigh us down? Weigh us down like drowning. Sorrows multiply. Bad things happen. YES, We can choose joy!

So I will wear these reminders around my neck as a beautiful weight. One that will keep my eyes on the prize of the upward call in Christ Jesus.

After tears were shed and grace was multiplied we grabbed a beautiful fattening cupcake from a gourmet shop and headed to coffee. We both found it ironic that we were armed with the new THM cookbook in one hand, a gift to her, and a delectable cupcake in the other. But, hey, that's what friends do!

A Christmas Prayer

The Gift of Gifts

O Source of All Good,

What shall I render to thee for the gift of gifts, thine own dear Son, begotten, not created,

my Redeemer, proxy, surety, substitute,

his self-emptying incomprehensible,

his infinity of love beyond the heart's grasp.

Herein is wonder of wonders:

he came below to raise me above,

was born like me that I might become like him.

Herein is love:

when I cannot rise to Him he draws near on wings of grace,

to raise me to himself.

Herein in power:

when Deity and humanity were infinitely apart

he united them in indissoluble unity,

the uncreated and the created.

Herein is wisdom:

when I was undone, with no will to return to him,

and no intellect to devise recovery,

he came, God-incarnate, to save me to the uttermost,

as man to die my death,

to shed satisfying blood on my behalf,

to work out a perfect righteousness for me.

O God, take me in spirit to the watchful shepherds, and enlarge my mind;

let me hear good tidings of great joy,

and hearing, believe, rejoice, praise, adore,

my conscience bathed in an ocean of repose,

my eyes uplifted to a reconciled Father;

place me with ox, ass, camel, and goat,

to look with them upon my Redeemer's face,

and in him account myself delivered from my sin;

let me with Simeon clasp the new-born Child to my heart,

embrace him with undying faith,

exulting that he is mine and I am his.

In him thou hast given me so much

that heaven can give no more.

~prayer from the Valley of Vision