One Good Thing Every Day: December 21, 2013
I have seen you in the sanctuary
and beheld your power and your glory.
About this time every Christmas, I feel exhausted. Have I gone to all the places I need to go? Do I have all the purchases to fulfill the needs of others? What have I forgotten?
Invariably, I have forgotten something–Joy. Hope begins the season, Peace remains a longing, Love remerges by Christmas Eve, and Faith retains into the New Year. But, Joy gets squeezed out in the middle. Add stress, fatigue, illness, and annoyances to the Christmas list of unchecked items, and Joy seems extinguished. Unless I remember Joy is that hidden ember in the ashes. Joy rekindles hope and peace. It reignites to reveal Love and Faith. Therefore, I poke my weary self to keep watch on the glow of Christmas Joy shining through the verses shared this week.
Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.
Let everything that has breath praise the Lord.
It is good to give thanks to the Lord
And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning
And Your faithfulness by night,
With the ten-stringed lute and with the harp,
With resounding music upon the lyre.
For You, O Lord, have made me glad by what You have done,
I will sing for joy at theworks of Your hands.
How great are Your works, O Lord!
