How blessed we are to have friends who lift us up, who speak truth to us, who listen, give advice, encouragement and their constant prayers. This is richness; this is true treasure to have such wonderful women in your life.




Monday, December 9, 2019

An Early Morning Lesson in J*O*Y!

Well, my friends...Last week was pretty silent here on the blog!  It was "Christmas Tea Week" at my church and our week is pretty much SLAMMED every. single. day.  This did two things:  First, it put us right on time with the actual celebration of Advent, AND it had me thinking about PEACE all week long. Which, by the way, God came through sweetly in the midst of all kinds of crazy last week.  Now I am ready to sink my soul and heart into some J*O*Y!





















There is a wonderful phenomenon that happens most mornings.  Whether you are in the country or the city, if there are birds and trees around, you can witness something awesome.  But you have to get up early.

 I love to get up before the sunrise.  It really is a peaceful time of the day. I feed my animals (The LAW I was taught from my father, the son of a South Dakota rancher: "Your animals eat before you do," and it has stuck to this day), get a bit of breakfast, make a good cup of coffee and then settle in with my Bible on the sofa in my living room.  On nice mornings, I open the windows and the doors because I know something is coming with the dawn, and I wait for it.



As soon as the sun just peaks up over the horizon, the birds begin to sing and I mean SING!  ALL of them!  Dove and ravens, finches and quail, sparrows and orioles, blackbirds and chickadees, mockingbirds and meadowlarks...  It only lasts for a moment, but it really is pretty spectacular because for that moment sunrise has this beautiful, overwhelming sound of JOY coming from creation itself! 



The Light has come!  This is a resounding message I have heard over and over this week!  The Light has come into our darkness and we have reason to celebrate with great joy for this simple reason we are reminded of EVERYDAY:  There is NO darkness the Light cannot overcome...ZERO...NONE...NOTHING IS TOO DARK. 



Can I encourage you to set your alarm clock this week early enough to sit in the stillness of that darkness before dawn and wait for it?  Wait to see how God has given us this beautiful reminder that Light invades the darkness and watch the darkness flee.  

The Word gave life to everything that was created, and His light brought life to everyone. The Light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it." John 1:4-5

Celebrating with great joy!

Cherri