Rejoice in all things

Max tried to pack his lunch this morning....no jelly, no bread, bad strawberries, no string cheese, no crackers.  The milk is gone.  Sigh.

Have you ever felt as if you work 20 hours a day and still end up with a pile of undones?
The new day brings more hours and you think you can catch up, but that new day also brings with it a whole new list of "needs done".

I ask if you've ever felt this way while knowing of course that you have.  Everyone has.
Well, I'm having one of those right this very second.
(well, it started yesterday and it's not looking that great today)

So what is your antidote? Do you escape? Cry? Yell? Take it out on those closest? Freeze and do nothing?

My other question: have you ever felt such joy and peace that you felt like music drifting in the warm night air?
It is my prayer that if you said yes to the first, you can also say yes to the second.

Yes, my plate is very full right now and there is much to do.  My stress level is creeping and, well, February is coming. (that's a saying in my house that means hardship!)

However, one of the devil's tricks is to burden us with the sense of permanency when we are struggling and one of vapors when we are joyful. 
If you are trying to quit smoking and it's the first three days and you feel like garbage, into your mind drops the phrase, "this is awful and it's always going to be this way." If you are trying to lose weight and it's only happening ounces at a time, when someone offers you chocolate cake you think, "this diet isn't working anyway, I'll be fat forever; may as well enjoy the pleasure I can have."

When things are good and we feel life is beautiful, we cling to the moment and think, "but I have to go back to the office tomorrow/there's all that work on my desk/that fight with my father....." and we are robbed of the joy in the moment.

We are not in heaven yet and this place is imperfect.  When we seek perfection in an imperfect place, we will feel burdened and overwhelmed or unfulfilled and wistful.  There is only One place to find the peace and joy in the midst of it all.   When we feel beauty and turn to Him, we are reminded that He is always beautiful, even during the ugly times.  When we feel burdened and turn to Him, we are reminded that in our weakness, He is strong and by His power we can accomplish all things needing done.

 What do workers gain from their toil?  I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.  He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.  I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live.  That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God.  I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.  When times are good, be happy;  but when times are bad, consider this: God has made the one  as well as the other. (ecclesiastes)


With eternity in my heart, of course this life pales.  It is only when I remember that whether it is a good day or a difficult day; a moment of beauty or the sharp pang of loss; a triumphant achievement or a humiliating failure, He- Lord of all is in all of it and will bring me through it and will give it purpose and will give me lasting peace.

So today, with no food in the house, a pile of papers on my desk and a list of calls to make...I give praise and thanks to God who is in all things and then I am joyful in the presence of all these things.

For you today, can you give thanks and praise for your challenges as well as your joys?