Treasuring and Pondering

Wow!  Since writing my last blog post the flurry of Christmas activities has came and went.  What a great weekend of family, fellowship, food and celebrations.  The gifts are opened, the food devoured and all that remain are the memories of another Christmas past.  Sometimes it seems that it takes so long to prepare for Christmas and then 'poof', it is over.

This week still is considered "Christmas break" where the kids are out of school and our days can still be more relaxed.  What a wonderful opportunity to 'ponder'.  I love the verse in Luke 2 , "But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart."  My plan for this week is to treasure and ponder.  To treasure the smiles of Christmas, the special feeling of getting together with family, the beauty of singing Christmas carols with the church family, to keep alive in my heart thankfulness to God for His wonderful Gift. To ponder or remember what was extra special about this Christmas, what songs, words, food and cards brought joy. 

As this is the last week of the year, it is also a good time to ponder things about the home.  The New Year is right around the corner. This is a chance to reflect on the home and our management of it.  What worked well to keep the home running smoothly, what didn't seem to work and may need to be left out.  What do we want our homes to say to our family and guests?  The home speaks what is alive in it.  What are some characteristics we need to cultivate and what are some that may need to be weeded out?  My home could use a good planting of peace, kindness, joy and love and less bickering, nagging, criticism and negativity.  By focusing on the characteristics I want to see developed, some action needs to take place. I need to first ask God to plant these fruit into my heart and graciously extend them to others.  This week I want to look over and plan to implement some household management, organization and better ways to keep the home for the new year.  Keeping a home singing, takes a lot of fine tuning! 

Courtney is wrapping up the Peace On Earth Challenge for December and this week encourages us to get out of the house and enjoy the beautiful outdoors!  I have no problem doing this as I have found an daily walk energizes and rejuvenates me. Some time outside clears the mind and peps up the emotions!  Courtney encourages; "If you live in the north, you'll need to bundle up. If you have a safe neighborhood to walk in - go for a walk. If you do not, sit on your porch. The goal is to get out to the open sky and alone with God in nature. Take your Bible and get alone with God for 10 minutes. Read Matthew 27 and 28 about Jesus' death and resurrection. Reflect on the blessings of the past year and make a commitment in 2011 to live for Jesus."

 
May this week find  you treasuring and pondering God's blessings and purposefully looking into the New Year to draw closer to Him.