Today, I'm a thief....

I was about to sit down and write a blog this morning, but before I started writing I checked my email and I got a beautiful letter from my friend Melissa Irwin.  It conveyed my sentiments today exactly, so today I'm going to be a thief and steal her words for my blog.  Here is what she said:

"Tis the season to be jolly!  And yet this season leaves a lot of our fellow man singing the blues.  Foreclosures are still big news, as are unemployment, deaths of our troops, and the current political battles over taxes.  Let's be honest, sometimes it is just flat out impossible to be jolly.  The best way to improve our lives is to focus inward.  I believe we create peace when we seek it.  And I believe that joy is a choice, no matter what circumstances we may be facing.

In the past few weeks, my blog, my facebook page and my inbox have been filled with prayer requests.  I've carried a lot in my heart lately and lifted up numerous prayers....ranging from relationships between mothers and daughters, sicknesses, surgeries, sons on the front line in Afghanistan, sudden job losses, deaths, and news of betrayals.  This morning my children and I decorated our Christmas tree and as I sit here in my home office and smell the fresh sappy pine, I just cannot help but think of the people I know today who are fresh out of jolly.  I'm reminded of the season, and the reason.  If you celebrate Christmas you already know that the birth of Christ ushered in a season of hope.  Where would we be without hope?  So....if you cannot find your jolly today, my prayer is you will latch on to the hope ~ and hang on for dear life.

If you are jolly today, my encouragement to you is to spread it around.  Pour it out like syrup all over someone else.  Sticky sweet is a.o.k. and totally acceptable this time of year."

If you are a blog reader, do yourself a favor and add Melissa's blog http://untilthejasperwalls.blogspot.com/ to your reading list.  I promise you that you will laugh, cry and be totally blessed with what this amazing woman has to say!!

Gotta head now to the grocery store.... they are predicting a WHOLE INCH of snow here tomorrow, so I gotta stock up on milk, eggs and bread!   (Why do we all feel the need to make sure we have ingredients to make french toast every time it snows?)  Oh well...  Happy Holidays everyone!