Can't Wait For the Time Change!

This will be a short post, because I am exhausted. I have no choice but to just stop.

Even painting sounds exhausting today.

I'm pretty sure I should drink fluids, even though I don't feel thirsty. This morning's cup of coffee didn't do it's job. Thank God I'm caught up with laundry and that there will be dinner at church tonight for Reformation Day.

Don't know how this happened, but I know I'm in good company. A good number of people I know haven't been able to fall asleep at a decent hour. Unless I'm confused, I think this time change should help. I think it means that if I can't get to sleep by 1 a.m. , it will be 12 midnight, instead. I think it also means that I can sleep in until 8:30 and wake up and have the clock say it's really 7:30.

That's why I can't wait. I'm out of sync.

YAWN! (excuse me)

Now, if the clock moves in the other direction, my internal clock is in big trouble. But, I know I'm right about the direction because I was taught, "Fall back, Spring forward."

Right now, though, I think I'll 'fall back' and see if a little more sleep will help.

Enjoyment Part II

I feel so fortunate, so blessed, so content. And for me, that's a really big deal!

I've had a myriad of limitations, illnesses, frustrations, beliefs and challenges in life that ,thus far, have made feeling glad, feeling pleasure, illusive and difficult for me. But, I feel it now, and I'm like one reborn.

The feeling is fantastic. It's a blend of gratitude and wonder and fulfillment. Aren't those lofty things? Yes, they are. They're miraculous and God-given. The feeling takes me by surprise at times, and I miss it when it isn't present. I can't recall when I've ever been so glad. It's like I'm surrounded with blessings, internal and external, too numerous to count!

I can only give examples. This morning, I'm still recovering from a cold that hit me hard last week. But, I feel quite a bit better than I did, I even enjoyed my EmergenC powder in hot water in a tea cup. I'm playing background music softly, a wonderful instrumental CD called Prayer Songs, given to me by some friends a few years back.

The wonders never cease.I found a website that teaches languages for free: LiveMocha.com and began a French course with them, today. I've always, always wanted to learn French, but lacked the kind of opportunity suited to me. Not anymore. It's free! I love it already.

This morning I ate chicken salad on a toasted croissant. The chicken salad was done excellently by me, not mushy, not dry. Exactly how I like it). With my petite breakfast sandwich, I had a cup of my favorite Colombian coffee. Then I contributed to WorldMagBlog, probably the best and only blog of it's kind. I made myself a tall Pelligrino and pomegranate juice with lime, and am now typing away at this blog, doing what I love. It feels fantastic.

I know enjoyment is a gift. I haven't always felt this way and have had trouble believing anyone- ever- felt this way. But, then I read Ecclesiastes -an old testament book of the Bible. In it, Solomon says that the ability to enjoy your work and the fruits of your labor is a gift from God. Well!! You'd better believe I asked for it! I knew I lacked it and so asked God for it for me, for my husband and for my children. I know the drudgery of not having that ability. Life is quite different when you've been given the ability to enjoy. Of course, it didn't come immediately, there was a definite process and progression. But, I have it now.

I'm painting almost daily.

I love painting and enjoy learning and practicing and creating. My easel is currently in my dining room, not too far from my washer and dryer, so I can paint, wash my hands, and tend to the laundry: another job I truly enjoy. (I have a friend who knows: that is also a miracle.)

I could go on and on. God is that good. But, I'll stop in order to tie this up. I know I don't deserve any of this abundant goodness lavished on me. I know it's all gift after gift. I've prayed for you, readers of my blog, that God would give you the gift of enjoyment. Try reading Ecclesiastes. It may not seem very uplifting at first, but it discusses futility and the blessing of enjoyment.

I will say, there was some 'positioning' and obeying I had to do along the way. I had to say no to quite a few things. But, how worth it. I feel God all around me and in me. I'm glad of heart. What intense and deep elation. May you receive it as well.
Blessings.

Enjoyment

From the Westminster Confession Shorter Catechism:

Q: What is the chief end of man?

A: The chief end of man is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.

Hmmm....

Lofty thought.

Enjoy God. How do I do that?
Glorify God? Well, that's a separate question.

This morning, admist plenty of stress (believe me), I found myself enjoying God.

Everyone was out of the house. I had done the dishes. It was time for breakfast.

So, I got my especially-baked-for-me-by-my-husband, healthy muffin and put it on a pretty-ish, small yellow plate. I took my Yoplait yogurt out of it's container and put it in a small, antique, green, glass bowl. And I put a delicate spoon by it's side.

I enjoyed the preparations. Sometimes I eat on the run, and I don't enjoy that very much.

I served myself my Colombian coffee in a green cup on a blue saucer because color matters. My table has an Indian red table cloth on it, and I loved the contrast. Trust me, it was lovely and inviting and exactly to my liking. I had soft, instrumental music in the background.

I was communing with God, doing what I enjoy.

He did and does the same kind of thing I was doing this morning.

He created the universe. He designed each and every tree and was lavish in all the details. He decided strawberries would be red, lemons would be yellow and blueberries would be blue. He looked on all he had done and said, "It is good."

He communed with his creation, in the making of it, and in the enjoyment of it.

I communed with God today by planning and enjoying the lavish little details; by taking time to give expression to my need for beauty.

Some of the details of how God reached me this morning, through his word, through his people, through his provisions, through the spontaneous gift from friends who enjoy me, remain treasured in my heart and not expressed in writing for now.

But, my point is this: that just by setting the table to my liking, I experienced some of God's character, pleasure, approval, and a touch of how he is when he's creating.

It's important to enjoy small things, the preparations, because God is gloriously revealed in them as well as in the large and extraordinary.

It's not a waste of time to do an ordinary thing in an extraordinary way. Our creator does it all the time! God is revealed through beauty. All of this from not eating out of a yogurt container! The more I know him, the more I love God.