123123 Goodbye, 2023

It is what it is. 

I’m grateful. 

How Does a Weary World Rejoice? Christmas Day

Love God. Make room for God. Trust God. Love people as God loves me. Give thanks & glory to God. 

“Since no one knows the day or the hour that the Son of God will return, then we ought to be ready to give God our best, lean not on our own understanding, and in all our ways trust God to direct our paths.” 

Christmas Eve 2023

 At peace & grateful. More to come maybe. 

Joy overcomes weariness

 I found something new today to make me weary: cold symptoms including a runny nose. But seeing this progression of sunset colors as I looked out the window while preparing dinner stirred up joy within me, even to just view it from my house instead of make a mad dash to the neighborhood lake to try to capture the reflection on the water!  By sharing pictures on social media, I can count them as inspired by yesterday’s Advent calendar prompt: connection. Meanwhile, today’s Advent prompt was to bake, cook or eat something that brings me delights. A biscuit, gravy & bacon did it for me! #howdoesawearyworldrejoice @sanctifiedart

Exchanging weariness for joy

 Today I tried this: Breathe deeply & pray. With every exhale, release something that makes you weary. With every inhale, ask God for something that brings you joy.

It helped transform my perspective about a long-delayed task from daunting & impossible to an opportunity to experience joy. 

#howdoesawearyworldrejoice #smallstepscount

How does a weary world rejoice?

How does a weary world rejoice? The answer seems to be: by trusting God to handle whatever it is that makes one weary. 

I’m doing a December/Advent calendar that has things to do for each day, with the theme How does a weary world rejoice? 

Today’s prompt: on a piece of paper, write down everything that makes you weary. Then rip the paper into small pieces as a way to release it all & offer it to God. 

I guess it’s my 12-step experience that makes me think I need to share it with another person before I release it to God. So, after I wrote my list, I sent a copy to a trusted friend before I tore it up. 

I knew this one was coming, & it hit the core of my wanting to hang on even to negative things! How will I know what I’m letting go of (or whether I’m making progress) if I don’t keep the list? This has really wracked my brain!! 

The good news is that making the list & tearing it up without keeping a copy didn’t  seem as daunting when I did it as when I first read about it a couple days ago or when I was thinking about it in bed this morning. That’s progress! I was able to realize if I think of something new or old that makes me weary, I can also write it down & tear it up, releasing it to God.

I deleted the sent texts containing the list after I tore up my paper. 

P.S. The first day was to write down everything that brings me joy & put it somewhere I’ll see it daily. That was a very good exercise as well. I’ve actually added to it!

Here I go again … gratefully!

I TRIED to talk myself out of posting anything to start December & Advent!!! And yet … despite how much I struggle with these, they end up being an important part of my spiritual experience. @sanctifiedart #howdoesawearyworldrejoice

More to come …