All was not calm...but all was bright

It may be the New Year, but I tell you, I can't move on until I post about our Christmas.  I just can't.  I'm stuck in last year until I hit publish on this post.  It just doesn't seem right to rush through my favorite season and close the lid on it and walk away with it tidily tucked away somewhere where I can't see it.  Why does it feel so taboo to post anything remotely Christmasy after New Year's anyway? Why not celebrate it all year long?  The message is the same, whether it's December or July, Jesus came  into our deepest darkness to shine the light of redemption on all our heartaches and failures and He became our flame of hope.  And that's something I need to hear every day of the year.

"All was not calm, but all was bright" has been the overwhelming theme of Christmas this year.  If there's anything these last two years have taught me, it's been that expectations kill joy.  It's not going to be exactly as I imagine in my mushy day-dreamy heart.  And that's not a bad thing.  It's an ok thing.  Daddy had to work long hours and weekends the months leading up to the season of the holy days.  And I said many prayers for single moms out there.  We got into a minor car accident after a trip to see Christmas in the Oaks, and no one was hurt but our van was beyond repair.  So the race to find a replacement vehicle began and the stress of it was enough to make me want to run for the hills and only drive a horse and buggy. All was not calm, but all was bright....

And there, in between the rush, the worry, the messiness of life, there was that warmth that the Spirit brings, the comfort only the Comforter knows how to give, and I love that my Savior isn't fazed by all my frenzy.  He is Peace.  And He invites me into His rest.  He fills my heart with good things.  He surrounds me with His love.  I see Him in the faces of my children and the man who loves me most.  I hear him in the voice of my mother on the other end of the phone, my heart catches when I wish my dad and brother a merry Christmas a thousand miles away.  I feel him in Mimi and Papa D's full house, in the goodness of family, and I know that...

all is not calm but all is bright.