Priorities

Its not a merry Christmas for everyone is it.

We are spending our Christmas this year with my parents who live about 41/2 hours from us. Today as we were preparing our traditional Christmas dinner, Mum (who is a volunteer ambulance officer) was called out. She had to pick someone up from the hospital in town and ferry them to the RFDS (that's Royal Flying Doctor Service) airstrip to be flown out. They were having a psychotic episode and couldn't be calmed or contained in the small local hospital.

It brought me back to earth a bit. How lucky am I. I have a family who loves me, a safe home and a Lord who has forgiven me.

Thankyou Lord that you sent your only Son to save me. Today as I write I am so thankful that our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ came to the earth to save me from the sins He knew I was going to commit. Thankyou Lord for your Grace and Forgiveness. I feel truly blessed. Help me to remember the true meaning of Christmas everyday and not get caught up in the festivities and business but take time to contemplate what a gift you are to me. The best present of all came wrapped in swaddling cloths and lay in a manger. Help me grow closer to you and I pray that I can let myself be an instrument of praise for you. Amen.

That perfect tree.

Well its really starting to hot up now isn't it. Tinsel everywhere. I bought a new Christmas tree this year. I've always wanted one of those nice ones, like the perfectly decorated trees you see in the catalogues. I've always had to resist the urge to "fix" the decorating job that the kids do on the tree. Now that I have my perfect tree and my kids are old enough to decorate it accordingly I find myself missing that slightly scraggy, lopsided tree with no decorations any higher than two feet.

Funny how we look forward to something and we forget to enjoy the journey. I've decided to just enjoy every day that I have with my kids. Before I know it they will be gone and I will miss them terribly. At the moment thats kind of hard to imagine but I'm sure it will hapen!