Day 4

I started the day actively looking for Jesus.  It's interesting - this looking -just this small bit of particpation on my part has made a big difference in my outlook.  I wondered where I would find Jesus - and I really didn't have to wonder for long.  I was on my way to work and I punched one of the Christmas music radio stations on my car radio.  It wasn't long before "Oh Holy Night" came on.  A word about this song - it's not one of my favorites and every church in America probably has someone who sings this on Christmas Eve.   As the song played, memories began to unwind and scroll through my head.  I remembered my friend Dixie.  Dixie was a woman in one of the churches my husband served a number of years ago.  She had an untrained but soaring soprano voice and she sang "O Holy Night" every Christmas Eve. Dixie, Bridget, and I were the young moms of that particular congregation and we spent a good amount of time together. As I drove, I thought about Dixie and Bridget and some of the fun we had.  One year, the three of us and our husbands' had a "tax night dinner" on April 15. All of us took a financial hit that year and we all had made payments to the IRS.  So we organized a dinner.  The plan was that we would each bring a dish to pass and some fruit for a salad.  Everything went smoothly until it came time to make the salad.  One of us had brought melon, one strawberries, and one bananas.  Now, I hate melon - in fact I can't even smell it without gagging.  One of us was allergic to strawberries, and one of us hated bananas.  So, we had the fruitless fruit salad.  We laughed about it all through dinner. 

I think Jesus was reminding me of all the good times my husband and I have had despite the pressures of the ministry and it helped me to step back and try to work on focusing on some of those happpy memories.   I would like to take some time during 2010 (perhaps lent?)  to work on finding many of the happy memories I have of our years in the ministry.

Today I found Jesus during my morning commute.  It was good.