Holly and Jolly

It's Christmas week and I'm trying to figure out why I'm at work when it seems almost everyone else is not.

Does it seem to anyone else that Christmas seems a bit anticlimatic? I mean, don't get me wrong... my holiday was happy. My parents spoiled me rotten and I enjoyed every minute of it, and the time off with them was a lovely little break.

But maybe it's the advertiser's fault, but sometimes I feel like all problems should be solved on Christmas, you know? Like.. with one gift or one party or one special holiday ritual--all will miraculously be well. That song that the radio plays.. "one day at Christmas" all will be well.

But I suppose, as usual my focus is in the wrong direction.
One day at Christmas, God sent His Son. One day at Christmas He made it so that we could know God. One day at Christmas, God so loved the world.

And one day at Christmas, He'll return.

Now that should make us jolly still.

Not Feeling Funny

So I've always thought that I was pretty funny. I mean, not in a stand up comedic, I crack myself up kind of way--but I know that a lot of my friends find me amusing. And honestly, a lot of the time, I find myself amusing--and life, and God--it all makes me smile.

And then there are days that I just.. I don't feel funny. Or amusing, or lighthearted, or delighted, or any of those happy things. And then I think, what do I possibly have to give the world on a day like that? I've described this feeling before to friends as losing (or at least misplacing) my joy.

But I really think this is a matter of not refueling. The only way that I can share joy and love with others, is if I tap into the Source of joy and love--and have Him fill me up to overflowing. Otherwise, it's just scraping the bottom of the well.. a very dry, unfunny, lonely well.

New Apartment

So before I begin, can I ask why the call them "apartments"? They're not "set apart" they're all bunched together...I think they should call them "compartments" because sometimes that's what they feel like...like those tiny nook and crannies in your car..mmm

Okay--so I moved. I moved across town to the street where my church is. I've been meaning to move for the last six years or so, it just never really worked out that I could.. and now I'm here. I'm not commuting a half hour to get everywhere, I'm close to work, to church to friends. I have arrived.

And of course, as in all cases when you feel that you have arrived.. the bottom is about to fall out.

Today, it was in the form of the very nice receptionist from the dentist office downstairs. I had just gotten out of the shower and I hear a soft dingdong and I grab my robe and head to the door only to find her friendly face there, and as I struggle to get the door unlocked and opened, she says.. that the shower is leaking into the office, and oh, so you're done with the water? well, yeah, now that I'm dripping all over the snow covered stoop...I am. Well, don't catch cold, she says, and say she'll call the landlord. Ten minutes later she's back (I'm still in my robe with slightly less wet hair) to tell me the plumber is coming on Tuesday.. could I not use that shower til then.. yeah, yeah...No one cares if I'm clean anyway.

And the boxes are beginning to clear out..but the odd thing about finally living where I always wanted to is that since "all my friends" live fairly close by, I guess I assumed that I was missing out on something living so far away, and the truth is, I wasn't. I mean, it's a nice neighborhood and everything, and I'm beginning to love the town...but it's going to take awhile before it's home.