This year has been a doozy, that's for sure. At every turn, we were thrown curveballs. So many that even the greatest ballplayers in our country weren't able to keep up without adapting. From shutdowns, to protests, to tremendous loss and hardship. This year really did it's best to get us all to throw in the towel. To fall into a pit of desperation and despair. All the challenges lined up this year, to kick off the new decade with a line of trials, but if you are reading this, then you have surpassed them all. 

       You have survived, you live to push on another day. That is always a blessing, but in this pandemic year filled with social unrest, it is even more worthy of praise. You are worth celebration, and waking up to face another day, no matter how challenging it may be, is still better than the alternative. It means you have another chance to impact change. Change in your life, and change in this world. That is something worth celebrating. This universe still has a purpose for you here on earth, so take a few moments in the middle of the gift-giving and merry making, no matter how different it looks this year, to BE STILL in His presence this Christmas. After-all,                   He is the reason for the season.

Doing so can give you exactly the reminder you need to push through the tasks more joyfully and with the clarity to do so more efficiently, allowing you the blessing of more time to be in the presence of your loved ones this Christmas as well, whether in home or by video chat. Prepare your heart to be open to receive all the blessings that are still out there to be poured down on you as we celebrate this Christmas and the true gifts that it represents, and near the end this Terrible-No Good-Very Bad Year, shifting our focus towards the New Year ahead. I encourage you, to grab a warm beverage, a cozy blanket, and curl up in a quiet corner with your preferred method of bible reading, be it device or book, though I prefer the book for a more tangible words to heart absorption. Spend a few moments, even if it's only 5, not even reading, just being still. Be still if nothing more, He hears your heart, and in the still is the best place to hear His. It's exactly the recipe to easily get you in the Christmas "Spirit".  Now go celebrate the birth of Jesus, and have a truly blessed holiday!