The Right Word at the Right Time

December 3, 2010  Blessing #210

I am pretty optimistic.  Most days, I decide to have a great day and that is exactly what happens.  However, there are times it is hard for me to find the blessing.  This is one of those days. 

I am tired-I have had a hard time sleeping this week.  There is always something to wake you  in pregnancy--a trip to the bathroom, a cramping leg, a sore hip, or a powerful kick. I suppose it's preparation for sleepless nights with an infant.  In any case, at the end of this long week, Trey and I have begun to look hard at the realities of bringing a new baby into our family (a little late, you say?  Well, I may be smart, but I am not always rational-I suppose that is the blessing and curse of a woman--certainly of a Sanders woman).  The realization that my daughter's tuition gets more expensive next year-which means a smaller take home paycheck for me-while we add childcare expenses on the homefront is sobering. Basically, we are going be making a little less and spending a lot more.  If you've been following, you know that this is happening just as we are making headway on our get out of debt, build a nest egg program--the very one I was gushing about the other day.

So, tonight, I feel a bit overwhelmed with how we will make it all work.  I'm tired, pregnant, and emotional-so I'm sitting here typing through tear-filled eyes.  Isn't the roller coaster of pregnancy something? I mean I had a fabulous day with my students, my children are healthy, my husband adores me and I him, and here I am sniffling over a problem slated to begin in August.

Anyway, I sat down tonight to do my daily Advent devotional--and these were the word of wisdom on the first screen:

People of faith are not unrealistic. We know that the world can be a dark place.

But we also know that the darkness is not all. There is a reason to hope, because there is a light always shining.


Watch now for the light...and have your hope renewed.
 
It is the standard opening screen for the devotion, but tonight it really resonated with me.  The world can be dark-sometimes the darkness comes from outside of us and sometimes it comes from inside.  Sometimes we get so overwhelmed with fear, anxiety, and fatigue that we forget to find the light.  Tonight, that is what happened to me.  So, I'm thankful tonight that I am engaged in this discipline-not because it keeps the darkness away, but because it means even in the darkness I look for the light.  And 2nd, I'm thankful that I found the right words at the right time in my devotion.
 
Following The Star Advent Daily Devotion (in case you want to follow along!)
 
Not a one of my concerns is life or death-we will work it out somehow.  We always do.  There will be sacrifices to be made-tough choices to navigate, but this family will proceed carefully, thoughtfully, and with lots of prayer.  We will make decisions and then make them the right ones--and after those decisions, we will still be together--one more laugh around the table, one more personality to watch unfold, and one more light in our world. How silly of me to focus on the dark stuff.