Merry Christmas!

I know, you're saying... um... Sarah, look at the calendar. It's January 15. You've overshot by a couple of weeks. But we did the actual Christmas dates down in Florida and then I went to Ohio (and Detroit, I have the CUTEST new little cousin Julia, plus got to see the ADORABLE Levi who is getting so big!) to do Christmas with my fam there, so last night, Joe and I finally had our Christmas together. It was wonderful. Pics will be posted on face book soon, along with video of the Speeder and his stocking. And this morning when we woke up to yet another FREEZING day here in Joisey, it was SNOWING!! So, yeah, pretty good Christmas for me. But, alas, because the rest of the world is unaware of the fact that yesterday was Christmas for me, Joe and I both had to go to work today. So as I was driving him to the train, muttering under my breath about all the folks who suddenly forget how to drive in weather, I found myself saying the following to Joe. (this is proceeded by me letting a driver from a side street make a left turn in front of me, with no acknowledgement of my kind driving.) Me: "You're welcome!. See that's the problem I have with all the drivers around here. I figure because I'm a kind driver, people will be kind to me, but that just doesn't happen." Which suddenly made a connection to a book I've been reading. My boss got it for me for Christmas, but Steve tried to get it for me too (Steve, side note, forget if I told you, but I should have taken that copy, the flight attendant on the flight home was asking about it and wrote down the title... wished I had it to give to her....) Anywho, one of Tim Keller's points is that the parable of the prodigal son was told to prick the Pharisees in the group who are represented by the older brother in the story. Because he'd lived a 'good' life, he expected to get all these blessings from his father. The pharisees of old lived much the same way. They kept to the law not because it was "life to their bones" but because they figured if they did all the right things, they would get all the right blessings from God. Not so much. And that's the way I've lived. I've been "nice and good" all my life (go ahead, Steve, break into 'into the woods' songs now...) expecting that God will bless me with all the things I want, no matter if they're the best He has for me. I've been good, and I want it so give it to me now. Yeah, I'm not a princess or anything. But even after reading it, and knowing it applied to me, it took crazy Jersey drivers to bring the point home to me. So thank God for Jersey drivers, and it's my prayer that I would love Him for HIM not for the things He can give me. That's my prayer for you too, this new year (well, newish... I know, I'm a few weeks behind...) That you would find a new depth of love for the Lord, that you would not be able to grasp how wide, how deep His love is for you and you would never tire of it. With the tough times we're facing ahead, He's all that matters.