{"id":2139,"date":"2010-12-18T21:38:00","date_gmt":"2010-12-19T03:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/its-most-wonderful-time-of-year-2\/"},"modified":"2019-02-18T09:59:07","modified_gmt":"2019-02-18T15:59:07","slug":"its-most-wonderful-time-of-year-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/?p=2139","title":{"rendered":"It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year!!"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5552147209301243762\"<\/a>
My daughter and I were in the mall a couple of weeks ago, and since by now we\u2019ve heard every rendition possible of \u201cI\u2019ll Have a Blue Christmas Without You!\u201d, we started to sing along with it, when we both caught the words we were singing\u2026..and we said to each other, almost, simultaneously\u2026. \u201cOh\u2026.no we won\u2019t. We\u2019re going to have a bright, merry Christmas, because you are having a bright, merry Christmas in heaven!\u201d There\u2019s just too many blessings, and too much to be thankful for — to allow ourselves to be singing \u201cdown and out\u201d songs or saying \u201cwoe is me\u201d words. We are just too blessed. <\/p>\n

Just a month after the funeral of my Honey, this morning I attended the funeral of a dear 98-year old friend who was my mentor in so many ways. She raised two children by herself; she worked so hard to support them and send them to private school; she never missed a church service \u2013- rain, sleet or snow — she was always there; she always had a kind word to say to everyone. She was just the kind of person you would want to sit by at a table because you never heard her complaining -\u2013just always telling stories about her audacious, yet child-like faith. She loved God with all her heart. Oh, what joy it is to know she has reached her heavenly reward — she earned this! In the foyer, afterwards, a sweet friend acknowledged me and said, \u201cOh, it must be so hard for you to attend another funeral!\u201d My reply\u2026\u201dNo, not at all. It\u2019s another celebration to attend! <\/p>\n

Never having been a widow before, even though people mean well, I\u2019m finding it rather amusing\u2026.. and disconcerting, to hear what they say, or read what they\u2019ve written in cards. Such remarks as: \u201cYou\u2019ll have a hard Christmas and new year, but God will be with you!\u201d or \u201cJust go ahead and grieve \u2013 it\u2019s okay!\u201d Just last night, I was telling another friend that my two younger grandsons would be spending a week with me after Christmas. Her reply, \u201cOh, that\u2019s good. It will help you get through this tough time.\u201d I\u2019m thinking\u2026.\u201dWow, these well-meaning friends need a class in \u201cBringing Hope and Cheer \u2013 101\u201d!!! <\/p>\n

Oh, yes, there are those times when I think about the sweetness of our 44-year love story, and I start to shed a few tears because I do miss him so much. Just this last week, I packed up a lot of files and documents for our attorney. After all, we had a business and humanitarian foundation that his departure caused the need for some major business adjustments. There was one file that I just could not find. It was an essential piece of information necessary for the attorney, but, after searching for hours, I resigned myself, to going to the appointment without that file. I didn\u2019t think about it after that. Once I had Ron\u2019s briefcase packed full of the files, I realized, “This briefcase, full of files, represents his life,\u201d and I started to weep. But then, almost immediately, the tears turned to rejoicing! I thought, \u201cThese tears will do me no good\u2026except for messing up my make-up\u201d, and then, a profound sense of thanksgiving and praise begin to take over. I began to sing and praise and worship my Father God. I was overcome with rejoicing! I continued to praise as I walked down the hall. I glanced down, and noticed that coming out from underneath my hall closet door was some greenery. I put it in there to make room for the Christmas decorations. I opened the door to shove it back, and I could hardly believe my eyes. There was a box full of files\u2026..that contained the \u201cmissing\u201d file that I needed for the attorney. My rejoicing escalated. <\/p>\n

Several lessons I learned from that experience: 1) Psalm 16:11 \u201c\u2026..in His presence is fullness of joy\u201d \u2013 His presence was sensed when I took my eyes off myself, and turned them to Him; 2) Psalm 22:3 \u201cHe inhabits the praises of His people\u201d \u2013 He was there with me when I praised Him; 3) He promised to be my Shepherd in Psalm 23, therefore, I shall not want because He leads me and He guides me. Why should I be surprised when He provides just what I need? <\/p>\n

So, my Journey of Faith continues. Yes, there have been course alterations and my life-long companion is not holding my hand on this earth any more, but nevertheless, I am finding that the journey still keeps getting sweeter and sweeter\u2026..the more I trust Him, the more He gives me \u201cbeauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness\u201d Isaiah 61:3. Yes, those are the words I will give to those who are going through a crisis of any kind! It is possible to be full of joy\u2026.whenever\u2026.and, even at a funeral! Regardless of the season or time of year, God is so faithful, and we can always be singing, “IT’S THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!!!!”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

My daughter and I were in the mall a couple of weeks ago, and since by now we\u2019ve heard every rendition possible of \u201cI\u2019ll Have a Blue Christmas Without You!\u201d, we started to sing along with it, when we both caught the words we were singing\u2026..and we said to each other, almost, simultaneously\u2026. \u201cOh\u2026.no we…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2139","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2139"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2221,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2139\/revisions\/2221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2139"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2139"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mypeacezone.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2139"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}