Come to me

My deepest desire this Christmas is that we and those we love would come to Jesus.  Why is this so hard this season???   

It has been a long week for us, and this morning I was not feeling the Christmas spirit at all....felt myself wanting to snap at the boys at every turn...not their fault.  The load did not feel easy this week, as was evidenced in this morning's whinny, impatient, blah.

God has been teaching me what his promise from Matthew 11:28-30 means. It says, "Come to me all who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and by burden is light. " 

The victory has been won in Jesus.  My soul is at rest.  The "blah" morning is not the measure of my success or failure as a mom.  I have hope because Jesus redeems my failures and repurposes them for his good purposes. Crazy to me, that He is using my "fail" parenting moments to work out his good purposes just as much as the stuff I'm proud of.  Thank you, Jesus.  I strive, but the burden has been lifted with that hope. 

  

Please, Jesus, bring Calvin, Jack, and Luke's hearts to you (and all those who don't know you), that they would know rest for their soul in all their strivings.

Here's some of what we've been up to this week:

We raked leaves and celebrated Hockey's birthday...Calvin and Jack enjoyed "helping." Jack tried so hard to pile leaves on top of his little red rake and dump them into the trash can like me and Cal. He's not tall enough, so they would just tumble onto his head. He'd bat them away from his eyes and mouth and try again. I think sitting in the pile ended up being much more satisfying for him!   

We made and decorated "Christmas" cookies with some friends, too! I use "Christmas" liberally because we had to improvise without cookie cutters. We ended up with circles, rectangles, squares, and random prints of Jack's hand. They boys loved it......God made Jack's hand and all those shapes, so I'm counting it. The frosting and sprinkles make anything look festive anyway!  

Like did a lot of sitting up on the floor. He's doing a lot better with it!

And here Jack is reading to Luke. So sweet!