My Worship Revolution

Last year I posted this on the blog a little more than a week before Christmas.
It included this reading from my prayer book:

Let us thank God a thousand times if in the sadness which invades us it seems to us as if we are rejected by the world.  The depression and suffering, the bitterness with which we seem sometimes to be soaked to be soaked, were the lot of Our Lord on earth.  Are we not fortunate to share them?  We should pity the happy people.  Pity those whose happiness, even though it be quite legitimate and innocent, keeps them attached to the world.  God is good that he has so despoiled us of everything, that we can draw breath only by turning our heads towards him. How great is his mercy, how divine his goodness, for he has torn everything from us in order that we may be more completely his.  So the suffererers are the happy ones through the goodness of God.  In suffering I give thanks.

May these days of Christmas festival bring you, in your suffering, I do not say consolation, but the blessing God intends for you. The child Jesus will perhaps not give you any sweetness, – he reserves that for the weak ones, – but his hand will none the less be spread to bless you in these days of Christmastide, and whether you feel it or no, he will pour abundant grace into your soul.

I mentioned in the blog that it made me think of others I knew.  Life was pretty good for me.
I couldn’t mention it at the time, but we had found out the month before about my mom’s cancer.  But she had surgery, everything looked to be gone, and she was on the way to a slow, but we hoped full recovery.
This year on the other hand, I feel like this reading is where I lived.  I changed a few of the bold lines to reflect what struck me more this year.
In the past 4 months we lost my mom, the house we were renting, and most of our kids stuff.  (Happens to be in order of importance there.)
Christmas just passed, and I gotta say, that morning was TOUGH.
Couldn’t help but think of mom quite a bit.

Don’t get me wrong.
At the same time we had a great Christmas as well.
Rachel’s parents and brother joined us in Santa Cruz and it’s ridiculous how many gifts the kids got from us all this year.  Let’s hope they forget that by next year so they don’t expect too much of a pile.

The holidays are almost over.
I just spent a few minutes looking over my blog posts from the past year and reflecting a bit.
Crazy seeing 3 houses in 1 year of posts! Lol.
More thoughts on the New Year later.

All that to say, it’s been a rough year.  One of the roughest I’ve experienced.
But God has been so faithful through it all.  Including this difficult Christmas season.
And while that reading is on the extreme end for me, it rings of lots of truth.  God really has been using the pain to pur abundant grace into my soul, and I think to force me to rely on him more.

In Caleb speak, I think lately I’ve been feeling and acting a lot like this guy lately.
Hoping as we head into 2011, I can start reflecting this guy a little more.

Ramble done.

Wow.
Had to come back and add a link to this post by Christ From Canada.
Watch the video and read the explanation of how the song came about.
Just wow.
Feel like it perfectly complements what was in my head for this post.  But much better said.
So cool.
Oh…and even cooler…that’s my friend Tifah singing!  Love it.