Busy As a Bee

What year is it? I've lost all sense of time.

But I did find some lovely cedar branches at the flea market!

They're now lookin' purty here and there in the house and on the front porch. We're all aglow with twinkly lights and happy smells and the sound of doggy toenails on the floor and Silent Night on the stereo and dirty dishes in the sink and party leftovers on the dining table and gift wrap on the guest bed (more on that later) and candles in the windows and passages from Isaiah on the brain (Isaiah's a terrific book to read in December).

Despite my best efforts, I find myself struggling to keep my eye on the prize and my mind on the Savior. But Isaiah is doing his part, and God has His ways of getting my attention back where it belongs!

The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy,
    he is the one you are to fear,
    he is the one you are to dread,

and he will be a sanctuary;
    but for both houses of Israel he will be
a stone that causes men to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall.

--Isaiah 8:13-14

Lights and parties and greenery don't have much of any eternal value, and God's pretty serious about how we should view him. I love the contrast in that first verse - he's to be feared and dreaded, AND he's our sanctuary. A formidable God in whom I can find rest! (And I'm all about rest right now, whew.)