“To live by grace means to acknowledge my whole life’s story, the light side and the dark.  In admitting my shadow side, I learn who I am and what God’s grace means.  As Thomas Merton put it, ‘A saint is not someone who is good but who experiences the goodness of God.’” ~Manning

Christmas is the epitome of the goodness of God!

by Geralt from Pixabay CC0 Public Domain

I ran across a poem recently that celebrates the very ordinary blessings of God.  The poet, Anne Sexton mentions her hair, the bath towel, breakfast eggs, a spoon, chair and more … and she says …

All this is God,
right here in my pea-green house
each morning
and I mean,
though often forget,
to give thanks,
to faint dawn by the kitchen table,
in a prayer of rejoicing
as the holy birds at the kitchen window
peck into their marriage of seeds.

So while I think of it
let me paint a thank-you on my palm
for this God, this laughter of the morning
lest it go unspoken.

I love her phrasing … this laughter of the morning.  In this late hour – last waking minutes … there is joyful satisfaction found as well … in the simple pleasures of a family gathered all around, conversations, grandsons at play, falling shadows, and quietness, stillness, the slowing of time, thought, action …

In the midst of the Christmas rush, take time
to thank God for the simple pleasures of life.  

Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the LORD has been good to you.

O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
O come, let us adore Him,
Christ the Lord.