happy holiday

i almost forgot today was a holiday. phillip had to remind me and was disappointed that i forgot, because he wanted us to spend the day together. That is the crazy thing about having your own business, nobody tells you when you officially have a "day off" and sometimes, although not often, you forget to take one.

that being said, i'm trying to be more deliberate about how i spend my free time. the older i get, the more i seem to have to do! so this weekend i was a careful watchdog of my time, and it was great.

saturday was a "me" day. i cleaned house and even went shopping - my semi-annual "let's redo the house again" spree :) I bought some pumpkins for the door, a new picture to hang in the bathroom, and a great new fuzzy throw that Been claimed as his own right away. it was fun, and i didn't spend a whole lot. mostly i just moved some stuff around until it seemed "new" to me, and now i am content. i also made MORE apple butter, still have a few apples left, but did away with quite a few of them in the last couple of weeks.

yesterday, i decided, would be a true sabbath day. so, i didn't make plans to get anything specific accomplished. i went to church, and came home for lunch, then met a couple of friends for the annual Life Chain here in SF...i had never done that kind of thing before, and it was not what i expected, but more than i hoped. the idea was to stand with other believers on 41st street and hold signs dedicated to the sanctity of life. sounded pretty easy, a little weird, but not a big deal. it was raining, but i have a cute fuzzy hat and a warm jacket, so no biggie. when we got there, we ended up standing by my church, which is at the extreme west end of 41st street. luckily for me, there were instructions on the back of the signage that told us how to conduct ourselves! the main message was "don't do anything, just pray" - so i started to dialog with the Lord, pretty casually and easy. oh, forgot to mention that about 10 minutes before the chain began, the clouds parted and the sun peaked thru, it was abslutely still and peaceful....ahhhh.

so anyway, here i was, standing out on a street corner, praying like i was in my back yard. it was glorious! God reminded me of my childhood, of growing up and playing in the sunshine, and being loved and happy. he reminded me of how grateful i am for my life, for the experiences i have had and the people i have known and loved. he reminded me of how precious every life is to Him, and how much He wants us to experience life as He meant it, not the fallen world stuff, certainly not "politics" or "religion" but the true meaning of living and being in relationship with Him!!

so for that brief hour, standing in the light on 41st street, regardless of what it looked like to anybody driving by or standing around, i had a great time with the Lord...what a blessing.

i guess that is what a real holiday is all about!