A Quiet Day

I love the holidays.  I love festive parties, special food, Christmas traditions, and the excitement of a long stretch of time off from work to spend with friends and family.  I enjoy the excitement of New Years Eve for the year a head and the time of reflection it often invokes for the year behind.

But after what can feel like a month long celebration, I find myself drawn to solitude, to quiet, and to time at home.

Today, with it's gray sky and slight but continual rain, provides just such an opportunity.

As Ecclesiastics so famously points out,  "There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens."

"A time to keep and a time to throw away....A time to be silent and a time to speak."

I think it's good to have times of energy and laughter and conversation, and also times of quiet, reflection, and recharging.

It's easy to imagine God as having part of the later, but I imagine he also wants to be part of the social gatherings and family traditions as well.

In closing, below are a couple more thoughts from King Solomon that seemed appropriate as we consider the new year ahead.

"Do not say, "Why were the old days better than these?"  For it is not wise to ask such questions."  Eccl 7:10

"Go, eat your food with gladness, and drink your wine with a joyful heart, for God has already approved what you do.  Always be clothed in white and always anoint your head with oil."  Eccl 9: 7,8

May God's purpose prevail for each of us this year!