I’m Blessed

It’s Sunday night when I’m writing this, and the very first thing that comes to mind as I count my blessings is that I got a nap today.

That’s just the beginning, but that’s the lovely feeling putting an overcast on my writing today: rest.

I got Knut all to myself on Sunday.  Well, we went to church, and of course the kids shared him too.  There weren’t any family functions to attend, there wasn’t anything on the calender, and there was a lot of hanging out.  Knut insisted that I take a nap since Solveig has been working on some new teeth.  Friday night and Saturday night each I got less than 5 hours of sleep with no stretch longer than 1 1/2 hours.  By Sunday morning I was a zombie, and Knut sent me up to nap after church.  It was one of those really good naps too, where you wake up refreshed and delighted.  I normally wake up from napping feeling groggy and cranky, so I normally avoid the practice. 

I can’t tell you how amazing it is to have another adult around the house.  He did the job we both hate: cleaning up the playroom with the kids.  He actually did the dishes too.  It wasn’t a work day by any means, but I feel so caught up and refreshed to start off the new week.

Other blessings this last week:
-One point in the sermon giving me food for thought for the week on loving God with my mind.  My mind is often all over the place, and the point I caught was talking about setting aside the energy to think about our prayers, and not go through our day in a rote style religion.  The fact that I was able to catch any point of the sermon when I was so tired catches my attention because it is so directly a work of the Holy Spirit.  The thought grasped will be such good kindling for prayer this next week.

-One of my blog readers (who is also a real-life friend) read on my post last Wednesday about the hymn I’ve been pondering.  Since it was one of her favorites too, she sent me a music copy in a key that is much easier to play and is in low voice range.  I don’t know if she knew I’m an alto, but that made me a little giddy.  It was a very sweet act of kindness.

-Another friend who lives a few hours away sent me an “I’m thinking of you” package in the mail.  Overall it was a great mail week!  She sent me some Christmas potpourri, YARN!! and a little craft book and activity for Silje.  Seriously, I have amazing friends.  This time of year it’s so easily for me to feel isolated and some very sweet people reached out to me to encourage me.

That’s me.  How about you?  How have you been blessed this week?  Sometimes it’s very easy to identify, and sometimes blessings come in unexpected packages.  One thing we do know, it’s that God gives us the exact blessings that we need.  I’d love for you to share how God has been blessing you.  You can leave a comment, and/or leave a link to your own blog post on the subject (don’t forget to link back to this blog in your post!) and join the party that way.  Thank you so much to all of you who have been participating in this each week.  It is such an encouragement.