He comes to make His blessings flow ...

I love Christmas carols. I have always loved them. Even as a small child, my favorite part about Christmas was the church service the night before Christmas. We attended a fairly large church in Detroit and almost every year there was a choir cantata performed on Christmas Eve. Always beautiful. I looked forward to it so much.

But even more than the choir, I enjoyed the congregational singing of favorite Christmas carols. "Joy to the World" was never my favorite ... except for verse three: "No more let sins and sorrows grow, nor thorns infest the ground; He comes to make His blessings flow far as the curse is found ..." As far as the curse is found? Wow. I used to mull that one over sitting in the pew ... and it gave me such hope and peace that some day all would be well.

As I've grown older in my faith, I have learned to appreciate all of the verses in this dear old carol ~ "Joy to the world, the LORD is come! Let earth receive her King!" Isn't that what it's all about? Jesus the King? He is King of the Universe, the Maker of heaven and earth and every living thing. I am glad Jesus is MY King. More than anything, He deserves my praise and worship ... He alone is worthy.

So I sing this song with JOY and say: "Let every heart prepare Him room ... and heaven and nature sing!" These photographs and lyrics were used as our Christmas card this year. We mailed out 90 of them!

MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you. After being seriously ill the last two weeks, I am on the mend and so grateful for it. I hope your celebration of IMMANUEL, "God with us", is full of JOY.

"From the fullness of God's grace, we have all received one blessing after another." JOHN 1.16