Calendars are great! I love to put things on my calendar. Of course, I always use pencil because of changes that can take place. This year, I had many events on my calendar for celebration of the season. These events included family and friends. However, the week before Christmas, I came down with a sinus infection which put me in bed for three days. I didn’t feel flexible, but there was no choice. I canceled, canceled, and canceled again. It’s hard to be flexible because I know what I want. It was hard to be flexible and sick because I knew what I was missing. Regardless of how I felt, Christmas came anyway. I love that about God. He moves us through time regardless of what we think about it. He was so good to give me healing enough to enjoy our Christmas Eve morning service. Everything else can be rescheduled. I’ll get out my pencil and make it happen.

It’s easy to be disappointed in the midst of illness. It’s easy to cry. It’s easy to dream about what others are enjoying. BUT GOD! God uses every moment of every day of our lives to give us a greater understanding of our need of him. My dependence on God grew in my time in bed. Even though I was sleeping, there were dreams, memories, and thoughts of the Lord’s work in my life over the years. Christmas is an important celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. However, it’s a celebration we should celebrate daily. Jesus came. Jesus lived perfectly. Jesus died the perfect death. Jesus rose again. Jesus reigns at the right hand of the Father. All this is a cause for celebration each and every day!

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.” [Philippians 4:4.]

It’s 2024 calendar time! We will be getting out our pencils and marking down important appointments. As we think about the verse above, we need to get out our ink pen and write REJOICE on every day. What a joyful 2024 we would have if we committed to rejoice each and every day! The rejoicing comes as we remember Jesus and all he has accomplished on our behalf. This began in a manger. Let’s not forget the condescension made by Jesus to become a man on our behalf. It’s worth a little ink, isn’t it?

Rejoice in the flexibility we can have as we look to him! Life is hard, but we are called to rejoice in the hard times. Rejoicing doesn’t make things easy. It gives us the ability to acknowledge God’s presence in the hard times. He is the God of hard times because he is sovereign over all things. He is good. We can trust him.

May this be the year of rejoicing for each of us!

“Let everything that has breath praise the LORD! Praise the LORD! [Psalm 150:6.]