Day the 174th and Day Six of Advent

Reader, I'll be brief.


I have totally changed my eating. I mean, I have said NO to junk. I am allowing myself ONE - and I do mean ONE - small carton of eggnog as we draw closer to Christmas. And one piece of pumpkin cheesecake which I will purchase so I don't have The Pumpkin Cheesecake That Devoured My Weight Loss.


Right now, I'm getting rid of the sugar and junk in my system. I have been feeling ROTTEN. I mean, detoxification is the pits. It messes with my emotions until I just want to run screaming into the night and SMACK someone. And my joints hurt - and here's some...well, I don't want to say 'advice' because this is an advice-free zone but if your joints hurt you and you're not a mere child anymore AND you have lots of sugar - or much of any sugar - and soda pop and who knows what else in your diet...well, there may be a connection, and that's all I'll say. But I have not felt so great - physically (and I've been tired, too) and emotionally.


Last night, no dinner because Tracy the Seminarian was coming over to work on a paper, and I needed to clean and then do some preliminary work. I did both. I feel better.


However, this morning...because I had extra $$$, I went to New and Improved Extraordinary Work Cafeteria and got myself...a bowl of fresh fruit. Raspberries, cantaloupe, and pineapple. This is the perfect breakfast for me. Oh, and I'm charting my water today. I need to drink 2 whole Britta pitchers (the skinny one...not the Big Mamba...yikes, I would SO be floating...) today. Okay, maybe ONE whole Britta pitcher...it's lunch and I'm not doin' so good on the water thing...


Lunch will be Salad Bar with extraordinary salad-type foods. And some chicken. I am so happy. Yes, you pay for some good food and this energizes you to eat right. In fact, now that I return to the blog, it WAS a lovely salad with some chickie, and it was great!


Tonight, grocery store with Pearl and then...off to buy some gloves (2 pairs! an "everyday-driving-to-work-and-hangin'-out" pair and then A Good Pair to go with My Good Dress Coat.


Not only am I delighted, but guess what? I'M GETTING MY TREE RIGHT AFTERWARD! This is because I am editing for Tracy the Seminarian and it's makin' me some money.


I will probably have a rough day or two more - thank GOD for Bach Flower Remedies particularly but not limited to Rescue Remedy. I'm hangin' in there!


And now, Day Six Advent Meditation


JESUS GAVE ME AN EARLY CHRISTMAS GIFT

Yes, I'm talking about Jesus again. Advent means 'the coming' and it's the coming of Jesus, so if ya don't like it...well, you know how to close it all down.

The last several days have been very difficult for me because it's the holidays with the pressures of the holidays, I'm single, I miss my mom and dad, and doggone it, I've been eating like a Junior High boy let loose in the kitchen with no parental supervision. So...my emotions have been like [fill in the name of your favorite - or if you're like me and can't ride the doggone things, your least favorite - roller coaster, complete with almost getting sick and whooping on the second curve...] and I've really felt awful. I mean, really, really awful.

So boy, did I need me an early Christmas gift. And I needed one from Jesus because He knows what I need.

And Jesus being Jesus, I received not one, but two - count 'em, TWO - early Christmas gifts yesterday.

Let's talk about the 2nd one because it's great but #2 in importance. I went to my mailbox and there was a check. And I sure wasn't expecting it because it wasn't the right day in the week to be getting my check! I opened it (of course...) and looked at the amount and was...let down, because it was a much smaller amount than my weekly check. And then I looked at the check stub, and realized that it was HOLIDAY pay for Thanksgiving Day. And I have never received one of those - I'm a contract employee and we don't get 'paid holidays' as such. So here was this extra money. EXTRA. I wasn't expecting this. At all.

It's not a huge amount, but it's a great gift and I can use it for some cool things. I am all kinds of excited. I mean, I am ALL KINDS of excited - it means giving some help to a friend, it means getting my NEW GLOVES, and it means getting my Christmas tree! It means doing these things without creating great difficulty for myself. Okay, not great difficulty, but certainly a bit of the pinch. Woo and hoo. I mean WOO HOO!

But it gets better. This Sunday is December 11, 2011. I am Lector at St. Jerome's. This means I will read the Old Testament passage, read the Psalm responsively with the congregation, and then the New Testament passage (not the Gospel. Bishop reads that.) December 11, 2011 is the 40th anniversary of the day I was water-baptized in Virginia as a...college freshman on a warm December Saturday right before my first semester finals. This was a great day in my life and very much a spiritual milestone. Great things in my life began that day and have continued up to this day. But it gets even better. I mean, a whole lot better.

The Old Testament passage I am reading this Sunday is Isaiah 61:1-3 (and other passages). This is my all-time favorite passage of scripture, and it speaks to me about my life. It's sort of my 'life Scripture' and I can never hear it without thinking, "This is me. This speaks to me."

During such an emotional time in my life, realizing that I am lectoring the passage that speaks to me about my destiny and purpose, and realizing that I am lectoring on the 40th anniversary of this incredible day that still speaks to me - well, it was just the best. I say with all humility, all reverence, and all enthusiasm, "Thank you, Jesus!"

And here is that passage - Isaiah 61:1-3:

The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me,
For the Lord has anointed me to preach good news to the poor.
He has sent me to bind up the broken-hearted,
To proclaim deliverance to the captives,
And the opening of the prisons to them that are bound.
To appoint them that mourn in Zion,
To give them beauty for ashes,
The oil of joy for mourning,
The garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness,
That they might be called the oaks of righteousness,
The planting of the Lord, that He might be glorified.

And yes, I just wrote that from memory.

Independently,

Weltha