Weekend Joy

Directly related to the last Simple Joy....here's 8/365:  the cinnamon buns after baking and being partially devoured for Saturday morning breakfast :)  I wasn't fast enough to get the picture before we dug in.

And 9/365.  I should really label this one Extreme Joy instead of Simple Joy because this one thrills me more than any of them so far.  Both mornings this weekend, I've been woken up by my 9-year-old crawling into my bed with his Bible, wanting to be read to.  One of his gifts this Christmas was a brand new "grown up" leather ESV Bible and he's fascinated by the differences in it (compared to the NIV he got from our church for going into Grade 1).  He's a little ripped off that the King in his favourite story (Esther) has been renamed in the ESV and isn't Xerxes anymore but Ahasurus or something.  It's just not the same :(

And, related, but not part of my Simple Joys:  my own chapter this morning struck a chord with me that I wanted to share with you....

Psalm 126.  I love the image of them being so Joyful (returning from captivity, or having their loved ones returned from captivity) that they felt they were dreaming and they laughed and sang.  I love that the people around them saw what had happened and were prompted to say, "The Lord has done great things for them."  I love that they recognized God's plan in it all and were able to see that he carried them through - not just sufficiently, but with more return/dividend than they could ever have imagined.  Not just safe return, but Joy. That's what I'm hanging onto.  That captivity will end.  That there will be not only a safe return but rejoicing and singing and laughter and such a visible display of God's goodness that people around us will be prompted to declare how good God has been to us.