Good morning! I hope you are having a blessed Lord’s Day thus far. Today I’d like to share with you yet another devotional from Spurgeon’s book, Morning and Evening. This is incredibly thought-provoking It’s so good to be reminded of what we have in Jesus, which is far, far greater than the treasures of this world. I attempted to shorten this a little for posting here, but I couldn’t take anything out. :) I hope you are encouraged by this as I was. What an incredibly gracious God we serve! To Him be the glory!

 
“Behold, all is vanity.” Ecclesiastes 1:14

 Nothing can satisfy the entire man but the Lord’s love and the Lord’s own self. Some have tried to anchor in other harbors, but they have been driven out of such fatal refuges. Solomon, the wisest of men, was permitted to make experiments for us all, and to do for us what we should not attempt ourselves.

Here is his testimony in his own words: “So I became great and surpassed all who were before me in Jerusalem. Also my wisdom remained with me. And whatever my eyes desired I did not keep from them. I kept my heart from no pleasure, for my heart found pleasure in all my toil, and this was my reward for all my toil. Then I considered all that my hands had done and the toil I had expended in doing it, and behold, all was vanity and a striving after wind, and there was nothing to be gained under the sun.” “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.”

What! The whole of it is vanity? Is there nothing in all the wealth of kings? Nothing in that vast territory reaching from the river to the sea? Nothing in those glorious palaces? Nothing in the riches of the forests of Lebanon? In all you music and dancing and wine and luxury is there nothing? “Nothing,” he says, but sorrow, and his work is a vexation.” This was his verdict when he had experimented on the paths of apparent pleasure.

To embrace the Lord Jesus, to rest in His love and be fully assured of union with Him-this is all in all. Dear reader, you do not need to try these empty paths to find out whether they are better than the Christian’s. If you roam the universe, you will not find another friend like Jesus; if you could have all the comforts of life but lost your Savior, you would be wretched; but if you win Christ, then you could rot in a dungeon and even there find peace. If you live in obscurity or die hungry, you will still be satisfied with favor and will be full of the goodness of the Lord.

Hello to all of you faithful readers of my blog! :) Thanks for popping in today! Here’s a few things from my life these days (other than school, which keeps me pretty busy!).

Despite our not getting any snow yet, it feels more like Christmas every day. Christmas letters have been coming in steadily, which I always look forward to. I do so love to read Christmas letters. :) I have enjoyed listening to Christmas music: Handel’s Messiah, Twila Paris, Amy Grant, and classical Christmas music! Yesterday I made our traditional Christmas biscotti. This is such a wonderful recipe. You can find it here.

Last weekend Mom and I drove up to see the Northern Nobles to celebrate Anna’s 16th birthday. Since our birthdays are so close together, Aunt Kathy gave us matching scarves. They are super cute! For the longest time I kept saying that I wanted to start wearing scarves, and I’m officially hooked! Now the challenge is trying to not wear it with every single outfit! :)

Anna had a birthday party on Saturday, themed “Pearls of Wisdom”. It was lovely! I enjoyed meeting her friends and seeing family. Anna is a beautiful young lady, inside and out. She’s a blessing to me in so many ways – it was very special to celebrate her life that day.

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It’s the second week of our Christmas photography contest over at God’s World Photography.  This contest is open to anyone, so if you’re interested in photography and would like to enter, please go ahead! You can find more details on the site. Here’s my picture:
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Well, that’s all for now. So what about you all? What sort of Christmas-y things are you up to these days? What kinds of treats do you like to make at Christmas? :)

Can you believe it!?! December is here already! And that means that Christmas is not very far around the corner either! As we celebrate Jesus’ birth, here’s an excellent song to listen to. Mom shared this song with me last year, and it gave me a fresh perspective on the meaning of Christmas.

The beginning of the story (Jesus’ birth) is wonderful, but it’s the ending (Jesus’ death and resurrection) is the part that saves us, and that’s why we celebrate. I love this song because it puts into words the very reason for our celebrations at Christmastime:

“It’s about the cross, it’s about my sin; it’s about how Jesus came to be born once so that we could be born again. It’s about the stone that was rolled away so that you and I could have real life someday.”

I hope you are encouraged as you listen to this, and as we worship our risen King this Christmas!