May your Merry be Very!

Merry didn't exactly seem to describe the raging typhoon of determined and desperate last minute shoppers I encountered in my quest after work today to find a Starbucks gift card for my brother and his fiance'. Starbucks was out of giftcards, so I walked across two parking lots and entrances to the next grocery store, hoping they might have something.

My mama raised me to be polite, and say excuse me when going around people. To not push my way through. To wait for a courteous opening and then step between. To smile at people in the store and be mannerly.

It was soon obvious that if I was going to survive this influx of gift-buyers, I must resort to a slightly different strategy. I needed to become................................................................A Christmas Eve Shopper!! {insert dramatic music here}

I still said excuse me and all, but I played offense more than defense, and got through the crowds to the gift card display.

Apparently everyone in town had the same idea I did. The Starbucks gift cards were gone. Depleted. Outta here. I was disappointed, but actually really glad I didn't have to go stand in line and watch the faces of stressed-to-the-max people wanting to get home to kith and kin waiting on poor cashiers who probably hated being at the store on Christmas Eve worse than the shoppers. In the midst of it all a thought kept hitting me--where was the Merry?

It was not on the faces of the shoppers.

We say Merry Christmas. We wish others a Merry Christmas. We write Merry Christmas on our gifts.

But what about when it isn't Christmas?

When our Merry isn't very?

The truth is, if any people have reason to be merry year round, we do. Not merely because of the baby born in the manger, but because He grew up. And He paid for our sins on the cross.

I don't always feel joyful. I don't always feel merry. But often I have found that when I choose to praise God anyway, and I choose to rejoice in His goodness and His faithfulness, my heart catches up with my mind, and soon the feelings of joy are there.

How quickly I forget in the midst of this season just what I have to be joyful about year-round.

Christmas is a good reminder of just how much God loves us--but it's not the only one. When we walk outside and see the lovely world He allows us to live in, we should feel loved.When we hold a newborn baby and marvel at the beautiful craftsmanship, we should feel loved. When we wake each morning and can walk out of our room we should feel loved. Because while we may think about God's gifts and His love at Christmastime, God gives them to us every day.

My merry should always be very.

Because I have Him.