That time of year again

I PROMISE this isn't about Christmas.

It's about that time of year.

FINALS

The last four(ish) weeks after thanksgiving blow. Totally blow. Everybody is tired, people are stressed and irritable. It's really just not a good deal. We all have so much to do and just want it to be done. I know for us, I've had a headache for the last week, and Brian isn't sleeping.

AWESOME!

I had somebody ask me today "why are you so un-enthusiastic lately?". I told them it was because I have end of semester-itst.

I walked away from the conversation and

SMACK

God hit me with a mac truck. I heard him say "Really? Finals are so horrible that they've stolen your joy?"
Me: "Uh.. uh.. uh.. yeah.. you dont understand I have this and this, and i just got done..."
"STOP, You need to be thankful you still have money to be in school, or that you're so close to graduate. Nevermind that I give you breath to breathe everyday and make sure your heart is working"

Anyways the conversation continued to go on like that for a while and he reminded me of Ephesians 1.

Ephesians 1 is broken into 2 parts
Verses 1-14 are all about the blessings that God has given us.
Verses 15-23 are all about the fact that we need to understand the potential that God has given us.

we receive these blessing with no contribution on our part. HE JUST GIVES THEM TO US.
-We are now his children
-He's blessed us with EVER spiritual blessing
-He's purchased us
-He's revealed to us the mystery of his Will
- The holy spirit has become the earnest of our inheritance, thats just the DOWN PAYMENT of the inheritance, not the actual full inheritance. WHAT!

Theres a lot more to this bible passage (and yes i have class notes in front of my face). I can't say that i'm 100% fixed. I'm still tired and probably a little cranky (God bless brian). But I have been given all of these things and should be totally Joyful about them. Despite the 10000000 things i have to do in the next two weeks. But God is good. and I shouldn't let school take my joy. .. Neither should you.

thats all for now
-j