Repeat the Sounding Joy! (Truly Grateful Series)





 The photo above is from a post I did last year.  We have snow on the square for Christmas this year, but I haven't had a chance to take a new picture.  The decorations are pretty much the same though.  The traditions of Christmas in a small town that remain the same every year are part of what make it so wonderful.

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My sons have both been off from school this week and will be off again next week.  My husband, who works in the education field, is off from work too.  I, on the other hand, have had to work.  In fact I worked extra hours this week and will be working even more extra hours next week filling in for others who will be gone.  I didn't get any Christmas cookies baked this year, but I am glad that I still have my job.  There are so many who do not.


I am off today and tomorrow, so I'm looking forward to a little family time.  We will be going out to visit with my mother a little later today.  Tonight my younger son will be playing his bass for part of the Christmas Eve service at our church. 


I want to enjoy every minute of these two days because the day after Christmas, my younger son will be leaving with the high school wrestling team for a bus trip to Florida where the team will be participating in a wrestling tournament and also be visiting Magic Kingdom, Animal Kingdom, Downtown Disney, and Daytona Beach.  He will be gone until New Year's Eve.

My other son will also be leaving for a trip next week.  He's not going quite so far away, but he will also be gone for five days.  He is going to Indianapolis, Indiana for the Campus Crusade for Christ winter conference.  This is a snippet from the press release regarding his trip next week.

"College Students Take Food, Gospel to Indianapolis Community
Indianapolis, IN - December 9, 2009 - More than 1,500 college students from Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and Ohio will be out on the streets of Indianapolis on Wednesday, December 30 to deliver boxes of food to the underprivileged families and individuals.  Modeling Jesus' compassion for the poor, the students will partner with local churches this holiday season to help meet physical and spiritual needs in the community.  In addition to distributing the "Boxes of Love," each one containing enough food for a family of four, the students will share their personal stories and the message of God's love with the people they encounter." 

One of my favorite Christmas songs is "Joy To The World."  I really love the lyrics to this song so I am including them below the video.



Joy to the World , the Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King;
Let every heart prepare Him room,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven and nature sing,
And Heaven, and Heaven, and nature sing.

Joy to the World, the Savior reigns!
Let men their songs employ;
While fields and floods, rocks, hills and plains
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat the sounding joy,
Repeat, repeat, the sounding joy.

No more let sins and sorrows grow,
Nor thorns infest the ground;
He comes to make His blessings flow
Far as the curse is found,
Far as the curse is found,
Far as, far as, the curse is found.

He rules the world with truth and grace,
And makes the nations prove
The glories of His righteousness,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders of His love,
And wonders, wonders, of His love.

I'm wishing for all of you a very Merry Christmas filled with peace, love, and blessings from the "wonders of His love."  I hope you will be "repeating the sounding joy" at your house.

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Lord, for time spent with family, for my job, for all the wonderful opportunities available to my sons,  for the chance to celebrate the birth of our Savior, for the "sounding joy," and for the "wonders of His love," please let me be truly grateful.

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