I’m a desert wanderer looking for an oasis. I know where the oasis is, but for some reason I tend to linger in getting there. The scenic routes are the ones I choose rather than the most direct avenues. I’m so thirsty, but I prefer to stick to wandering around awhile. Why do I do this?

Recently, I read a passage in Oswald Chamber’s My Utmost for His Highest. One particular passage really spoke to me…

“In the beginning Moses realized that he was the man to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God first. He was right in the individual aspect, but he was not the man for the work until he had learned communion with God.”

Ouch! That touched a little nerve. I’m anxious to be God’s servant, but I spend more time wandering in the desert looking for the oasis rather than going directly to it via the pathway that God has freely shown me – communion with Him (through prayer and His Word). I’m pretty consistent in my attempts, but that time of sweet communion is often barren. My mind may wander. I’m distracted by everything and anything around me. I read the words or I’ll pray the things I think I ought, but I come away still thirsty. It is at those times that I’m wandering aimlessly. I pray to be God’s servant, but I don’t always allow my time with him to be an intentional interrupted time of communion. Then…I wonder why He doesn’t use me like I’ve prayed that He will. As soon as I begin to question it, He always reminds me…seek Him FIRST, then the rest will follow. As I do, my thirst is quenched, and I can begin my trek again…praying this time to not miss the next oasis.

WOW! I knew this 40 day blog writing challenge would be difficult at times, but I never realized how difficult. I’ve just finished one of the busiest 48 hours that I’ve experienced in awhile. But…it’s been great!

In my last two posts, I’ve been able to give thanks for many blessings as we pause to celebrate Thanksgiving, and I’ve been able to share some of our Thanksgiving traditions with you. Now, just to give a brief synopsis of the last 2 days…

Friday morning began with a 4:00 am wakeup call. We spent Thanksgiving with some great friends that live several hours away, and as I mentioned earlier – Black Friday shopping is a tradition with us. Hence…the early morning wakeup. We departed the house shortly after 4:30 and didn’t return until 12:30-ish. Found some great deals. Got lots of shopping done. Thoroughly enjoyed just being with some really fun people.

We departed our friends house Friday afternoon around 2:00, which should have put us home around 5:30, but we stopped several places along the way home to just look around and see what we could find. Those little detours put us home around 7:30. Oops! The friends that we spent Thanksgiving with followed us home and arrived around 9:00, because we were all planning to go find our Christmas tree this morning up in the Western NC mountains in “tree farm central”. This has become another annual tradition – 4 years in a row so far!

We DID find a beautiful 9 foot FAT tree! I love those full and fat fraser fir trees (don’t ya just love that alliteration…ha!)! Here are a few pics…

Hopefully, I’ll have some pictures to post in a day or two of the tree all decorated. I love being able to decorate for Christmas!

Moving right along…after getting the tree, we had to run some errands and then drive an hour back home to get ready to go to my husband’s work Christmas party. It’s not often that we have an occasion to really dress up, and this evening we got to put on our fancy duds and have a nice meal with a great group of people. The highlight of the night was listening to the plant manager recognize my husband’s work ethic and exceptional performance. He doesn’t like to receive public recognition like that, but I was very proud of him!

Now, we’re back home trying to pull out all the Christmas decorations and getting ready to put lights on the tree. If I get nothing else done tonight, I hope to have the lights on. We’ll end up with about 1000 lights on the tree because of the manner in which I put on the lights. Sounds excessive…I know…but, I love the way it looks when finished.

Well, that’s what I’ve been up to for the last 48 hours. I know this blog post is a bit of a ramble, but I’m determined to keep up with this challenge even it means that some days are not quite as thought provoking or devotional as I would like. Those days will return, but for today…I’m just giving you a sneak peak into my wonderful but busy life this Thanksgiving weekend.

I pray each of you had a blessed Thanksgiving weekend and had the opportunity to reflect on all of your blessings! Thanks for “stopping by” again today! You are one of my blessings!