I hate to say it, but I am SO glad that November is over. This was one of the longest, most hectic months I can remember. It started off well with me becoming an uncle (congrats, Nate and Sarah!) but quickly turned to mourning with the passing of my grandfather a week later. His funeral came just halfway into the month. Days later, my manager and four coworkers were let go, a heavy blow to my already battered sense of stability. The next week brought our son's first birthday and my grandmother's 80th, and finished off with Thanksgiving, all without fanfare. December 1 arrives with great anticipation of peace and hope that we can restore our priorities and regain a sense of normalcy before Christmas and the new year.
EDITOR'S NOTE: After I completed writing exactly what you see above, I opened up our church's daily scripture reading for December 1. The first five verses for today are Romans 5:1-5: "Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have gained access by faith into this grace in which we now stand. And we rejoice in the hope of the glory of God. Not only so, but we also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us."
