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• I thought to myself, "Self, you have done a fine job this past year it is time to celebrate."
• There is celebration and then there is celebration. My problem is I do not know the difference between the two; they all look alike to me.
• Hiding behind the roast turkey on our Thanksgiving dinner table were the 5 pounds I had lost during the year. They quite conveniently hid their presence from me but that was not the worst of it. Not only were they hiding behind the roast turkey, but also they had assembled relatives. For some reason these "pounds" heard that relatives were invited to the Thanksgiving dinner.
• I do not know how it happened; but it happened. The "pounds" I lost, I have found and they brought relatives with them. I am not sure I want to complain at this point because I feel all warm and fuzzy inside.
• Here I sit in my easy chair bemoaning the fact that what I lost I eventually found. If only I could find the hundred dollars I lost, I would be a happy camper. At least, I could afford to be a camper.
• Everybody should rejoice when they find something that they lost, but I am too stuffed now to really rejoice. I feel a little nap coming on.
• This past year I received an unexpected royalty check from my publisher and truly rejoiced in it. It is always nice to get something you were not expecting.
• The following week I had to replace the transmission in a vehicle.
• I know, I should be grateful I had the money so I could do the maintenance work on the vehicle. I am, kind of, sort of, but it would have been nice to have the money and not have to use it. Then, what in the world is money for?
• This whole year has been like that. I get happy about something I lost and then I find it. I get happy about something I found and then I lose it.
• This year my "age of wisdom" was soundly outmaneuvered by my "age of foolishness."
• As I reflected on this I thought about what the apostle Paul said. "For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do" (Romans 7:19).
• I have come to the point where I believe that "the worst of times" is designed by God to show me how wonderful "the best of times" are. I rest on the marvelous truth that my life is not in "the times" but in the gracious hand of God.
• Rev. James L. Snyder is pastor of the Family of God Fellowship, PO Box 831313, Ocala, FL 34483. He lives with his wife, Martha, in Silver Springs Shores. Call him at 1-866-552-2543 or e-mail jamessnyder2@att.net. His web site is www.jamessnyderministries.com.
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