Better exhausted in the evening than bored all day.

 I’m not sure if I came up with that myself or heard it somewhere, but I often repeat it as I’m crashing into bed at the end of a long day. My days are full of both commitments and excitement, and I’m lucky to wake up most mornings excited for whatever the day brings.

Like any person, I have moments when I grumble about all the things I don’t have. When I feel like I don’t have enough, or like I am not enough, I remember that God gave me music in my life as both a passion and a gift, and that usually shames me into gratitude. This amazing gift should be enough for a thousand lifetimes.

But in truth the greatest gift is not my voice, or my ear for music, nor is it my love of writing and words: it’s the enthusiasm with which I long to use music and words to give glory to God. I write this knowing it could be misinterpreted as self-congratulation, but I don’t mean it that way. Having something that sets me on fire is entirely grace.

As I think about gift giving and receiving on this second day of Christmas, I wish I could give this fire to others: the fire that gets you out of bed, that makes you want to work hard, that gives you a mission and a purpose. I hope you already have it, or have started to find it.  My prayer is for everyone is to find that particular passion that fuels whatever skill they have, and to share that with the world.

The gift isn’t just having the song, it’s having something to sing about. I am very grateful.