be of good cheer, I have overcome the world

Good afternoon, Blog World.  How is your day going?

Mine?  No so good.

But there is this one blessing that keeps on blessing, even on the worst of days.  It's my nursing relationship with my soon-to-be two year old.  Lying down with her, cradling her body while she nurses, makes me the happiest woman on earth.  Truly.  My body completely relaxes, no matter the intensity of the morning's stress.

I think of my precious baby, and her precious siblings, and about the joy that comes from being a Mommy.

That floor that lately needs a sweeping and mopping daily?  Suddenly, I forget why it mattered so much.

That creditor calling three times a day because they don't wait for you to get a higher-paying job?  Suddenly, I know it will work out.

The hyperactive, over-stimulated child who grates on my nerves--everyone's nerves?  Suddenly, I see only his heart.

Perspective comes, and with it, joy.

It makes me wonder about all the other natural ways God relieves our stress.  Have we forsaken many of them, in our modern world, and not even realized it?  Is that why drug prescriptions for stress-related conditions are on the rise?

In this world we will know tribulation (John 16:33).  But God, in his love and grace, has given us little pockets of blessings--like mother/child nursing, sunsets, sunrises, cardinals by the window, sun glistening off snow blanket, a hug, a dancing butterfly, a rainbow....

All these things?  They help bounce our gaze--off ourselves, and onto Him.  With our eyes resting on Him, we overcome.

"In this world you will have tribulation, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world."  John 16:33