The joy of the Lord is your strength (Nehemiah 8:10, TLB)

You chart the path ahead of me, and tell me where to stop and rest. (Psalm 139:3, TLB)

How well he understands us and knows what is best for us at all times. (Ephesians 1:8, TLB)

My senior year of college was the worst and the best. (Isn't that the beginning of a Charles Dicken's novel?) The verses I've just quoted you are from a page-a-day calendar I had that year. I have resisted getting a page-a-day Bible verse calendar ever since, because I liked this one so well--it had trivia questions at the bottom, like, "Q: Where eight people made a new start" (and then you turned it upside down to read, "Mount Ararat (Gen. 9:1)"

I didn't go for my walk. And now I'll have to rush around to get ready for my physical. I started to look for a book, Other Bells for Us to Ring, which is a sad story around Christmas time, which is what I feel like I'm living right now, as I remember Joy.

One of these nights I need to stop avoiding the pain and sit and read Patricia MacLachlan's Baby, which tells the story of a family that lost a baby and never talked about it. But I don't see a free night in the forseeable future, or a free lunch hour to sit and read...Sunday. I have nothing planned for Sunday.

Joy comes in the morning--I found that verse this morning, without looking for it. It's in the 30s of Psalms.

I will go before thee, and make the crooked places straight. (Isaiah 45:2)

All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well. (Dame Julian of Norwich)

Go hug someone. Or send someone flowers. Or call them on the phone. Or just leave a comment. I am so not ready to face today or the next two. Can't we just leapfrog to Sunday?

Oh alright. I'll go get ready. I'm getting my hair trimmed Friday--can't we leapfrog to then?

So take a new grip with your tired hands, stand firm on your shaky legs, and mark out a straight path for your feet, so that those who follow you, though weak and lame, shall not fall and hurt themselves, but become strong. (Hebrews 12:12, TLB)