Spring Banquets...'tis the Season!

May is a crazy-busy month! School is winding down, the ball park is winding up! May, 2009 has been particularly enjoyable for me, I love the way it is unfolding! I love parties and celebrating! I'm feeling very blessed! Our Holly will graduate from college Saturday, and Mother's Day is Sunday. This will be a great week end for celebrations!

Mother's Day has been a 'difficult' day for me over these past five years. In fact, I can honestly say that there were a couple of years that 'Mother's Day' ranked among the most painful days of the entire year for me. It's a day that Satan really uses to trip me up. So, this year, I have purposed and prayed that it WILL be a great day of celebration!(--This is the day the Lord has made, I will rejoice and be glad in it!)

God is blessing that effort, as only He can! I've had opportunities to reconnect with old friends and spend time with people I really love. He has brought this about by allowing me to have lunch with friends, meet friends for coffee, phone calls, e-mails, facebook 'posts' and, this week, two spring banquets!

With Mother's Day right around the corner, this is the season for women to get together! These gatherings give girlfriends a reason to celebrate and laugh and reconnect. We do it with food and dessert and coffee and conversation and laughter and song and laughter! Traditionally, spring banquets were called 'Mother/Daughter Banquets'. Thankfully, the name has evolved to include women in general...Not all daughters have mothers, not all mothers have daughters...all are women or ladies, though!

Our church's spring banquet, we called it "How Does Your Garden Grow?", was Tuesday evening. There was great food, 108 women, a women's quartet for a short concert, and no one had to 'clean up the mess' because we took it off-site to a local restaurant! It was great! I'm hearing comments about it even today!

This evening, I was blessed to attend another such banquet. I went as a guest of a dear friend. We had much fun, the men of their church cooked everything and cleaned up the mess...great job! Their entertainment was 3 singing duets. Each duet was either made up of mother/daughter combo or grandmother/granddaughter combo...very cute! They played a comic video for entertainment, so there was laughter, food and conversation!

God is faithful to give us exactly what we need, when we need it! I know the days of my life were numbered, even before I was born. I just want them all to count as joy to my King! And, so, Mother's Day, or any other random day of the week, I need to purpose to celebrate! Banquet or not...celebrate! China or paper plates...celebrate! Graduation or just the fact that I felt like walking to the mailbox...celebrate! 'tis ALWAYS the Season--to celebrate! --Celebrate the King!