November 2004

Well, November is here. Election day has come and gone (thank goodness), and it's time to think about the holiday season. Amazingly, I've already got two Christmas presents hiding in my closet, and two others on layaway. I've got a good head start.

My husband tells me I should go easy on the Christmas gifts. "They've [our kids, that is] got enough junk already," he says. Sigh. I guess he's right. But you can't have Christmas without gifts. Right?

But wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. This is November, not December. Time to think about Thanksgiving and be thankful for what we have. To learn to be content in the blessings that God has already given us. But here I am, thinking how nice it would be if my husband finally built that new deck on the back of the house. Or what it would be like to build my dream house in the Rocky Mountains. Dream on, Becky.

What *is* the secret to being content? I think I might have an idea, though it's easier to think about it than it is to really *be* content. All this time we've heard "learn to be content with what you have." Well, maybe that's the problem. Being content shouldn't be about possessions (which is what "with what you have" implies).

I believe that we need to be so secure and at peace in our relationship with our Savior Jesus Christ, that we have no reason NOT to be content. Like a newborn baby with a full tummy, sound asleep against his mother's side.

That's the tricky part, isn't it? But it is a goal worth striving for. I will not be content, until I am content in Christ.

Love in Christ,

Rebecca

P.S. We will be celebrating one year online in January! Please take a few moments to e-mail me and let me know what RubyZine has meant to you. Also, pray for us as we start our second year!

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IN THIS ISSUE:
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1. Devotional: Sowing Should Be a Lifestyle by Earl Parsons

2. Just for Laughs

3. Real Life Q&A with Camy Tang

4. FEATURE ARTICLE: It's a Roller Coaster Ride. Period. by Rebecca J. Gomez

5. JUST FOR FUN: Easy gift baskets

6. FICTION WITH A POINT: "Hope's Song" by Cheryl Wyatt

7. POETRY: What I think about when.... and STARS by Cheryl Wyatt