It is early morning here at The Provencher Bordeaux and the house is very quiet. Everyone is breathing deeply, as they sleep...including the girls. Maggie stirred a bit when I got out of bed, but I think she prefers to stay snuggled up next to her Daddy for a bit longer. As I walked by Shelley, who was laying in the floor, she raised her head and "looked" at me (she's blind, so it was more of a sense of comfort to know I was there) and I reached down and rubbed her noggin...she flopped back down on the floor to enjoy the wee morning hours.

I can hear the kitchen clock...tick...tick..tick and I can see the soft glow of the light from the living room. Contentment rests over my soul and I feel the blessing of the Lord over my home and family.

I think about what this morning must have been like for Jesus so many years ago, on Palm Sunday, as he rode into Jerusalem...in a week more, He would be on the Cross of Calvary dying for our sins ... the sins of the world. Oh, what manner of LOVE is this? Day-to-day anxieties threaten to overtake me, at times, yet have you considered the anxiety He felt, as He faced Death and the Grave? In Luke 22:44 it tells of his agony..."And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground."

I have never experienced that type of agony...I thought many times I would never get through my trial, yet Jesus facing such agony cried to the Father, "Not my will but Yours be done!"

I am so thankful that the God of all Creation would humble Himself to the death of the Cross for me ... so unworthy and wretched that I am. Because of so great a love, I can quietly slip out of bed in the mornings and hear my family sleeping peacefully and count the many blessings He has bestowed on me.