Gloria Dei Y'all
I think I will spend today unashamedly in my pajamas.  Around noon I have to get ready to go out into the real world, but until then, I am here by my fire and my Christmas tree trying to think great thoughts and trying not to see that the floor needs vacuuming.
In truth, I am not much of a great thought thinker. I have friends who are and their blogs sort of make me envious.  But no, while I occasionally have flashes of profundity, I am mostly a do-er.  My thoughts tend to run more toward the everyday-- how to keep the goats in the fence or stretch a food budget.  And the only thing that is profound about me today is the profound sense of gratitude to God that I feel sitting here warm and dry by the fire, my every need met, my family intact, my land stretching out below me.
Today started out under a sheet of ice but a relatively warm rain is finally melting the frozen stuff away and Pleasant Places is wrapped in a thick, foggy blanket.  Another few months, weeks even, of this and I may be planning a trip to the Keys, but for now it is pleasant to sit and listen to the rain hit the metal roof of the back porch, the slightly damp logs hiss in the fireplace and the clock tick in the back room. 
I was thinking last night about the fact that probably few if any read this blog.  Pretty sure even my own mom and my husband don't read it.  But I decided that was OK.  Some things are worth doing whether anyone else takes notice or not.  I have tried to live by that principle, so I will write by it as well.  Some things you do for yourself and because God grants you the ability to do it.  You do it because it expresses who you are and that brings glory to Him as your creator.
At various times in my past I have tried patterning myself after those I admire.  And I have tried working to please others and live up their expectations. Mostly, it doesn't work and  even when I do seem to pull it off, it leaves me exhausted.  Thankfully, in recent years  I have begun to receive from the Lord the exquisite grace to just be myself.  I serve Him best and others best by just being my best self.  That's pretty freeing.