Twelfth day of Christmas

And she conceived again, gave birth to a son, and said, “This time I will praise the Lord.” Therefore she named him Judah. (Genesis 29:35)

Judah’s name sounds like the Hebrew word for “praise.”

Yes, I know, Judah was the fourth of Jacob’s 12 sons. But considering that it was through Judah that Jesus came, it seems appropriate to end this way.

With the birth of Judah, for a short time anyway, Leah took her eyes off her misery and stopped trying to fill the hole in her heart with Jacob. Instead, she turned her heart to God in worship.

So this year, let us do Leah did. Not just for a day, or a week, or a month. But every day, let’s lead our hearts, taking our eyes off of ourselves and our troubles and instead look to Jesus, saying each and every morning, “Today, today, I choose to praise the Lord.”