What it's looking like around here


You know how the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence?

Yeah, I am seeing now that I had that outlook a year ago.  I read this post from last December and I had to laugh at myself.  I still feel that way.

Why does Christmas feel so different to me now than it did just 5 years ago?

I still feel the blanket of meloncholy.  The pull to keep things simple.

I thought for sure I would bust out all-the-Christmas-things the first Christmas after houseparenting.  So much more time!  So much less stress!

Can you spot the error?  Yeah, I left it like that from last year...



And then I remembered that I can't bake a cookie to save my life (family can attest!)

And this introvert doesn't do crowds.


And I prefer simple decorating to lots and lots of things going on everywhere.

So Christmas time here has leaned toward the simple and slow. 

We've caroled to the elderly at a local nursing home.

We've assembled a boxed gingerbread house.

We've decorated a tree and play all-Christmas-music-all-the-time on Pandora.


But why does a part of me feel like I'm not doing the Christmas thing?  That I am missing out on something?  Perhaps it's the Martha vs. Mary battle?

Nowhere does it say I must do all the Christmasy things that the pretty magazine pictures and the bright flashy billboards tell me to do.

But I have read somewhere about the patient waiting for the arrival of something BIG.

The people walking in darkness
    have seen a great light;
on those living in the land of deep darkness
    a light has dawned.
You have enlarged the nation
    and increased their joy;

 For to us a child is born,
    to us a son is given,
    and the government will be on his shoulders.
And he will be called
    Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
    Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
7 Of the greatness of his government and peace
    there will be no end.

Isaiah 9:2,3,6,7

 Staging done by resident 4-year-old.  Seems that Joseph and a Wiseman are having a conference over in the corner...

So, I will choose to speak these words over the guilt that tries to pull me down.  Telling me I'm not doing enough to "celebrate" this season.  I will choose to sit and listen to the stillness, where His voice is heard best.

Who wants to join me?





Comments

Post a Comment

Tell me how you live intentional. I'd love to know!

Popular posts from this blog

The Hard

Image
My first post about Zambia was all about the beauty it has to offer. I wanted to lead with that because I don't want it to be lost among the pictures that will be seen in this one.  Zambia was beautiful in many ways. The colors, the landscape, the people. But there are many difficult and hard things about Zambia, too. I will not count myself as an expert (SO very far from that!) but I will do my best to present the facts as I had seen them and as they were told to me. Zambia won it's independence from British rule in 1964. Since then they are struggled to get a government going that is sustainable and good for the people. There is essentially no middle class in Zambia. There is the lower to poverty class and those that work for the government. It was interesting to see a culture that is mostly driven by a poverty mindset: The poverty mindset keeps people in their own little circle or world.  It is all about them and what they can get for their family.  They...
Read more

A note to Owen, on his 7th birthday

Image
We were rushing down the backroads, our speedometer telling us we were very much over the speed limit.  But at the state I was in, I just wanted to get there. He was breech.  They rushed me into surgery.  Within 10 minutes of being at the hospital Owen was born. And here we are 7 years later. You bring so much good to our lives, Owen.  Your inquisitive mind.  Your desire to do the right thing.  But we know you were not given to us to keep. We know you were placed in our care so that you could grow up to love God.  And serve Him.  And bring His name glory. You've done so much growing in your first 7 years and we are so excited to see you continue to grow into the man God desires you to be. I could get all weepy and talk about how I want you to stay my little boy forever. But you aren't, so I won't.  You are God's, and I just get to keep you for a little while. So keep growing.  Keep learning.  Keep strivi...
Read more

Keeping up....or choosing not to.

Image
I've had this friend, well, I don't really want to call him a friend because he's never really been nice to me.  He makes me feel inferior, discontent, and just well, yucky. I'm guessing you have this friend, too. It likes to hang onto my back, whisper in my ear and sometimes shows up at just the worst time. Comparison. You know him? Yeah, sorry to meet his acquaintance. But, sadly, I have not been able to shake him lately. It seems silly, really. Because when it comes to my life, well, I really like it. I'm thankful for my Jesus, my husband, my children, my job, my house. And the list goes on. And in reality, I wouldn't change a thing. But comparison keeps showing up and telling me what someone else has and how my measly one just doesn't foot the bill. I was mulling this around in my head today as I was coming back from a run.  And as I walked by our landscaping (or lack thereof) I had the thought, "Boy, the Joneses don't have to ...
Read more