Wife, mom, daughter, teacher, blogger, crafter, organizer - but most and best of all, I am a Christian. I am passionate about my family and my God. I am married to my best friend and am blessed with a one year old son who keeps me busy all the time staying at home with him. And I am glad to be in the service of our incredible and awesome God.
Christmas and Thanksgiving mark the beginning of a holiday season supposedly centered on selflessness, contentment, and service.
However, this season often does not “feel” particularly happy or religious. In fact, with Black Friday hordes, Christmas to do lists, and advertisements of perfectly primped and styled families, it all feels very pressured, backwards, and stressful. I know that’s not how I want to feel. Nor is it how I want to act. So this year, as I look forward to holidays, I am making my own wishlist with a personal agenda.
What do I want for Christmas?
Time over Gifts
When I look back over the years, I don’t think, “Wow! What a great Christmas–that was when my grandma got me these shoes that were the very latest fad!” I think back on times when my family spent time with me. Basketball games played with cousins, hymns sung as we all crowded into the living room, sharing and passing and laughing at an overcrowded table.
These are those precious moments, those things that you store up in your heart.
It is a blessing to receive and to give gifts. But one gift doesn’t cost anything and means so much–the gift of your time. This year, I want to give that gift to my family.
Less Activity
Sometimes we get the idea that just because an activity is a “good” activity, we should do it. Well, I am only one person. And I’m pregnant and a mom and a wife…the list goes on. I can only do so much. Doing fewer things and doing them well not only helps me to be less hectic (my family will thank me later for not being so snippy and grumpy!). It also helps me to actually be present and enjoy the activities we choose to do. Less truly is more: more patience, more attention, more grace.
The Strength of Will to Focus on the Godly
There are many wonderful things about Christmas. For instance, there is no other time in the year when even the lost and the worldly are thinking about Jesus! What a great opportunity, not just to share goodwill and gifts, but to share the best gift ever given: the story of the Christ, His cross, and the salvation it brought.
Yet somehow, it is easy to “fudge” our focus. To be distracted by the hubbub, the travel, the rush of the holiday season.
It’s easy to say to myself that I’m still doing good things. That what I am doing still “counts.” Dashing around to six different stores to buy presents, filling gift sacks and stuffing fruit baskets for the elderly, signing and addressing envelopes to loved ones and friends–they can all be good things.
But they may not be the necessary things. In the craziness that is our lives, I think it is especially important that we be a Mary and not a Martha. We need to realize that the “better part” is to pause and take our gaze upward: to sit and listen at the feet of Jesus. It may mean saying “no” to some things or losing sleep some mornings. It may mean giving up on having the “perfect” house or the “perfect” schedule. But, as we gaze upwards at the cross, at the face of our Father, we will find not only peace for our hearts but wisdom for our actions.
And we will find that everything is better after looking at Him.
Wife, mom, daughter, teacher, blogger, crafter, organizer - but most and best of all, I am a Christian. I am passionate about my family and my God. I am married to my best friend and am blessed with a one year old son who keeps me busy all the time staying at home with him. And I am glad to be in the service of our incredible and awesome God.
My great-grandmother was apparently quite a personality–warm, vivacious, talkative, and outgoing. Her name was Grace. And while I didn’t know her, her presence and influence lingers, even to my generation. I was listening to my great-aunt the other day say that Grace gave her some advice a long time ago that’s still true today: to do one good thing for someone else every day.
And what a beautiful goal that is! I fear that too often my troubles seem so overwhelming and distressing because that is where I am setting my eyes upon. When I step back and serve someone else, it often leaves me more grateful, more appreciative, and more aware of how abundantly blessed I am.
It might seem exhausting. Do something for someone else? I already can’t keep up with what I am responsible for! Surely, God can’t expect that of me.
And yet, doesn’t he?
“So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith.”
I want my son to have the heart of a servant when he grows up. I want him to have a heart that sighs with compassion for those in need. And in order for that to happen, he needs to see a life of servanthood in me first.
An Act of Service, Whether Large or Small
So when I am tired, I still can make time to help a friend. When I feel grumpy, I still need to find a smile. When I just want to lie on the couch, I can spare just a few moments.
Because sometimes we equate service with building houses in the Amazon jungle. We think service must be organized and with people and fundraisers and all-out efforts. And while that can be service, it’s not all that service can be.
Service can also be a text to ask how your sick friend is. Service can be a card sent to a shut-in, with a picture your child drew for her. Service can be making a double batch of dinner and taking the other half to a widow or a young mom. Service can be asking a lonely person over for a cup of morning coffee. Service can be listening to that elderly lady repeat her stories from her youth because her mind is slipping and that is the only thing she can hold on to now. Service can be dropping off a friend’s favorite drink at the office where she works. Service can be watching another mom’s kids because you see she needs that break.
You see, service doesn’t have to be flashy or take up lots of time. Often, quiet, thoughtful ways produce the most meaningful service. In love that seeps throughout your life until suddenly one day, you realize that it’s not something you’re working on but now a habit, ingrained in your daily routine.
I’m not there yet…but I’d like to be. Until then, I look at the “Grace”s in my life and learn from their example of what servanthood really is.
Wife, mom, daughter, teacher, blogger, crafter, organizer - but most and best of all, I am a Christian. I am passionate about my family and my God. I am married to my best friend and am blessed with a one year old son who keeps me busy all the time staying at home with him. And I am glad to be in the service of our incredible and awesome God.
I love Christmas. The tingle and bite of winter air, the rosiness that rises to your cheeks when you’re outside thrills me. I love the music, the twinkle lights, the house lights. I love that people who often don’t think of Christ have their minds bent on goodwill and giving. And yet, for some–for many more than we probably realize–Christmas is a hard season. It is a bittersweet time, full of memories of those we have lost, either to eternity or conflict or distance. The other side of Christmas can be lonely, painful, or even depressing.
And while I don’t think that should lessen our joy, I do think that we can and should be aware of those struggling and sensitive to their burden. What can we do?
Pray for them.
Pray specifically for them–for comfort, for peace, but also for courage. And let them know that you are praying for them. It is a powerful and wonderful tool that we can intercede for each other on our knees before the awesome Maker of all things.
Spend time with them.
Many gifts are overrated and underused. They are cast aside in an ever-growing pile of “stuff” which sucks us into a world enamored with materialism. But the gift of your time is not only something that can help a lonely person, it is something precious and remembered. It says, “I love you enough to give up other things to just be with you.” It may even be good for you to have some perspective shed on what the “other side” is like.
Listen.
One of the most valued and least developed skills is listening. Listening–and listening well (with interest, love, and warmth)–can be an enormous gift, especially to someone with struggles. Being able to talk about a loved one who died or the particular challenges of a serious illness can help heal an aching heart. And it is something that you can do no matter what your Christmas gift budget is.
So, today, go out there and bless someone who wasn’t expecting it. In return, you will be blessed beyond measure.
Hello. I grew up traveling the world as a military brat. I ultimately felt God's pull to Oklahoma Christian University where I met my husband. We now have 3 beautiful children and have settled in Mustang, Oklahoma.I am a homeschooling mom and with 3 kiddos it is a full time job! I am daily encouraged by God's great patience and grace in my life. In my free time I enjoy reading and crafting.
Time. Time is something we all seem to revolve around, isn’t it? Time to wake up, time for breakfast, time to get to work, and so our days go. Sometimes we say time is on our side, and other times we say our time is up. Whatever other crazy sayings we’ve heard or said, it’s clear that time plays a big part in our lives. Now what about timing?That’s a little different. Timing can make a benign comment into something much bigger. Timing can save a life. What I’m talking about is God’s timing, and for the most part, we don’t know anything about God’s timing, except that it is good. But sometimes even knowing that God’s timing is good doesn’t seem like enough.
Right now I’m waiting, so very impatiently, for my fourth baby to arrive. My first little man (Cowboy) came two days before his official due date.
Oh my goodness, those rolls! I remember waiting for this little guy so very impatiently. Of course with him being my first I had no idea what to expect or how my whole entire life would totally change.
My second (Princess) came 7 days before her due date.
She was smaller than her brother and seemed so incredibly petite. Such a doll!
My third (Nugget) came 3 days before her due date which is funny because I actually had it in my mind that she was due a different day, so in my reality she was past when I thought she was due. But in the real world, she was still here before her ETA.
She arrived sunny side up and has kept the same “I’ll do things my own way” personality.
I suppose I’m reminiscing through this post while I’m trying to remind myself that all three of my babies have come through God’s perfect timing. They have all been a beautiful blessing and all of the millions of worries that have encompassed me before, during, and after their births are all a distant memory.
For Cowboy I worried about all the normal things of a first time mom: Can I really do this? Will he be ok? What if he is born in the car? What if I have to be induced? What if I have to have an emergency cesarean?
For Princess I worried about some of the same things, except I added in additional worries about when she would arrive and where would Cowboy go?
For Nugget I don’t remember worrying about things. I think I was so tired that I was mostly just impatient, kind of like this time around.
I say all of this to say that God’s perfect timing was there through every single one of them. They were all born healthy and happy. They were all here in God’s own time, not mine, and trust me when I say that I am so incredibly thankful for that. God is all knowing. In my time, things could have all been different. If I had rushed them through my worrying and uncertainty they might have been too early, or too late, or unwell. But look at them now!
Waiting on God’s timing doesn’t bother me one bit when I see these three beautiful babes that He has so richly blessed me with!
These are the things that I have to remind myself as I’m waiting for this baby. God sees. He knows and is faithful. As for me? Well, I’ll allow my worries about the insurance issues and my back problems and the doctor’s judgement and skill in the delivery room to fade to the back burner. Because in the end, I know that God knows, and in Him all things are possible.
Are you waiting on God’s timing for something in your life?
What encouraging scriptures do you look to while waiting on God?
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