Thanksgiving JOY

Christmas seems to start earlier every year.  While stores are focused on sales and quick to replace pumpkins with pine trees, people also appear to be yearning for the season a little sooner.  Maybe because Christmas is a favorite holiday of many, but maybe also because people need more joy.

On the road, the hodgepodge of the holidays hits you with each passing mile.  Ghosts, pumpkins, harvest wreaths, inflattable Santas and giant penguins are scattered from house to house.

Thanksgiving, a celebration of gratitude for our blessings, has nearly been replaced by the countdown to the ultimate shopping day.  Families no longer linger over pie and coffee but are out the door and off to the mall, while the dishes soak.

When I was a little girl, the wait for Christmas seemed unending.  Now that I'm older, time passes much more quickly.  One can sit and almost watch it slip away.  No matter how much you will it to slow, there is no stopping the ticking of the clock or ending of another day.

It's already the middle of November.  

The busyness of the holidays are among us and, before you know it, another year will be gone. 

Choosing to pause in gratitude is how I welcome the season.  Focusing on thanksgiving each day keeps me from getting swept up in the chaos that can become christmas.

Recognizing my blessings is the best tradition I can think of to celebrate the birth of my Savior.

Because, to me, Thanksgiving isn't just a day - not even just a month -but something I hope to encompass every day of the year.

Gratitude = JOY 

In the search for the perfect season, slowing down in Thanksgiving might just be the unexpected gift people are looking for - and one that can never be found in the store.

Psalm 100

A psalm. For giving grateful praise.

Shout for JOY to the Lord, all the earth.

Worship the Lord with gladness;

    come before him with joyful songs.

Know that the Lord is God.

    It is he who made us, and we are his[a];

    we are his people, the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with Thanksgiving

    and his courts with praise;

    give thanks to him and praise his name.

For the Lord is good and his love endures forever;

    his faithfulness continues through all generations.

Displaced Christmas

This has been the most disorganized-fly by the seat of my pants-wait until the last minute-procrastinating Christmas season I've ever experienced.

And that is so. not. me.

Normally, by this time I would have everything checked off, completed and under the tree.  Meals prepped, planned and done in batches.  Traditions accomplished in a beautiful timeline.  Decorations fully out in November.

Not so much this year.

It began with the decorations.  Though a nice gesture last year, my hubby surprising me one evening and letting the kids put everything away did not result in the happiest of endings.  My fears of chaos ensued when this year, even after multiple trips to the shed, there are items still missing.  When one has as many snowmen as I do (many years I don't even put them all out), you might question how I would I know that I am missing anything, but I can.  And I am.

I find myself looking to areas where said snowmen or decorations would and should be, sigh in despair, but chalk it up to the season of disarray.

My gift shopping for the past several years has been done on Cyber Monday.  Maybe I just wasn't in the mood, but nothing enticed me.  It didn't help that finances were tight, as hubby was the midst of losing/changing jobs.  So, I waited.  And waited.  And waited some more.  Poor Noah has gifts scattered all over the house from the here and there shopping I've managed to do.  I'll be lucky if I get them wrapped in time and don't forget where I hid everything.  If I do, maybe I'll find them in time for his birthday next month!

We did a bulk grocery trip Sunday, after a long, full day of church, a farewell lunch for Tim's nephew who is joining the Air force, and a visit at the hospital to my niece (more on that below).  I went without a list and was already exhausted so you can bet I have forgotten at least one ingredient for every dish we have planned.

And traditions.  Well, this seems to be year of non-tradition so far.  Noah has a job and that has changed some of our annual outings.  Tim switched to third shift and we're still trying to teach his body bedtime is no longer dark-thirty!  Our calendar just doesn't seem to be cooperating and all the things I planned or looked forward to from years past isn't happening.

I could let it ruin my Christmas.  It would be easy to focus on all the things that haven't gone exactly as envisioned.  Or, I could sit in the messy beauty that is this year and be thankful.

The first Christmas, after all, was rather displaced and unexpected.  

But so very perfect, in every way.

In a way, it reminds me of what my niece and her husband are going through this season.  My chaotic Christmas seems a blessing in disguise.

Much like Mary and Joseph found themselves, they are expecting a child and have been sent on a journey away from home, in hopes of protecting their baby.

Haylea is only 24 weeks along but her pregnancy has been a whirlwind.  Diagnosed with hyper dynamic cervix, her body is fighting to keep sweet Isaiah in the womb and safe.  This past weekend she reached the milestone of viability and was able to get steroids for his lungs.  But the hospital she was in isn't able to care for NICU babies until week 27.  Given that she could deliver anytime, we prayed for a better option.

Thankfully, she's been sent two hours from home under the care of neonatal specialist in a hospital that provides for preemies on a daily basis.  We're still prayerful she will carry as long as possible, but we're grateful she is among seasoned professionals prepared for any outcome.

But it means she'll spend Christmas away from family.  Newly married, this most certainly isn't the Christmas I'm sure she imagined for their first year together.

Just as I'm sure Mary's journey was anything but expected and planned.

My prayer for them this season is that they are held by God's mighty power and strength, can put their trust in Him, and feel the peace which only He can provide.  For if He can bring His son into the most unlikely of circumstances, born in a manger, we are faithful and filled with hope, as little Isaiah is in the same caring hands.

If you would like to support this young family, struggling this season, and share a little hope, please consider giving at their link below.  Michael has been unable to work steadily, due to the lengthy and frequent hospital stay his wife has had - and is expected to continue.  May you be blessed for your gifts or prayers for them this Christmas.  

Help for Isaiah:
https://www.gofundme.com/j2fyzyj3

A Moment with Majesty

In the hustle and bustle that can become Christmas, how many of you hope to slow things down and just soak up the goodness of the season?

I know that as my calendar begins to fill and time gets squeezed out, I begin to feel that way myself.  When we have to decline a function and feelings get hurt, it makes me question priorities and relationships.  As the date draws closer to the 25th, I'm mindful that the relationship which should be my priority is the very One whose birth we are celebrating.

Several nights ago, wise words reached into my soul and settled there.  My pastor's wife shared a from-the-heart, simple devotion that simply encouraged us that amidst the chaos of Christmas we seek a moment with Majesty.  To be still and know...  To let everything else go and just be in His very presence.

And so that is my Christmas wish...

To not compare the presents (or lack of) under my tree with those I see

and focus more on the presence of who is around it

To say no when there's no space to give and be ok in doing so

To pause whenever I feel the stress of the season and remember the reason we celebrate

To seek Him in every moment

To let it go when others hurt me and just share His love

To let His light shine through me everywhere I go

To be still...and know that He is God.

Above all else.