Have you ever planned a full-blown celebration?
My wedding was the biggest party I've ever planned and oh my goodness did that require a lot of preparation! Some of the planning was so much fun as we picked out invitations and registered for gifts. Other jobs were more tedious but even monotonous work like assembling programs didn't seem quite as bad when I remembered what I was preparing for.
It was going to be a celebration of a lifetime and with that attitude even the busyness was fun.
In recent years as my responsibilities for Christmas preparation have multiplied, I find it nearly impossible to get to the point of having time to remember that this is all about the birth of Jesus, Savior. As much as I want to eliminate the stress, busyness, and unfocused craziness, there are some traditions I'm simply not ready to let go and often my attitude goes down with it.
So this year I'm wondering if maybe I need to work with the flow of life rather than wasting so much thought on trying to fight it. I need to find another way to get to the peace and joy and meditation on what it means that Jesus was born into this messed up world. And so this year I hope to continue to work on minimizing and not adding too much to my lists, but in the middle of it all while I'm wrapping and baking and adventing and I hope to remember the CELEBRATION.
My responsible self often chants "Get your work done first and then play," but in recent years I never get around to this playing - or celebrating. And so this year the preparation is going to be part of the celebration.
After all there is nothing more worthy of celebrating than Christmas. The birth of Jesus represents God's promise fulfilled. When He arrived in the world God affirmed that all He has promised is true. He does have a plan to save the world and that hope deserves the biggest celebration ever!
My wedding was the biggest party I've ever planned and oh my goodness did that require a lot of preparation! Some of the planning was so much fun as we picked out invitations and registered for gifts. Other jobs were more tedious but even monotonous work like assembling programs didn't seem quite as bad when I remembered what I was preparing for.
It was going to be a celebration of a lifetime and with that attitude even the busyness was fun.
In recent years as my responsibilities for Christmas preparation have multiplied, I find it nearly impossible to get to the point of having time to remember that this is all about the birth of Jesus, Savior. As much as I want to eliminate the stress, busyness, and unfocused craziness, there are some traditions I'm simply not ready to let go and often my attitude goes down with it.
So this year I'm wondering if maybe I need to work with the flow of life rather than wasting so much thought on trying to fight it. I need to find another way to get to the peace and joy and meditation on what it means that Jesus was born into this messed up world. And so this year I hope to continue to work on minimizing and not adding too much to my lists, but in the middle of it all while I'm wrapping and baking and adventing and I hope to remember the CELEBRATION.
My responsible self often chants "Get your work done first and then play," but in recent years I never get around to this playing - or celebrating. And so this year the preparation is going to be part of the celebration.
After all there is nothing more worthy of celebrating than Christmas. The birth of Jesus represents God's promise fulfilled. When He arrived in the world God affirmed that all He has promised is true. He does have a plan to save the world and that hope deserves the biggest celebration ever!
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