New Year's Thoughts: Seasonally Challenged Living

The ending of this holiday season is bittersweet for me this year. On the one hand, I'm glad to be gradually returning to normal life. On the other hand, this year, my Christmas and New Years caught me off guard. All of a sudden the holidays were upon me and before I knew it I was busy, doing what I don't really know, but so many things that I would have liked to do went undone. I have this whole holidays list thing where I keep adding things every year that I want to include in our family traditions. This year however, I just didn't have it in me. I kind of skimmed by doing the bare minimum. I went through the last two weeks of the year seasonally challenged.

I didn't make egg nog...

The outside lights never made it on to the bushes...

We didn't make salt dough ornaments...

We didn't have another family over to fellowship with for the holidays...

I didn't feel like cooking so there were not a constant smell of freshly baked goods coming from the kitchen...

We did go to look at Christmas lights but right when we got to the entrance, the neighborhood viewing time came to an end so we never made it to the really good displays...

We did make it to the special train exhibit but we were running late and Daddy didn't get to go in with us (he had to catch a flight)...

We never got around to celebrating Advent, reading our special book and counting down the days towards Christmas...

Not one time, did I read the Christmas story from the Bible to my kids (I'm a heathen, I know)

We did borrow books from the library. We borrowed five. I read from two of them - one time each...

Chaos slowly erupted as everyone slowly fell out of their routines, chores, and daily habits...

Christmas shopping did get done, albeit at the last minute, and the budget well...was there a budget?...

There were some girlfriends that always come over during the holidays to share Egg Nog Lattes with me. We never connected...

and the list goes on...

And now, here I am, on the other side of January 1 and in a new year - 2008.

What happened, where did the time go, how did I get caught so off guard?

I'll tell you what happened. Life's been happening. Between homeschooling, two kids in three different kinds of therapy, extra jobs for extra money, Bible study, keeping house, etc, etc....LIFE IS HAPPENING IN SURROUND SOUND.

No matter which way I turn, I'm bombarded with things to do, things to accomplish, things to finish.

And no, they are NEVER finished. Life keeps happening and keeps getting in the way of ability to fully prepare for and enjoy the current season.

Last year, I had grand aspirations of slowing down and that never happened. Why? Because I kept doing the next thing. And life just keeps happening. There is always one more thing to do. One more person to support. One more program to participate in. One more place that I could be. Life keeps coming.

Let me let you in on a little secret that I'm really learning and grabbing a hold of...

Life does stop or slow down...but I can. My desire to be still enough to hear the still small voice of God doesn't get fulfilled because I wish it be so. I am able to attain peace, simplicity, and stillness in my life because I make the choices that are required to achieve this state. My inability to fully engage in the current season has to do with the choices that I make to fit in the things that matter.

There are so many times where I've heard people say that they don't know where the years went, or that time passed way too quickly, or that they wish they wouldn't have been in so much of a hurry. This is the state of living where most of us reside. We are always running, just trying to make it to the next thing, or pass through the current landscape. We are just trying to make it and struggling to stay afloat. We are living, constantly challenged to fully engage in the current season of life.

I believe with all of my heart that it doesn't have to be this way. It is possible to smell the flowers and enjoy the journey. In my mid-thirties, I'm just now realizing how challenging that can be in the society in which we live. We are encouraged to rush, to go, and to do. We are not encouraged to be.

Just like Christmas and New Years came upon me suddenly and unexpectedly, Jesus worns us in the Bible of not being ready for his return.

Matthew 24:36-44 (NIV)

The Day and Hour Unknown

"No one knows about that day or hour, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. As it was in the days of Noah, so it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man. Two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding with a hand mill; one will be taken and the other left.

"Therefore keep watch, because you do not know on what day your Lord will come. But understand this: If the owner of the house had known at what time of night the thief was coming, he would have kept watch and would not have let his house be broken into. So you also must be ready, because the Son of Man will come at an hour when you do not expect him.

He also worns us of being busy doing this that don't matter and missing Him.

Luke 10:38-42 (NIV)

At the Home of Martha and Mary

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"

"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

My challenge over the next couple of weeks will be to figure out what exactly it is that I'm doing that gets in my way of having room in my life to watch for him and to do what matters. My challenge will be to make different choices and to stop doing some things out of habit and start doing other things on purpose.

My challenge will be to stop allowing the ebb and flow of life from determining the flow of my own life.

And it is a challenge. I am a self-confessed doer, an achiever, and a "check-off-my-list" kind of person. But this is my desire. I'm slowly waking up on the other side of Holiday Season '07 and coming to realize that it's over and I just made it by the skin of my teeth.

With all of my heart, I do not want to slowly wake up on the other side of Chrystal's Season on earth and realize that I just made it, challenged beyond repair by the demands of the world on my time. I want to overcome. I want to flourish. I want to be on top of the things that matter in my life - the things that matter to God for this one life he has given me to live. I want to make life-altering, life-giving, life-changing CHOICES. What are those choices? That's what I'll be praying about seriously for a few days in the immediate future.

Lord help me to learn the discipline of stillness, of looking, waiting, and watching for you. I don't want to miss where you are and what you are doing. I don't want to realize after you have moved that you were at work and I was too busy to notice. Help me know what choices to make to align myself with your purposes and plans.

I need Thee how I need Thee
Every hour I need Thee
O Bless me now my Savior
I come to Thee

Closing up Christmas

Today I got busy putting away my Christmas stuff. I was determined not to go past a week after the new year with Christmas decor still staring me in the face. I will never forget the year my tree was up until MARCH!....

I didn't have much to remove this year. Because of our being in and out of town the month of December, our Christmas decor went only half unpacked so the cleanup was a breeze. I packed away the ornaments, garlands, and other doo-dads in plastic grocery bags and put them away in storage containers. I took down the Christmas artwork from last year....yes...my three year old's holiday art work was up a whole YEAR. I was too lazy couldn't bear to take it down :)

Last but not least I took down the tree. The box it came in has become a little beat up so I asked hubby to purchase a tree bag from the Container Store. It definitely holds our tree but it is HUGE.

The box was hard to deal with but it kind of "smushed" the tree down to a manageable size. This new contraption might be a bit harder. Oh well, my boys enjoyed the new bag! They even got a ride out of the deal when I drug this monstrousity out to the garage!

I'm looking forward to getting back to normal. I'm looking forward to starting the new year! I'm also looking forward to blogging about it! I've been a little hit or miss through the holidays and I'm glad to return to daily (or at least semi-daily) blogging!

Detoxing from the Holidays...

The holidays are drawing to a close and I welcome and dread the coming days of the return to routine. Routine is my friend. It allows me to accomplish all the things required of me as a wife and a mother. It allows me to make time for the things most important to me without forsaking other things not as enjoyable but necessary.

The last couple of weeks have been full of spontaneous activity. I've tried hard to lay down my love of schedule and spend impromptu moments in the bed watching TV with my oldest, or rolling on the floor w/toys and boys. I've tried to get some rest, all the while staying up late to finish things that were on my heart for this season.

I have a love hate relationship with "breaks". I need them. I want them. However, they make me lazy. I get used to things being a little slow, a little helter skelter, and a little fun-loving. Taking it easy during the holidays makes our laundry a little behind, or meals a little more thrown together, and our activities a little more FUN. There is time for board games (should have played more). There is time for watching the complete season 1 of Little House on the Prairie. There is time for making ornaments (that still need to be painted). There is time for trying new recipes and ordering takeout b/c those new recipes weren't so good.

I am thinking about my new year and what the Lord would have me to change. I sense that He would like for me to return to my routine with an eye on opportunities for spontaneity. Basically, looking for Him during the day and opportunities that He would have me to take.

Routine and discipline are important. The Bible speaks frequently about discipline and the need for hard work to make life prosperous but the BIble also speaks about being sensitive to the Spirit and making sure that we do what is important to Him.

My thoughts this last week of the year are on getting back in the groove, inviting my routine back into my life, ceasing laziness and disorder. My thoughts are also on being open to the Spirit and settling into His groove, His routine, and what is important to Him. God give me balance!