All of the Time

It’s December, the Christmas Season for the majority of people.

Gifts to be bought, wrapped, and sent. Cards to address and send out. Homes to be decorated. Movies to be watched. Christmas parties to attend.

For most of us, it turns into this crazy busy season that bring stress, extra pounds (all of those extra sweets! Ahhhhh!) and a general sense of anxiety.

My cousin, Alicia, hosted a live blog last month. She’s an amazing woman of God and an Author. She is also a Wife, Mom, Teacher, and probably a hundred other things. In short, she is awesome and I highly respect her. So, on her live blog last month, she shared something that has really stuck with me. She teaches English to Chinese students in China, via the web. The students were learning about different holidays around the world. Kwanzaa, Ramadan, Christmas, etc. When they got to the Christmas unit, they learned that we decorate our houses with lights and trees, we have dinner with our families and give gifts. When they got to the Ramadan unit, they learned that they devote the ENTIRE month to prayer, fasting and community.  They want to know more about God. They dedicate their whole month to a heightened awareness of knowing God.

Wow.

That hit me hard. The reason my family and I celebrate Christmas is to celebrate God sending His son, Jesus into the world to save it, real life super hero style. I want my Christmas to look more like Ramadan, devoting the entire month to the actual reason I celebrate.

We decided on less material, more experience and Jesus centered. We hardly put up any decorations. Rudolph got left in the Christmas tub along with Frosty and Santa. We took out all of our things that symbolize Jesus instead so that He can take center stage.

I gave myself a personal gift of doing random acts of kindness every day this month. You all know how very much I love those! To bring Heaven to Earth, to shine my savior everywhere I go.

Now, it’s the 5th day of December and I have only lost my peace a couple of times.

I keep telling myself: “I have so much time!” in order to keep my cool.

I’m rewiring my brain and changing how I talk to myself.

Instead of: I have too much work to do, I’m never going to get it all done! (crying in a corner and freaking out)

I’m trying: Wow, we are so blessed with so much work, thank you Jesus! I’m going to schedule better to make sure I have Bible study in the morning and my physical activity (both of these are a must. It’s like my happy medicine) and family time at the end of the day. Work on the business work during business hours and I need to remember to take breaks.

PS I hate schedules and structure but it is needed in this season of life. Whoops. I mean, I’m going to schedule my day to the hour to make sure I get to do everything I want to do and I want to make sure everything gets done.

Sigh, this is going to take more practice.

The buying and wrapping of the gifts and getting things sent out in time can get a little stressful too. I’m calling this:

Project Christmas.

That way, I can schedule it into my day but I don’t have to get it all done at once. It’s a project! Fun! I love giving and wrapping gifts and that love feeling needs to stay, especially during Christmas.

We are doing some service projects as a family to shine more love into dark places in our community. This was Liv’s idea and I couldn’t be more proud of her.

I am truly looking forward to the rest of this month. Although very busy, I am here. I am alive. Let my life be a beautiful symphony of praise to my Maker.

We have so much time if we schedule it and don’t waste it to make a difference, yet life is so short.

Use all of the time we have here to actually DO SOMETHING.

What are you waiting for?

Love,

Tahnee XO