As I sit here, finally, with time to work on this article, my 4-year-old daughter is sitting next to me, using me as her pillow, so she can watch her favorite TV show. Every five seconds, she lets out a shrieking giggle. Cute, right?
Not at all. Not right now anyway. After a 60-hour work week, Christmas looming nearer and nearer, and with a crazy number of interruptions to my best laid plans, I am having the hardest time getting things done. I’m feeling tense, and a tiny bit overwhelmed. All to the point that my daughter’s little shrieks are no longer cute...they are yet another interruption to my concentration and usually uncanny (if I do say so myself) ability to get things done.
Maybe you know the feeling. Whether you are super organized, or fly by the seat of your pants during the Christmas season, it can get frustrating when things aren’t going the way you’d hoped, or - if you’re like me - you can’t get that gift you thought your mom would just die over and you have no idea what to buy your sister’s six children, all while your finished basement’s still not finished, and your house is a complete disaster. Oh the MADNESS!! But...I digress. Thanks for the vent session - it really helped, but that’s not really what I wanted to talk about.
Grace is the subject of the season. I hear about it all around me, and the stories and words stick with me and warm my heart. I know myself well enough to know that I don’t always appreciate what’s been done for me, and when I think about it, I wonder at my own behavior. The writer of 2 Corinthians 8:9 says, “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though he was rich, yet for your sake he became poor, so that you by his poverty might become rich.” God wasn’t trying to buy Christmas presents, though He was giving us the gift of salvation by sending His Son, Jesus, to earth. A perfect being with wealth and peace unimaginable was born on earth as one of us. He didn’t even have a proper bed to sleep in when He arrived. He wasn’t wealthy, but He was generous. He was perfect, yet He forgave and loved us - the perpetually imperfect. He grew up knowing he would have to die to save all of us - even those who hated him, and yet He did it willingly and lovingly. In Ephesians 2:8 it says, “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God.” It’s a matter of perspective. Who am I to get cranky just because I can’t get things done the way I want when I want?
When we walk with God, His spirit helps us to be gracious. So, even if the holiday madness is fully set in, in your household, like it is in mine, go to God before you start your day. Don’t even let your schedule or your objectives for the day creep in before you’ve had a chance to sit in the morning quiet (if you get such a thing), and talk to God. Ask Him to ease any anxiety, or to give you peace about your to-do list or to “Grant [you] the serenity to accept the things [you] cannot change, courage to change the things [you] can, and the wisdom to know the difference.” It’ll set your mind right for the tasks ahead. Give God a little bit of that precious time you might be feeling like you can’t spare right now. He will give you grace for your moments and don’t forget to celebrate little victories throughout your day. God gave you those, too. Squeeze in a sit with your Bible and read Romans 5:1-11. God loves us, and if you can remember that through the craziness, you’ll feel a peace and can give the grace to others that He’s given to you. You’ll know it when you feel it. Your holiday will be a lot happier and so will the people’s around you.
And my daughter’s little shrieky giggles are once again, absolutely adorable. Thanks for letting me find my perspective. Merry Christmas!