I Can’t Wait Until Christmas is Over

“I can’t wait until Christmas is over.”

Sound familiar? We all feel the pressure … seeking the perfect present … wrapping gifts just right …setting an impeccable table. No wonder there’s so much stress during the Christmas season. But let’s not wish away blessings.

Could we change how we think?

What about instead of, I have to … say, I get to …?

Instead of I have to buy the perfect present, say I get to buy a present? If you glimpsed current events at all, you’ll see that several families in Asheville, North Caroline have nothing … nothing! Many have lost their home, their car … all of their possessions. Some have even lost people.

What’s the condition of your family?

Many folks are alone during the holidays, often due to hurt feelings. It’s sad how offenses can divide families. This doesn’t have to be.

If there’s a rub between you and a relative during this season of promises, consider reconnecting with those you’re upset with. Contemplate what making amends or being open to hearing theirs would mean. There are folks … like those in Asheville … who’d give anything to spend a few hours with family members who are no longer with them.

Don’t Major on the Minors

You may be one of many who are struggling during this economy. It’s a struggle to buy the tiniest of gifts when it seems impossible to keep up with recurring monthly bills.

How about replacing the, “this gift is lame” attitude with, “I’m offering this with love”? Paper doesn’t have to decorate the box perfectly. A small but thoughtful gift has the power to fill a heart with love and appreciation.

Are you ashamed of the meal you can afford? Don’t be. If you have food and clean drinking water at your disposal, you’ve among the most blessed people in the world.

If you have food and clean drinking water at your disposal, you’ve among the most blessed people in the world.

Don’t Get Lost in the Hoopla

Let’s strive to see Christmas as a time to celebrate the arrival of the Messiah. This year, try to shake off the trappings of society’s materialism and press through to the beauty of simplicity. “Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord.” Luke 2:11 NIV.

Nothing changes until we change how we think.

Let’s shake off the chaos by switching our focus. Let’s move from, “I can’t wait until Christmas is over”, to “how can I offer blessings to others”?

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Fiction:

Ladies of the Fire–Can a woman on the run find herself again?

Ladies of the Fire brought us to the late 1960s as we met the newly-widowed Lily-Rose Pembrick reeling as she fled Lincoln, Nebraska, with her children. Only taking the cash from the house safe and what she could get her hands on at the family bank, she left the recently-inherited and successful Pembrick Transportation company behind. Exhausted from driving all night, she stopped in Applegate, Ohio, and decided to start a new life on Norwood Street. There, she met Fiona Kasey, an African-American no-nonsense housekeeper/companion to an elderly white woman, and Sugar Bowersox, a Southern spitfire who has lost herself in motherhood.

Together, they enjoyed Lily-Rose’s backyard fire pit, where dreams were spoken and secrets revealed. As they embraced a kinship they never would have sought, Lily-Rose began thinking her past could finally be laid to rest—until someone ended up dead.