Because I'm an AVON rep and also work part-time from home as a District Assistant for AVON, the Christmas craziness begins for me in August. It starts slowly with much anticipation of seeing the Christmas product line-up. But somewhere around Halloween, it picks up speed. Then Thanksgiving comes and the pace moves so quickly and the stress builds so steadily that it is almost unbearable.
This is my tenth Christmas as a rep and my sixth as an assistant. Every Christmas, I tell myself, this is it. This is my last Christmas. I'm going to quit before next Christmas. And inevitably next Christmas comes and I get on the roller coaster.
Sometimes, I let the stress of it all rob me of the anticipation of Advent and the joy of Christmas. That is why I set out to accomplish as much of my Christmas to-do list as early in the season as possible. My goal in shopping early, sending cards early and decorating early is to get to a point in December when there's nothing left to do but relax and enjoy the season. The challenge then becomes to say no to extra busy-ness in those last days of Advent and to not again load my plate with stress.
To me, Christmas is magical, but its magic is fragile. It can easily be lost, broken, or otherwise damaged if we are not careful. And like Matthew Broderick's character in "Deck the Halls," I have a tendency to schedule the magic right out of the holiday. Last night, as I was tidying up the kitchen for the umpteenth time, that was what God laid on my heart. I felt He was saying, "I know you're pouring yourself into this season, trying to make every memory magical, trying to create a Christmas the kids will never forget and working at building meaning into everything you do this Christmas. But what are you missing out on?" My heart responded, "the joy."
I can spend day and night decorating, baking, wrapping and caroling in a good-hearted attempt to make Christmas special for my kids but if I alienate them in the process, what good have I done?
That's why when I read "Selah in the Sky" in InTouch Magazine this morning, I felt like it was written just for me. The author wrote from my heart as she did from hers. So today I am going to selah the wonder of Christmas. Join me?
No comments:
Post a Comment