22.12.12

A (not so) Gentle Reminder

With Christmas only three days away, I found myself burdened this morning with gifts that have yet to be wrapped, a Sunday School lesson that had yet to be finished, a long list of groceries that needed to be purchased, the desire to get in my kitchen and begin baking the holiday's favorite goodies and a lot of last minute preparations for tomorrow's musical and living nativity at church.

I also found out today that the United States Postal Service has "lost" the Christmas gift I ordered for Abbie over a month ago.  I have a tracking number for it, but it seems to have disappeared off the face of the earth somewhere in North Carolina as of last Wednesday.  And, of course, customer service really was of no help today except to tell me that they will "look into it" and contact me again by the end of the business day on Monday.  So I was a little LOT frustrated with that today, too.

And my baby girl Ellie is sick.  It's nothing major.  Just a case of the sniffles and congestion, all of the things that make a baby very uncomfortable.  She ran a low grade fever a bit yesterday but none today.  Since we spent our Thanksgiving with a sick little boy, I am hoping and praying that all of us will be well during the Christmas holiday.

So, with all of that, yes, I was not necessarily full of the holiday spirit today.  But then the Lord sent me a (not so) gentle reminder.  I "just so happened" to run across this quote from Ann Voskamp:

Whenever Christmas begins to burden, it's a sign that I've taken on something of the world and not of Christ.

WOW! 

Dear Lord, please forgive me!  And strip me of the world and fill me with You!  It's all about You, Jesus.  It's not about me.  In Your name I pray.

O, come, let us adore Him, Christ the Lord!