For the Journey


Any day spent with you is my favorite day. So today is my new favorite day. ~A.A. Milne

"You crown the year with Your goodness, and Your paths drip with abundance." ~Psalm 65:11
“I don' t want a Christmas you can buy.
I don't want a Christmas you can make.
What I want is a Christmas you can hold.
A Christmas that holds me,
remakes me, revives me.
I want a Christmas that whispers, Jesus."

~Ann Voscamp

That's it.  That's exactly what I was trying to say this morning.

We sang "Joy to the World" during our worship service at church today.  That's one of those Christmas songs that we all know, that we all sing, that we are all so familiar with that we sing those words without giving thought to what we are actually singing, what we are actually saying.

I'll be honest.  It's that time of the year.  It's the most wonderful time of the year!  But it also seems like the most stressful time of the year, too.  All of the holiday parties and the food and the decorations and the programs.  All the STUFF.  Don't get me wrong.  I love the stuff!  I LOVE the stuff.  But right now?  All the stuff is overwhelming to me!  And I'm dreading it.  But I don't want it to be that way!  I want to enjoy it.  I want to savor it.  I want to soak it all in.  I want to watch my littles enjoy it.  I want to watch them savor it.  I want to watch them soak it all in.  

But right now all I can do is think about the cookies that have to be baked for Tuesday morning, the surprise party in Hannah Kate's class for her birthday on Wednesday, the food that has to be prepared for the ladies' annual Christmas party on Thursday, the Christmas musical narration that I have to write by next Sunday, supper that needs to be cooked for the next three nights since we go back to our crazy therapy and dance scheduled tomorrow.  Oh, and I'm afraid the baby has another ear infection so I'll be calling the pediatrician first thing in the morning to see if I can get her an appointment.  I guess I might be calling for the big girl, too, because she's complaining of a sore throat and headache now and wouldn't eat supper.

So here we are.  And I really don't want to be here!  This is not what I want this most blessed, most joyous season to be this year.  So that's what I've been praying about these past few days.

Lord, I want to enjoy it.  I really want to enjoy it.  I want to enjoy my family, my children.  I want to just sit with them, play with them.  I realize that hasn't happened lately, and I need a change.  Hannah Kate has been begging me for a week to put her pink Christmas tree up in her room.  And every time she asks, my answer is the same.  I tell her I'm "too busy" right now and reassure her that it will eventually get done.  Lord, I don't want to be "too busy" anymore.  I sat tonight and just held sweet Ellie in my lap. She stayed there, laid her head against my chest.  I told her I was sorry that I hadn't held her more often lately.  Lord, I want to hold her more often.  

I was singing "Joy to the World" last night.  And then it hit me.  It was so familiar that I almost missed it.

Joy to the world!  The Lord is come!
Let earth receive her King.
Let every HEART PREPARE HIM ROOM . . . 

That's it!  This Christmas season, that's what I want.  I want to prepare my heart for HIM, fill my heart with more of HIM.  Because when I do that, all of the other stuff that doesn't matter, all of the other stuff that seems so overwhelming . . . well, there isn't room for it anymore.  When I am FULL OF JESUS, well, I can't even explain it, can't even find the words for it right now.  But when I am full of Jesus, everything else fades away, and all that's left is what's most important.

So this Christmas, I want it to be different.  Yes, there will be parties and decorations and all the STUFF, but I want a heart that is ready and prepared for my Jesus, ready and prepared for the work He has for me to do, ready and prepared for the ministry and mission of mothering and homemaking, ready and prepared to tell others that baby Jesus was born FOR YOU.  He was born to DIE for you.

I don't want it to be perfect.  I don't want it to be all of the Pinterest pictures and activities and crafts (that I will never really do anyway and then lament on how horrible of a mom I am because we don't have a hot chocolate bar on Christmas Eve night).  I want it to be excellent.  I want to do it with excellence.  And guess what that means?  Instead of making those butter-nut truffles for Tuesday morning, I'm going to the grocery store tomorrow to pick up a tray of brownie bites.  And guess what else?  I'll probably leave them in the ugly plastic tray instead of arranging them on one of my Christmas plates.

And while I'm at it . . . the annual Christmas card?  Well, I have the girls' dresses, but I haven't monogrammed them yet.  So I was waiting on that before taking their picture for the card.  But I don't know when that will get done.  My sweet friend took the kids' picture this summer.  They're dressed in blues and greens, summertime clothes.  Are you thinking what I'm thinking?  Maybe I should go ahead and get that Christmas card done tonight with one of the pictures I already have!  I mean, does it really matter that they aren't dressed in red and green?

Here's something else.  I rarely blog without a picture.  But today?  There won't be a picture.  I'm giving myself permission to post on my blog without a picture!  And you know what?  I'm sure the tens of people who read this will be perfectly okay without a picture today!

Because I'm going to PREPARE HIM ROOM.

"May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit."  ~Romans 15:13