Ephesians 1:2
'I greet you with the grace and peace poured into our lives by God our Father and our Master, Jesus Christ.'
We as Christians celebrate Christmas because it is the time God the son left his perfect place in heaven and came to live with us, to die on the cross so we may be saved from the wrath of God who gives us peace on earth.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/SassyfrasDesignzSo in this busy hectic time of preparing for Christmas, how is your peace?
This weekend I put up the tree, earlier than normal, because the family flies in this weekend. It took almost all day. I decorate the house and clean as I go too. About half way through I thought I might not put up the tree in future years, especially if we don’t have the family here. Then I thought. It takes one day to put it up, one day to take it down. That is 2 days out of 365 days. I can do this, especially for the beauty it brings to our home.
Buying all those Christmas gifts can be another stress factor. I start in October and little by little buying gifts from my list. It spreads out the money and the time. Then there is the baking and cooking of many foods we only eat once a year. And sending out cards. Many people now use the email for this. I like cards as decoratations and the pictures get used as next year’s tags or for my art. I used to write and annual letter and last year I stopped that. I got a few complaints, oh well.
We do lots to make Christmas special, but how many of our friends and family would complain if every decoration wasn’t in place, every traditional baking wasn’t done, only a few, and tones of present weren’t under the tree? Maybe the last one they might complain.
We have a choice in life. We can make our lives stressful or stress free. It depends on how much we do and our attitude. I always say things go better in my life if I want to do something instead of have to.
http://www.etsy.com/people/CraftyCrochet4KidsIn 1 Corinthians 7 Paul is taking about marriage but verse 7 can apply to anything. ‘God has called us to make the best of it, as peacefully as we can.’
So I’ll ask you again. Is their peace in your heart this year? If not, let God's peace be yours. 3 John 14 ‘Peace be to you’
I pray that you have the peace that passes all understanding this Christmas season.
10:02 AM |
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I almost didn't put up any decorations either, then I saw a one man crew trying to decorate the entrance to the complex where I live and thought how sad it was that noone was excited about the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus. So, I took the towel off my wet head, dried my hair, ate my breakfast and put on my shoes and helped...which in turn inspired one more person to help. Afterward my house looked so...well...boring and dark, being that it is right next to those lovely decorations...then I said, shame on me for not wanting to shout from the rooftops the joy and peace that the Lord gives everyday...so I got out my lights, my tree and all my decorations and up they went...Ahhh! May the Lord bless you this Christmas and infect you with His joy, infill you with His peace, and overwhelm you with His love.
Love your comment Julia. Must have been fun.
Peace and joy and love! :)
Mine has been peaceful so far. I have all my shopping done and my last final for school is tomorrow.
Our grandparents have complained that the tree didn't look perfect before because the kids decorated it, but they had much more fun doing it than I would have, so I just brushed it off. We don't do fancy dinner with a lot of people, but I will make a couple special dishes Christmas Eve. We are serving lunch at the food kitchen on Christmas Day.
I think this is a balancing act of being joyful and festive and not going overboard and forgetting our Savior. We've decided to cut back on the decorating. We'll hang lighted wreaths on the door and front windows instead of climbing ladders getting on the roof to hang lights on the eaves. We've tossed some of the old tired decorations and won't replace them unless we find a nativity scene we'd like to use instead. But we'll surely continue having a birthday cake for Jesus on Christmas day.
thanks for this, I am surely working on it :-)