''Tis The Season

Honesty isn't pretty..… It's just honest. I'm not much on New Year's resolutions and come the first of the year I probably won't be again, but at this time of year at -7 days and counting, I've become a little OCD, ADHD, depressed, overwhelmed, inpatient, panicked… Well you know, a psychiatrist dream while they laugh all the way to the bank with all the money it would probably take for them to diagnose me if I went to one. Some people would say "Jill, don't be so honest", but I got over that along time ago. You know the feeling, "Why did I end up buying them a gift card again? I should've gotten to know them better this year and then I could've got them the present they wanted." Mental note, do more things with that person this year. Then I start thinking about the fact that I didn't even make it to my own church Christmas program this year and began to wonder if maybe there is something wrong with me spiritually since I didn't make it there. In reality I just forgot to get the tickets to go. I then start thinking that maybe I didn't buy enough but then I remember that presents are not the reason for the season ....but then my brain goes back to....yeah maybe I didn't buy enough. And then I go into verse of that maybe my tree is not home interior pretty. I went to so-and-so's house and there's was all wrapped and perfect picture like Norman Rockwell. And don't get me started on the cards ....not a one..... I didn't send a one and I probably have 10 boxes sitting here. Failure… Again Oh, wait I only made one batch of candy. My mother would've made enough for all of the family and then some I need to be better at baking and cookie making and candy stuff like that. (I'm just saying it the way I think it in my brain when in reality I really want to fix every, quotation mark, quotation, capitalization and everything else that I think I need to do to make me perfect.) A little while ago I realized that I had not put my manger scene up yet. My sweet husband bought it for me when we were in Israel years back and I promised him I would put it up every year because of well you know it wasn't cheap. As I begin to put it up, I began to think about what that night must have really been like. The manger looks so simple...just wood and normal people and no perfection really anywhere around except for the baby lying in the center of the scene. There were not 15 batches of cookies made by Mary that day, and there was no Martha Stewart Christmas tree. There were no last-minute shopping trips. There was no, "Did I bring the right wardrobe?" There were no Christmas cards sent out because it all began that night. If you've reached the end of your rope at Christmas, take time and look at a manger. Read the real Christmas story in Luke. Forget everyone's expectations except for the Lord Jesus. Merry Christmas! The Lord Has Come! This has been a public service announcemen. 😊