Defiance

I am looking forward to very special times with friends and family this month.  The calendar is filled with plans and parties.  Our home will soon be lit up with the glow of Christmas lights and candles and the scent of spices and cookies.  All of these things are part of what make the season special and I plan to fully enjoy the festivities!

BUT...

I defy the rushing and stress and trying to cram as much Christmas as possible into 25 short days, while driving myself and my family crazy.

Here are eight ways I am being intentionally defiant against the maddening pace of the season:

1) THIS Advent devotional:

The Greatest Gift by Ann Voskamp

"This, this, is the love story that's been coming for you since the beginning. It is possible for you to miss it.  To brush past it, to rush through it, to not see how it comes for you up over the edges of everything, quiet and unassuming and miraculous--how every page of the Word has been writing it, reaching for you, coming for you."

2) Hold my plans loosely.  I like my lists.  I love feeling organized ... but life happens.  I need to learn to let  my lists be a tool and not a task master.  How often have I become stressed and angry because things didn't go as planned?

3) Only say yes to what I want to.  What is most important to me?

4) Feeling rushed is what makes me stress.  I REFUSE TO RUSH. 

5) The four gift rule (not including stockings)

 

 

6) Rest days scheduled on my calendar

7) Intentionally taking moments to enjoy my favorite things of the season:

    My family

    Friendship

    A warm cup of something

    Candle light

    Christmas Carols

    The fire place

    Cookies

    Fuzzy slippers

    The Nutcracker

Gingerbread men

8) Last and most important:  remembering that it's not about me.  I want to notice the seemingly insignificant.  The needy.  The broken.  The unlovable.  I want to find the beauty in the messy. 

How will you defy the manic pace of the season? 

Wishing you lots of moments of rest and wonder!

Love, Liv