Holidays.
I love this time of year.
The weather teasing me with the promise of what's to come soon.
Busyness with a purpose.
Joy in giving and doing and being.
Praise oozing from each pore of my body effortlessly and unintentionally.
Family.
Any excuse to get together and eat is a good thing.
Seeing cousins playing, laughing, and catching up on the latest adventures of life.
Dressing up, looking pretty.
Being able to show off that 20 pounds I've lost this year!
Traditions.
Making memories for my kids.
Clinging to what my parents gave me as a child.
Making sure to carry on old traditions,
even when it's difficult.
Knowing that my kids will have this to cling to
when they are grown with families of their own.
Places and people will change,
but the memories will be the constant.
Wondering, hoping my legacy will stretch into their legacies.
Holiness.
Realizing that each gift is from the Holy One.
It's the pure JOY of explaining to a curious toddler that
the Creator builds everything
through people with talents directly from Him.
Encouraging my kids to
search for the gift designed especially for them alone
and praying they realize the full potential boxed up in that offering.
Honor.
It's not letting the season escape with a false meaning and purpose.
It's backing up and stepping away
from what the world is trying to sell me.
And moving forward and stepping up
with purpose and awareness.
Balancing the hype with the sacred.
Enjoying the things that come that are fun, and fancy, and frivolous.
But remembering that it was born from Humbleness and Grace.
And the ultimate Sacrifice.
Choosing.
It's choosing to remember that sometimes,
His living was almost as hard as His dying.
It's choosing to slow down.
To live consciously.
Choosing to take the time
to honor the holiness, the traditions, my family.
Choosing to realize that no is as valid an option as yes is.
Choosing to give my kids something solid to hold on to,
that they can give to their kids.
"Since we have these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from every defilement of body and spirit, bringing holiness to completion in the fear of God." 2Corinthians 7:1
"I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect." Romans 12:1-2
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