After nearly 2 months of shopping, wrapping, decorating, and baking...all low key and all my choice...it's over! Done! The toys have been opened, removed from the packaging (which is no small feat), and "some assembly required" has been performed. Many toys have found their way to the playroom.
After much fun on Christmas eve and Christmas Day, I discovered that while I was enjoying the holiday, my family woke up on Christmas eve and put PJs in the hamper, then wore clothes which hit the hamper that night, then more PJs for the hamper, and then more clothes on Christmas morning (not to mention new clothes, which I always run through a wash cycle before wearing.) WHERE DID ALL THIS LAUNDRY COME FROM? I took 2 days off, and bam! Craziness.
And the Christmas tree, so regal and bright before, now seems to mock me..."You know you have to undecorate me, don't you? You realize I have to be carried up to the attic? Got a plan for that? You know your husband is still recovering from his arm surgery?" *Sigh*
It's enough to cause a big, bad hangover all right. Then I realize, I'm overwhelmed and exhausted by things that are not important. Why is my focus on these chores? Where is my joy in the Lord? I was so focused on not turning into Martha before the holidays, than I let my guard down afterwards! And Jesus' voice again says, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed."
May you & I focus on the One who is the one thing needed now in the week after Christmas, and as we enter 2009. Only one thing is needed. I think I can handle that. How about you?
Romans 13:11 -- But make sure that you don't get so absorbed and exhausted in taking care of all your day-by-day obligations that you lose track of the time and doze off, oblivious to God. The night is about over, dawn is about to break. Be up and awake to what God is doing! God is putting the finishing touches on the salvation work he began when we first believed. We can't afford to waste a minute, must not squander these precious daylight hours in frivolity and indulgence, in sleeping around and dissipation, in bickering and grabbing everything in sight. Get out of bed and get dressed! Don't loiter and linger, waiting until the very last minute. Dress yourselves in Christ, and be up and about! (The Message)
20 comments:
I like that: one thing. Yes, I think I can handle that too:-)
Thanks for the reminder.
I realized last Christmas that the remainder of my years will be spent opening toy packages...
I think I might leave our "decor" up until after 3 Kings Day....
Blessings!
I have to say that I have been focusing on Him and trying not to worry about the other things. On Christmas Eve, during the chruch service, I went in worried about someone but I prayed and said; God please handle this one, it is too big for me. Then I put it out of my mind. I am happy to say that He took care of it in a way that I never imagined possible and I didn't have to worry. My life is getting so much better Kelly just by having faith.
I'm not ready to part with the tree just yet. Everything else, OK, but it gets another week. Did you know I almost named my blog "One Thing?" I like the message.
Thanks for the reminder that all we need is the "One Thing". Our decorations are down, but the tree is still up. I'm ready for it to go, but no one else is yet and I know I hear it snickering at me as I walk by it. I know I do.
Great reminder. I will be sure to not tell you I have already undecorated my tree and put the majority of the holiday stuff away, I like to ring in the New Year with a clean house...lol :-)
Came over from 2nd Cup. This was exactly what I needed to hear!
I have loads of laundry calling my name! Was feeling overwhelmed, then I checked in with you! Thanks for the great post!
I used to hear this often: "If you take Jesus seriously, there's not much else you have to get worked up about." I quote a pastor who is now retired. It's still true! See you tomorrow!
What a GREAT reminder! I thought my Christmas tree was the only one that talked.
Everything will get back into its routine soon enough.
Thanks!
Great reminder!
We left for a trip 2 days after Christmas so it will all be waiting for me when I return. I'll have a weekend to put everything away, write lesson plans for school starting Monday, study to teach a Life Group on Sunday...
But I can do it through His Power, One
Thing at at time!
Hanging out with Jesus is the one necessary thing. :) I am behind on the laundry too. Folding clothes is highly overrated! My son asked this morning if I was doing the laundry. (It must be bad if he notices.) I posted about the tea party today. Check out the pictures in between chores!
You silly goose...I think each video is unique and no comparisons allowed. We are always critical of ourselves. There's a devotional topic for you right there. ; )
I put mine up early to be sure it works as we are leaving very early tomorrow to move Cupcake into a better apartment. I'll be behind on viewing but have scheduled time for it on Weds and Thurs! A fun way to start the New Year- with friends! Love ya, Kelly.
We leave the tree until after new years. And this year it will be even longer than that because we left home on Christmas morning and won't return til the 18th of January. Sigh. By then I will be in no mood for undecorating!
I was wishing the laundry would stop during the Christmas season. And the dishes, too. Wouldn't that have been great!?!? Today, I am tackling bedding and linens...they are overdue! (I think they are hung over!)
We are having company on New Year's Day, so our decorations won't start coming down until next weekend. I do like to let Christmas linger a bit.
Keep us up-to-date on your to-be-published pieces! :)
Oh yeah, something's hit me too- Maybe it "is" your Christmas hangover. LOL
I love the picture of you and Buddy! Awwww SO CUTE! AND that they sleep like bunkbeds? egads... they have life rough don't they?
Your home is so beautiful Kelly!
Wish I could help you lift the Christmas decorations up to thee attic. It is a totally different thing putting it away rather than keeping it out. WHY can't we just keep CHRISTMAS ALL YEAR LONG?
Everything is put away here but the nativity and lights. One year it was nearly Valentines day before the lights got put away. lol
We lit them just for the fun of it on valentines! INSANITY... sheer INSANITY.
Later gater, I'm off to see your sissy,
L
Boy do I feel like only that One thing is needed now. I had planned to leave the decorations up til New Years. I really was enjoying them. Then my friend needed to deliver that ent center to me the day after Christmas which began a domino affect that has had me scrambling to keep up. Ugh. Hopefully tomorrow the fast pace can slow down again.
Yes, I do need to got sit at His feet.
A wonderful post that is needed by many, including me!!
I'm looking at all that is surrounding me--the tree which one of my kitties is now climbing, the suitcases and clothing that my daughter visiting from Texas has strewn everywhere, the laundry--need I go on??
And I'm back to work also after a few days off.
It's good to know that others feel this same way, and there is only ONE--only ONE that we need to place our focus on.
The rest--it will get completed in its own time--one step at a time--keeping our focus where it needs to be.
Have you ever read "Having a Mary Spirit" or "Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World"? I've read them both, and I think that this is the time of year where I really need to go back and reread them again!!
Beth
I can't say that I have the exact same hangover. I actually love my Jesus tree so much that I hate to take it down. If it was artificial I really would be tempted to just leave it up as a reminder of Him. But that isn't an option and it's real anyway.
Today I did wake up with anxiety at 2:00 a.m. Suddenly, the holiday was over (except for New Year's) and all the normal issues and questions flooded back in. What about this and that? What to do, what to do? I so enjoyed my break and it was hard to step back into normal. Yet, the same Jesus is here that was with us during Christmas. And that's precisely why I need to leave that tree up as a reminder! Plus, it would save me mucho work.
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