Each morning I start my day with coffee and my devotional, that is until December hit and visions of Christmas activities swam through my head: shopping, family visits, all the Christmas parties, and The Nutcracker. I began to reach for my planner before my Bible, even instead of my Bible. My planner took precedence over my time with God. This stark realization unsettled me how quickly I replaced my time with Him for time controlling things myself. I listened to society that pictures, gifts, activities, decorations and the like are what I need to fill my December with to celebrate Christmas. It is a busy time of year but starting my day with Him is the most important, otherwise the rest won’t matter, and I won’t have the peace or the preparation to deal with problems that come my way in my busyness.
The minute we began our drive back from Oklahoma and Thanksgiving was officially over I whipped my planner out and began making lists of all I needed to do. I was overwhelmed instantly, but it was also fulfilling me to see all the activities December brought that would keep our family bustling through until Christmas. Think Home Alone where the family is racing about the night before their trip, I feel like that is me every day. After 4 huge loads of laundry and the Christmas decorations went up so did my anxiety. I was tossing and turning at night, something I never do, and found my thoughts full of lists and more lists where I felt sleeping was getting in the way. What was I missing and why do I not have peace in such an exciting time?
That’s when it hit me, I had been reaching for my planner as if it started with a capital “P” and began allowing it to dictate my life. I was penciling in Jesus when every day he deserved the ink. How quickly my life and soul frazzled, and peace left me. It’s ok to be busy but we cannot let the busyness of life hinder us from praying and spending time with Him, because the threads that are already frayed will come unraveled at a much faster pace, while God is the ultimate thread that holds us together when our hearts are troubled and our minds are jumbled.
Make the desserts, plan the parties, take the pictures, but don’t forget Jesus first, use permanent ink and tattoo his name onto your heart and make time for Him in your day because He will give you peace that passes all understanding.
sd
Leave a Reply