Peace

Some days I have an overwhelming sense to share what I have discovered through my daily devotions. Today is one of those times. The house is pretty peaceful this morning. The boys are involved in "before school activities", there is a cozy fire going in the wood stove, and my cup of coffee is at arm's length. Mmmmm... life is good.

The page that I opened up to in my devotional was titled:

"Too Busy?"

Isn't that a perfect question for the month of December? The word ' busy' is one that is commonly used during this month in which we are SUPPOSED to experience PEACE. We rush around trying to pack in everything that NEEDS to be done, as well as everything that we WANT to do... right? I am challenging myself this year. What's funny is the fact that I had already prayed about this challenge and decided to embark BEFORE reading today's devotion. The Lord knew I would need reminders, didn't He?

This Christmas I am going to slow things down a LOT! The shopping is basically done since we decided to cut down on who we were buying for and how much we were buying for the boys. I sell homemade fudge and peanut brittle at my husband's office every Christmas. That project is almost done, and that in itself is a miracle! I'm usually filling orders until Christmas Eve!! I forewarned everyone that I would only be doing pre-orders this year though... so they got their orders in early. We put one special Christmas event on the calendar (it's actually an all day thing, but that's just it... it's ONE day instead of all over the calendar). The kids are excited about this "Christmas Spectacular" (that's what we're calling this event day) and they've made no mention of feeling at all cheated. We're not having a party this year... that cuts out a HUGE amount of stress! I'm not doing a Christmas letter to put inside each Christmas card I send out. Instead, we're sending out cards with the blog address and I'll have something special for everyone here by the end of next week. There's more, but these are a few examples of how we're creating peace in THIS house during the season instead of creating stress and frustration.

Elisabeth Elliot quoted this as part of my devotion:

"Frustration is NOT the will of God.
There is time to do anything and everything that God WANTS us to do."

Not everything that we put on ourselves is stuff that God WANTS us to do. I'm being challenged to remember that. It's not an easy challenge, but is is a challenge that I believe God wants us to believe in and live out. I pray today for peace to prevail in my home and in my heart. I also pray that you, too can find this peace and love that is offered to us unconditionally by the Savior who was born on Christmas Day.