You don’t see it do you? That mess pushed to the other side of the room so it will be out of sight of the photo shoot. That project out in the trash pile because it turned out to be a great big flop.
As a blogger who focuses on making Old Things New, my blog is “picture heavy” with photos of thrift store projects I’ve transformed, crafty creations, and shots of my own home decor. I especially love sharing photos during the Christmas season when my home is holiday perfect. Only it’s not. Perfect I mean. From time to time I share my failures on this blog and I’m always surprised at how many people connect with me over those failures. We can all relate to imperfection in others can’t we?
Then why, if we can relate so well to other's imperfections, are we at the same time so intolerant? Click To Tweet
Welcome to FREEDOM FRIDAY – A new devotional, emotional, spiritual and sometimes hysterical series that I will be sharing on occasional Fridays, in addition to my regular Old Things New posts.
During this “most wonderful time of the year” it is so easy to get caught up in the external preparations of hanging lights, decorating the tree, planning menus, shopping, cleaning, etc., that we neglect the internal preparation. The preparing of the heart. At Christmastime we dress our homes and ourselves in our finest so that all looks beautiful on the outside (Christ followers are especially good at this) but the inside is often a mess. Sometimes we work so hard at our exterior preparation that we become overwhelmed with it all and soon find ourselves becoming a bit like The Grinch.
We are told that this should be the happiest time of the year. A time to take joy in the true meaning of Christmas, to spend time with family and friends. A time to worship together with church family. A time for holiday parties and good cheer!
Well maybe, just maybe, this isn’t the happiest time of year for you. Maybe you’re dreading everything about Christmas and what it means for “you and yours”. Maybe you find yourself Grinching over the fact that you’ll have to spend time with people you don’t really enjoy, the co-workers who party too much and make fools of themselves; that elderly family member who is cranky all of the time and thinks they’ve earned the right to be that way by virtue of age alone; friends that come into your home with their out-of-control children who touch everything in sight and don’t leave until at least one item is broken; the guests who call on the day of the big dinner and ask what they can bring (AFTER you’ve done all of the food prep, so of course there is nothing that needs to be added to the menu); the visitors that enjoy lingering over coffee long after the time for coffee is finished, while you slave away (alone) in the kitchen, cleaning up the mess you’ve spent days creating; the boisterous, know-it-all family member who knows exactly how to ruin everyone’s good time – assuming a good time could be had with this motley crew of guests!
The weather is dark and dreary and so are you. Do you know that at the heart of all this Grinching is selfishness? And yes, there may be a tad bit of personal experience attached to the above descriptions because I’m not perfect at this love-your-neighbor stuff either.
What if we were to prepare our hearts for the holidays to the same extent that we prepare our homes? What if we took some “time out” to spend with God and allowed the light of His Word to brighten our dark Grinchy hearts. What if we made a list of all that we have to be grateful for? What if we invest ourselves in the lives of those difficult people by praying for them – daily – from now until Christmas?
As a result of all of this, what if we become so intimate with Jesus that our hearts became His heart for those we are intolerant of? Finally, and this is HUGE, what if out of the overflow of time spent with Jesus we suddenly find our hearts filled with true JOY at the opportunity to prepare a meal for our difficult people, to serve them, do their dishes and even listen to one more story from one who may have no one else in their life who will listen?
What if?
I believe in the power of God to change people. I’m not talking about “those people”. I’m talking about you and me. I believe that Jesus can change our hearts of selfishness toward others! In fact, He delights in answering prayers to become more like Him because that is who we are called to be.
The result? That irritating co-worker, friend or family member will be blessed by our new attitude. If they don’t know Him they will experience through us the very love of Jesus. And here is the bonus:
In the blessing of others we ourselves will be blessed. Test this! Click To Tweet
PRAYER: Dear Lord, in these days leading up to Christmas, keep our eyes focused on You. Prepare our hearts to be generous toward those we find most difficult. Show us how to become people after your own heart, following so closely beside you that we can feel Your breath on our cheeks, and hear Your whisper in our ears. Keep us close enough to know Your heart and show that heart toward others. You have lavished such an extreme grace upon us that it is only right that we be gracious toward others. Lord, give us eyes to see into the heart of others and speak the very words of hope and encouragement that they need to hear from You this Christmas season.
Dear Lord, may this be the best Christmas ever!
Now, if you’d like a little laughter to add to this more serious post, take a peek back at the post Decorating for Christmas – A Very Griswold Experience right HERE. So thankful for a husband who lets me share a few of his foibles with the world!
Blessings,
Nativity set by my mom, Miriam Downey, who always showed grace to others in her home.
I’ve been known to link up to the following great parties!!!
Sunday:
SundaysAtHome, TheDIYShowoff, LifeOnLakeshoreDrive, SilverPenniesSundays, RusticAndRefined, Spiritual Sundays
Monday:
IShouldBeMoppingTheFloor, TheDedicatedHouse, Dwellings, ProjectInspired, InspireMeMonday, BetweenNapsOnThePorch, CelebrateYourStory, What Joy is Mine/Monday Musings, Darling Downs Diaries, The Art of Homemaking, MomentsOfHope, Glimpses, SittingAmongFriends, InspireMeMonday, GodSizedDreams
Tuesday:
TalkOfTheTown, HomeStoriesAtoZ, AStrollThruLife, CoastalCharm, CedarHillFarmhouse, TuesdaysAtOurHome, TheWinthropChronicles, Rich Faith Rising Unite Linky, Testimony Tuesday,Cheerleaders of Faith,Tell His Story
Wednesday:
SavvySouthernStyle, A Wise Woman Builds Her Home, Woman to Woman Word Filled Wednesdays, Coffee for Your Heart, MessyMarriage, ThreeWordWednesday, WriterWednesday
Thursday:
ShareYourStyle, ImpartingGrace, EmbracingChange, HaveADailyCupOfMrsOlson, MyRepurposedLife, ADelightsomeLife, KatherinesCorner, Thought Provoking Thursday, SincerelyPaulas, ThoughtfulThursday, Tune-inThursday
Friday:
FrenchCountryCottage, TheCharmOfHome, TheDedicatedHouseAnythingBlueFriday, ShabbyliciousFriday, Sweet Inspiration, Faith’nFriends, Missional Women Faith Filled Fridays, Dance With Jesus FreshMarketFriday
Saturday:
FunkyJunkInteriors, OneMoreTimeEvents, SaturdaySparks, TheInspirationGallery, Make My Saturday Sweet
Patti, I know that there are those that feel so stressed at this time of year and some that really don’t care for the Christmas season. I thankfully am not one of them. I love everything about it! The decorating, the hustle and bustle, the baking, the parties, and the spiritual aspect as well. My hear feels for those that are lonely at this wonderful time of year! Love your beautiful nativity. What a wonderful post! Have a very Merry Christmas!
hugs,
Jann
This is such s beautiful, “What it’s all about” writing. Thank you Patti for sharing your beautiful & transparent heart through your gift of writing. I pray many lives will be transformed by this. Merry Christmas.
What a beautiful, beautiful post! “Preach the gospel at all times and if necessary use words” St. Francis of Assisi. I just started a new blog called, “are you there GOD?, it’s me. I’ve only done 2 posts so far but I would love to repost you post there. Trisha
Such a beautiful post and so insightful. It showed me how much more work I need to do to prepare and open my heart for Jesus. I will be saving your post to read over and over again until I feel confident that I’m living and serving joyfully. Did your Mom make your nativity set? It is beautiful! I made a gorgeous nativity set back in a ceramics class in the early 80’s. One day I will pass it down to my daughter and hopefully one of my grandsons will one day pass it down to one of their children. Merry Christmas to you and yours.
How fun to see that you had linked up to The Weekend Brew, Patti! I loved your reminder to prepare our hearts as well as our homes this holiday season. It is very easy to get stuck in a pattern of perfection and not truly be ready for anything. I hope to see you at The Weekend Brew again and I hope you have been doing well since Allume.
Thank you for reminding me who I am and Who He is during this time of year.
“What if” we lived like that every. single. day. Wow… wouldn’t our world be a different place.
Thank you for this great post, Patti. We all need this reminder.
Thanks, too, for sharing with us at Project Inspire{d}!
You’re right on. ..out of the overflow of our time spent with Jesus, we will have his joy! So simple but yet–we sometimes find it challenging to believe. So we delve into time spent getting things done instead. You linked up before me at the Weekend Brew. Thanks for the insights and for sharing imperfections here! I appreciate your desire to let others see imperfections too…
What if? Three years later and it’s still relevant!
It is certainly still relevant to me and I need to remind myself from time to time not to fall into old traps. Thanks friend.
I believe God can do that too, Patti! I’m hoping my grinchiness stays out of every encounter I have this holiday season. But if “it” makes an appearance, I’m running to my Father’s arms so He can transform me from grinchiness to Christlikeness once again. 😉 Merry Christmas, my friend!
Merry Christmas Beth!
Love this post. Did you make your nativity set. It is the exact same set as mine. I made it in a ceramic class in 1982, the year I was married. 35 years later it is my most treasured Christmas possession.
Thank you so much Julie! My mom is the one who actually made this nativity set and it probably was in the 80’s. I think she took a class at her senior center. I love it too, even the donkey with the chipped ear. Have a very Merry Christmas!
“I believe in the power of God to change people. I’m not talking about “those people”. I’m talking about you and me.” This is eternal truth! Thanks for sharing this again, Patti. We still need it. 🙂
Thank you for reading Lisa. 🙂
“Preparing our hearts in the same way we prepare our homes.” This is a thought-provoking statement! Isn’t that what it’s all about. Patti, I too have a very old nativity set, and although I’m tempted EVERY year to purchase a more modern set, I just can’t. I guess I’m a bit grinchy because I don’t want to spend the money, but it’s also that my son made a beautiful, rustic stable out of balsa wood many years ago, and that old nativity set is a perfect reminder of God’s presence in our family through the years. Merry Christmas to you!
I love my older nativity set the most because of the memories attached to it, and because my mom made it. I’m sure you feel the same about the stable your son made too. Merry Christmas Crystal.
What a great idea to pray for these difficult people from now till Christmas! Thanks for sharing this!
Thank you for the nice comment on my post Ruth. Praying really does the trick! God is good.