Stuck in the Middle...or Joy?
It’s that time of year again; the time when everyone is
thinking about Christmas but can't do anything until Thanksgiving has passed. To me, I was officially stuck in the middle. I don’t know about you all, but this drives
me bonkers. I like to do things when the idea *first* comes to mind. Needless to say, constantly having to stall myself was getting a little annoying.
Then it hit me the other day, while I was brooding over not
being able to hang up my, ‘Happy Christmas’ sign, that I was letting all my joy be
swallowed up by my holiday-modernism. What is “holiday-modernism?” It is the
belief that holidays should be prepared for at least, one month ahead (if not
two) of the month the holiday is actually in.
Being able to celebrate Thanksgiving in such abundance (as
we do) is a gift from God. We should rejoice in it. My distain for this time of
year was just as bad as saying, “God, I’d rather be unhappy and see ugliness
than be joyous in the all the beauty you have surrounded me with.” It is true there
are no “Thanksgiving” songs, but there is always Fred Astaire. Yes, the
decorations are the same as they were last month; but they were made with the same enthusiasm as the Christmas decorations, are just as beautiful, and are
still a sign of God’s goodness. God gives us beautiful things not only so that
we can be happy but more importantly, so that we can rejoice in him and give
glory to his sovereignty.
This means, all my Christmas decorations will have to wait
their turn so that I can rejoice in them at the proper moment -- not forgetting
to give thanks for what God has given me at present. So after all, I was not stuck in the Middle, I was choosing discontentment over joy.
“This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad
in it.” Psalm 118:24
Do any of you have those moments where, you’re so busy looking
for the future, you forget to realize the blessings you have right in
front of you?
Rejoicing with you in this day! Lovely, thought-provoking post. Thank you. Ü
ReplyDeleteHaha, I have these moments a lot with Blaze, where I dream about how nice it will be when he can sleep through the night/use words instead of shriek/entertain himself for more than five minutes/etc.
ReplyDeleteSo I have to remind myself that every time has its blessings and inconveniences!
For instance, one inconvenience of the Christmas season might be a bossy older sister coming to see you. ;)
Haha, I guess your moments with Blaze are even more special because, they'll never come again.
ReplyDeleteBossy sisters are good. Plus, if you're too much of a problem, I can always just hide away. Jk, you're not a problem. I can't wait for you all to come -- we're going to have so much fun!:D