About this time of year, we all do it, we start "meeting" ourselves to death. A meeting here, a party there, there is so much to do, we have to schedule time to pea, let alone go shopping, holiday baking or wrapping! I was just telling my husband last night how crazy this week has been, and to make matters worse, it is NOT at ALL how I planned it! AGGGHHH!!! My kids have been sick, we've had an emergency trip to the dentist (not to mention the unexpected cost), late nights, my husband has been working late, and last, but not least, I have been trying to get ready for a catering event for our church and I'm not ready!! Even this morning, I don't even have the time to wait for a computer that seems to have a bad case of the sleepy's! And don't get me started on devotional time....More like speed reading! Then I wonder, What did I just read?WHOA! STOP! What is this? What are we doing? My agenda doesn't even have time for the most important One in my life? How messed up is that when this time of the year is all about Him in the first place?...............It's time to stop this Christmas sleigh and get off! When we start feeling like our calendars and agendas control us, it's time to throw them out the window!
How many of us have an agenda for our finances, our schedules, our personal lives, or even have an agenda for our ministries? And then we struggle to make them work, and work our way. When will we realize that WE are in GOD'S agenda and NOT the other way around? In all actuality, He wants us to throw our agenda, our plans, for our lives away and truely, and fully rely on Him to Reveal His agenda to us, for us. The question now remains, Will We Let Him?
The first step, surprisingly, is backward. Lay your planner/calendar down and slowly back away to look at the big Christmas picture. Christmas is not designed to make us overworked and overwhelmed. It should stay focused on the birth of our Savior. It surprises me that when we do this simple act of reflection, how easily and effortlessly everything else FALLS into place! Try it! Put your God to the test! (I double-dog dare you! lol)
In Romans 11:6, God's word says, "And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work." Some of you may read that and say, HUH? Let me explain...Grace is that which God does in and through you that you cannot do of your own ability. Works is that which you do on your own and of your own ability. Therefore, grace and works cannot exist together because if something is done of grace, it cannot be done from works and visa versa. Works = headache. It is us, working out our own agendas, our own plans, our own ideas. If that which you are trying to do is bringing you frustration, getting your priorities out of order, just not working, then pray about it and ask God if that thing is really what you need to be putting your time and energy into. If it is, ask God for the GRACE to work it out for you, lay down your ideas of making it work and let God take care of it. You would not believe how much of a stress-reducer this is.
So, this Christmas, I challenge you to take a closer look at your calendar. The deeper challenge is this, see if you can cut one thing (if not two or three,) off your calendar from every week for the rest of the year. Use this new-found free time to seek God and ask Him to reveal HIS agenda for you and your family for the up-coming year.
Living by grace ~ Janice~
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