Taking Down Christmas... I keep looking around the family room... ALL of this stuff has to go back into boxes???
I have debated how long it is socially acceptable to keep these Christmas decorations up!
What have I landed on??? My sister's birthday! January 15th is when I need to have Christmas decorations down. Well, at least having started!!!
The sad thing about putting these trees away is not only trying to get them to the basement into the Christmas Closet, but the house all of a sudden looks ordinary again. No white lights, no more festive pillows, goodbye fake presents under the trees, and flakes of snow in every corner of the house!!!
Back to regular, ordinary, Blaaahhhhh...
Haha, but I think as I exclaim Blaaahhhhh I slowly realize it is the Blaaahhhh moments that make the Festive Season that much more spectacular! If the house ALWAYS looked like this, well then there would be nothing fancy about it!
We chase Festive, Shiny, Sparkle... we don't usually chase ordinary, regular, normal.
I have been thinking lately about this call to live Simply. It is something that keeps nudging at me. I haven't quite figured it all out yet, but what I do think is that simple can be beautiful. To embrace the normal and the ordinary in life, and let God ADD His touches of sparkle and festive lights! I mean to live right into the Will of God!
See, living in the simple helps us live with God at the center.
Living in the simple means we don't have to muster up the sparkle! Our identity, significance, is not dependent on how much WE shine, or twinkle.
As I watch the life that our God lived here on Earth, I notice He MASTERED the call to live simply.
"Simplicity: He lived simply-- there was no effort to make an impression--he refused the spectacular, he spoke the language of the people; there was no pose of any kind; he kept silent when he did not know the answers... "
Discipline and Discovery by Albert Edward Day
I know for me, I LOVE the spectacular and I embrace feeling unique (I am a 4 on the Enneagram after all!!!), but perhaps what God is asking me to embrace is HIS ordinary. HIS walk, HIS talk... and many times following Jesus can feel ordinary! It is real after all... Simple is real! The fabric to our heart and soul becomes small joys, small victories, and simple pleasures. The fabric of our soul becomes so very real.
BUT simple is not easy. In fact, simple is rather difficult! Simple says, "I am investing TODAY... Where God is asking me to SHOW UP, and be Really Me!" Simple asks our conversations to be seasoned with grace, goodness, and truth. Our hearts to treasure what is in front of us, who is next to us, the simple of what God is asking us to do today. Simple slows our heartbeat, steadies our eyes, and reminds our soul to sing a NEW song of Enough! We are MORE than enough, as we are, with what we have, and what God is asking us to do!!!
I want to celebrate in the simple, and marvel at the moments of life that seem to twinkle, knowing that it is My God at work and not something I have mustered up!!! I don't want to chase what makes me feel special. Half the time that means just more chasing day after day.
Instead, my hope for the simple is that in those moments God would be more real. His power would be greater. AND in the simple, my heart would be turned more to Him because there is less clutter in the way! It is there where I think life begins to TWINKLE because God is displaying HIS light.
As we put away the festive decor of Christmas, lets embrace the simple all around us this new year!!!
"The law of the Lord is perfect,
refreshing the soul.
The statutes of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple." Psalm 19:7