Skip to main content

Christmas Exhaustion

Mary must have been exhausted.

She was carrying a miracle, yes, but she was also carrying an out of wedlock baby, on a long journey, to give birth in rudimentary settings, with no family around, and no idea what would happen next.

Christmas Eve found me sleep deprived, anxious, and preparing for an evening ahead that would require more energy and happiness than I could muster.

So I sat in a church pew on Christmas Eve and cried for Mary and how tired she must have been, for how unfair it was that she would never fully comprehend the awesome power that her sacrifice would bring to the world. I cried because that one little baby would make every single one of my mistakes ok.

Maybe you are in the middle of your own exhaustion. Maybe you are carrying something wonderful and powerful, but right now it just feels like a burden. Stay strong, your burden may become a light for others.

If you are still happily enjoying the extra time with kids, and the extended bed times, and the family filling up the house, then celebrate with joy.

If you are on the flip side of things and feeling the merriment drain out, and are staring down the dreary grey of the month ahead, know that it is ok.

If you yelled at the kids today for just being so dang loud all the time, it's ok. If you had two cups of coffee before you could even look at putting on clothes, its ok. If you have been at work for the day and wishing more than anything to go back to bed, it's ok.

The baby was born, we celebrated, we drank, we ate, and now we are heading back into the world.

No matter how you mess up today, it will be ok.

You are loved, just as you are. You are loved. You are loved. You are loved.

Take those words, store them deep inside, hand them out readily.

Amid all the new years resolutions you will soon hear, might I suggest just one?

Love harder.

Love those around you, love those you meet, love the unlovable. Pass it along and watch the world around you change for the better.

You may brighten a day, change a mood, or even save a life.

Happy new year friends. You are loved.









Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Changes

I was cleaning today, which gave me time to think, and thinking always leads me here. The house is 'weekend messy', so decided to clean my floors, because The Nester says if your floors are clean the rest of the house feels clean too, even if it isn’t.  I have found that it is pretty good advice, so when everything else feels chaotic, I clean the floors. Of course for me, cleaning the floors also means picking up the toys, shoes, clothes, etc. so that I can even begin to vacuum, which naturally leads to a cleaner home as well.  While cleaning up I began to think about how this blog has evolved over the years, from a desire to write like The Nester about home, into what it is now.  I started writing this blog when I was dreaming of building a new home. Then plans changed, life took turns, and we ended up in a home so different than I expected and so perfect for our family. Somewhere along the way I realized that home wasn’t in the walls that went up or in ...
2 comments
Read more

Ordinary Magic

I am still here. Despite all the challenges of the past year, you are reading this and I am writing it, so we we made it. I won't even try to wrap up what we have all been through, I am just going to acknowledge we all lived and processed through the past year by whatever means necessary.  As I look back on it, it's crazy to think how much fear and heartache the last year held but also how much joy and ordinary life as well.  It's been quiet here on the blog as some of you have noticed and checked in on me. The quiet gave way to the most exciting thing though, I am now a published author, along with some incredible friends! The devotional, Lighthouse Collections— Beacons of Light in Life's Storms, is a work of passion and prayers. My dear friend Megan Miller contacted me last year about contributing to a devotional and I was thrilled to be included. Between going back to school for my Masters degree and writing for the devotional, I had not found the time or the words t...
1 comment
Read more

The Farmer

I trust that, by now, you have all seen the commercial heard round the world. You know, the one that stopped all action and silenced a nation when the soft rumble of that voice drifted into living rooms on a Super Bowl Sunday. Yes that commercial . Paul Harvey's voice, unmistakable in its sincerity and beauty, spoke of a people whom work from sun up till sun down with no recognition. He spoke of a people whom care for their baby animals and pour their blood, sweat and tears into helping them grow. He spoke of a people, so foreign to many in the world today. He spoke of a people whom many have forgotten. He spoke of a people; my people. The farmer. I am a fourth generation farmer married to a fourth generation farmer. Together we are raising the fifth generation. We don't do it because its easy, it's not. The hours my husband spends working rival that of any doctor or lawyer I have ever met. We don't do it because it's profitable, some years it...
4 comments
Read more