What's in your head?

After 6 months of waking with an empty mind and no agenda, my head is full again. This morning, it was full with:

• The calendar is packed this week. Do I have the gifts ready for my friends, the material studied for the discussion, the appetizer ingredients ready to prep for the party? Bzzz.
• Are my workout clothes clean and laid out for the morning session? Bzzz.
• Our daughter comes home today. How will her body respond to Seattle weather? Is the bed made up? What else can we do to make the room comfy? Bzzz.
• A daughter-in-law, our daughter, and I visit the spa tomorrow. Are our Groupons in hand? Bzzz.
• Husband's work party? Do I need to do anything but show up?
• Next Monday's turkey dinner? When to set up tables? How shall I decorate them? Are the serving dishes washed? When to thaw out the 22 lb. turkey? When to make the stuffing? Bzzz.
• Are the gifts wrapped for Sunday's family Christmas? Bzzz.
• Oh yeah, I'm a writer and speaker. Are the presentations close to edited so I can send them off before conference deadlines? Bzzz.
• I babysit our 1 yr old granddaughter Fridays. We have to move the crib from Kirsten's bedroom to another room before K arrives today.
• etc.

There's a lot of buzzing in my brain.

I'm sure your head is as full as mine is, spilling ideas into the day. How can we manage the details that flood us in such seasons of celebration and change?

• Schedule quiet time - at least 15 minutes of reflection and prayer - each morning before the whirlwind begins. This settling of the heart allows us to align ourselves with God no matter what the tugging and pulling of obligations throughout the day.
• Watch and listen to how wise and godly friends and coworkers handle the pressures. Copy what is good and ask for advice if you're getting overwhelmed.
• Take time with your calendar to sort and prioritize. Write detailed agendas for items that require advance preparation. Schedule NO more than 3 evenings out per week, say the experts.
• Cut cut cut! anything and everything that doesn't serve your priorities. Some years require intense focus, while others let us drift through holidays at a measured pace. (Last year's journal, while I was in the thick of writing my dissertation, reports many more no's than yes'ses. That was the only way to stay sane and keep moving forward. Everyone survived and I got the work done.) 
• Give away stuff that doesn't serve you as you clear and declutter. Got old cameras? Clothes that don't fit? Seattlites, the www.bigbuetruck.org (or 800 - 992-2060) will come to pick it up from your porch. Maybe your kids have been eying a favorite teapot or piece of furniture. Do you really need it? Give it away with a smile. (See, you feel lighter already!)
• Enjoy the pleasures of the season. The meaning and blessings of Christmas - God with us! The visitors! The lights! The decor! The ribbons and wrappings! The clean house in which guests feel welcome! They all require effort ... but nothing is free (according to my mother). Since we work so hard, let's relish the results.
• Focus on the good things. Peace on earth, goodwill to those around you. Share God's love in every way that comes to hand. Forgive those who have hurt you as God forgave you when you hurt Him. Hug and kiss your family. 
• End each day with a prayer of gratitude. God is good. He gives us the night and rest. Let's not squander it in worry and sleeplessness. Morning is coming and your head may but full again.

Read more:

*One day Kish's donkeys strayed away, and he told Saul, 'Take a servant with you, and go look for the donkeys.

... Finally, they entered the region of Zuph, and Saul said to his servant, 'Let's go home. By now my father will be more worried about us than about the donkeys!'

But the servant said, 'I've just thought of something! There is a man of God who lives here in this town. He is held in high honor by all the people because everything he says comes true. Let's go find him. Perhaps he can tell us which way to go.' 1 Samuel 9:3, 5–6

*Even the sparrow finds a home, and the swallow a nest for herself, where she may lay her young, at your altars, O Lord of hosts, my King and my God. Psalm 84:3

*But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. 2 Peter 3:8-9 NIV

*So then, a Sabbath rest still remains for the people of God. Hebrews 4:9

Moravian Prayer: O God, when we are weary, you invite us to rest. In our anxiety and busyness, let us take your invitation seriously today. Make us stop. Let us rest in your embrace from our labors and be renewed. Amen.

Almost sunny

The weather report says "37o. Mostly sunny today." I like the light coming in my office window. We had some trees trimmed earlier this week. Plus my calendar reports that days will get longer from now on. Thank God! Overhead, the clouds are swirling and there's not much sun to be seen. Our house must be in the other area, "probably overcast."

I'm glad to be inside instead of shopping or in pre-Christmas traffic. W has been out and about every day and says it's crazy "out there." And he hasn't even gone inside a mall! We know some of you are loving the shopping, the wrapping, the cooking and baking... but this feels like a quiet year, a between times, for us. Our granddaughter is young enough that she won't remember that we didn't fuss (5 months).


Life is a matter of perspective. Somewhere the sun shines brightly. Maybe it's in San Antonio, Texas, where the faintest hint of a white patch causes the weather forecaster to enthuse, "Partly cloudy today, folks!" 


We're grateful for a good report from Kirsten's surgeon yesterday. She exchanged a heavy cast for a boot that she can take on and off (yahoo, showers!). Her bones are healing well, and even the incision - usually a slower mend for RA sufferers - is coming together. She got some stitches out and on the way home, had lunch with her dad at a cool downtown restaurant.

So, it's mostly sunny over here after all. The clouds of deadlines, finances, illness, and other stressors sometimes want to shade us, but we know God see through them to bring us warmth and light.


Thanks be to God during this Christmas memorial of his arrival among us!

Read more:

*Then I will live among the people of Israel and be their God, and they will know that I am the LORD their God. I am the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt so that I could live among them. I am the LORD their God.  Exodus 29:45–46 NLT

*Does disaster befall a city, unless the Lord has done it? Amos 3:6 NLT
 

*Even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid. Matthew 10:30-31 NLV

*Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:28-29 NKJV

*Psalm 145:8-16 Zephaniah 3; Haggai 1; Revelation 17:1-8

Moravian Prayer: Holy Creator and Sustainer, bring to us your peace. Spread your love and mercy where hatred and loathing have pierced many. Place the newly born Christ child in each heart and may the multitudes sing his lullaby. Amen.