Fleeting Moments

Whenever one has a small living space; how to decorate for Christmas can be quite challenging. We do not have our tree up nor our decorations. Yet we are preparing our hearts. My highlight earlier this evening was cuddling with Christine on the couch as we opened my two favorite Advent books to read. I thought to myself, "be careful girl not to allow such moments to fade." This is my exhortation to each of us this Christmas season.

In the busyness of this season, let's evaluate and choose the "best," over activities that are good or perhaps expected to attend and/or participate in. As a child, my family didn't have a lot of materials things as we were growing up. However, I have treasured memories of my Christmases both in Texas and at both sets of grandparents in Oklahoma. Time goes way too fast so let's make sure we don't squander our time away.

I must confess that I had good intentions of starting the Advent books Sunday evening. Alas, I allowed things to crowd in on those plans. God's grace and mercies are new every day. Tonight we began our Advent celebration. The book, "Let Every Heart," is unique in that it has a ready for each day and the music for a Christmas carol. It's the actual music and not just the words. We sat down at the piano and sang the songs for each day from Sunday up to this evening. We have a picture of Rob's Mom on our piano. Mom would be so pleased. She was always encouraging me to reminder what was "the main thing."

As I share honestly and candidly; I exhort us as Moms to guard your family time during this Christmas season. If you find yourself on the go way too much, do not complain. Instead, take ownership of your decisions and try to limit your commitments. God never intends for us to be totally stressed regardless of the season. Our time with our spouses and children goes so quickly. I know there are things perhaps we cannot change. However, I'm convinced that we are our worse enemy in that we sabotage ourselves and our families loose in the process.

Dear one, you can start fresh right now. Sit down as a family and decide what is truly priority and perhaps take things off the calendar. The word, "no," is okay to incorporate into your family's vocabulary. We cannot do it all.

Truly this can be a great time to reflect and bask in our Father's love for each of us! Let's don't miss these special moments during the Christmas season.