Is Holiday Stress Your Companion these days?

(3 minute read)
Is holiday stress creeping in to your home, your car, your heart....?

The doors of entry can be sly:  
Grief over loss of a loved on,  
Disappointments over wishes, dreams, expectations, that will not come to be,  
Chaos because you are aiming for an accomplishment that only God could achieve,
Or you are not making allowances to respect the person that you are, 
Or the persons that your dreams or expectations hinge on.

Stop it.
Take a deep breath.

Look at your blessings.
Get down to basics.
Find your smile.

Our stress can turn us in to monsters,
unkind, unloving, impatient, mad, sad, upset mommy monsters,

When what our family and kids want most is for us to be
HAPPY
KIND
SMILING
SWEET

Never-mind perfect.
Save that for God,
but reading from Isaiah chapter one, recently, I thought of this holiday stress..... how we let it creep in sometimes.  We loose our focus.  We forget to let the Holy Spirit have control.  Then we do not please God and we do not please our family.

Worried about letting them down in someway?
Don't forget that SPOILING them would not benefit them.

Direct them to what is important.
You have each other.  You have LIFE.  You have HOPE, because  you have CHRIST....... 

Everything else is 
gravy
icing on the cake

cherry on top
butter on the roll
garnish on the 'taters
sugar cinnamon sprinkle

pretty cream in the coffee

but CHRIST JESUS is the bride-groom at the banquet feast.  Don't forget!

In Isaiah it seems as though God was sick of them going through the motions, and forgetting what is important.  Read his warning and advice, shared through the prophet:

Isaiah 1:18
11) To what purpose is the multitude of sacrifices unto me? saith the Lord:  I am full of the burnt offerings of the rams, and the fat of fed beasts; and I delight not in the blood of bullocks, or of lambs, or of goats.
12) When ye come to appear before me, who hath required this at your hand to tread my courts?
13)  Bring no more vain oblations; incense is an abomination unto me; the new moons and sabbaths, the calling of assemblies, I cannot away with;it is iniquity, even the solemn meeting.
14) Your new moons and your appointed feasts my soul hateth: they are a trouble unto me;  I am weary to bear them.
15) And when ye spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you:yea, when ye make many prayers, I will not hear:  your hands are full of blood.
16) Wash you, make you clean; put away the evil of your doings from before mine eyes; cease to do evil;
17) Learn to do well; seek judgement, relieve the oppressed, judge the fatherless, plead for the widow.
18) Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.

Matthew 1:21
And she shall bring forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Jesus: for he shall save his people from their sins.

Let that GIFT  to the world guide your heart!!
Keep that door to stress quietly and gently shut.

Hug your family.
Smile.
Pray.
Play.
Leave some stuff undone.

Keep your focus on Jesus, the most important one.  His Holy Spirit be in control.  

All glory, honor, and gratitude, to our Father in Heaven, our Provider, our Savior, Redeemer.  His will be done in our hearts, our lives, our family's life, and in all the world, as in Heaven.  Amen.

Merry Christmas dear ones,
from Tammy @
Grandma Mary Marthađź’–




Comments

  1. A great reminder- thank you! X

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  2. Love this!! I loved how you pieced your post together and how it flowed! Thank you for the reminder!! Merry Christmas and much love ...

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