Already Starting the Frays of Christmas!

Missy here.

Well, the frays of Christmas have already started. I totally forgot about posting last week! And we've had a couple of other posting mishaps as well (schedule conflicts, malfunctioning DSL, deadline pressures). Most people are extremely busy this time of year. I've also found that this week in particular is a big week for Christmas parties. At Bible study this morning, every woman in the room had been to a party last night!

And parties mean food, decorating, cleaning house, gifts, babysitters...and on and on. It's enough to make us forget to post a blog post. To even forget our heads if they aren't attached! :)

Another big stress right now is shopping. And for many people this Christmas, worrying about financing Christmas.

We worry about finding just the right gift for someone we love. We worry about affording all the toys our kids are begging for and circling in the Target catalogue. Some worry about over-spending and how it'll carry over to the new year.

We worry about getting food prepared in time when we have two parties in one day. We worry about meeting our commitments at work at the same time we're worrying about the holiday preparations. Some worry about family gatherings and strained relationships. Some dread Christmas because it'll be a sad time for them this year--maybe they've lost someone they loved in the past year.

I just received a batch of reader letters and found several readers are very lonely this holiday season. It just broke my heart to read those sweet letters.

And it hit me that I need to quit all this worry and stressing. I need to focus on those who are hurting right now. Let's pray for those who are sad and lonely. Let's focus on all the good we have and quit worrying about pulling off a perfect Christmas. Instead, let's spend the time appreciating our friends and family and reaching out to others.

Can any of you suggest ways we can reach out to others this Christmas?

Are you busy or are you busy blessed?

Are you busy or are you busy blessed?

"I will lift up my eyes to the hills--From whence comes my help?
My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.--Psalms 121:1-2

I don't mind staying busy but as we all know, a woman's work is never done.
I've never been a domestic goddess. I'm more of a dysfunctional diva. I don't mind too much clutter and I don't mind dust bunnies dancing at my feet. I can get so
lost in a story that I forget where I am and what day it is. But when I finally
shut down my computer and blink, I see the clutter of life everywhere. And then I
get stressed about the mess. Like a lot of women, I work two jobs, three if you
count the occasional home made dinner and the actual mopping of the kitchen floor.
I write books by day and I moonlight as a freelance magazine reporter by night (and that includes weekends).

In between those two jobs, I try to maintain my household. But I tell you, some days I fall back on a set of rules I created to give to a friend who was fretting
about not being able to do it all. Here are some of those rules:

1. House work--Sweep the room with a glance. (got that one from Mae West)
2. Feeding your family--The best thing to make for dinner is reservations. (Can't remember where I found that one.)
3. Laundry--Wal-Mart has new clothes available all the time. Just go and buy more!
4. Something nice for Sunday night dinner--Chocolate works every time!
5. Quality time--Does grunting while you're searching for Cheetoes in the pantry count?

Of course, I'm not that bad. I manage to have time for my family, church, friends and even the cat. But there are times when I've had enough of the clutter and the mess. Then I have to stop writing and start purging and cleaning. That mound of laundry has finally hit the roof; the dirty dishes are now the only dishes in the house, and even the cat has taken to pushing at the dust bunnies just for fun. It's time to clean house. Once I get started, I become obsessed with getting everything in order. And the order only lasts a fleeting moment, but it makes me feel better.

I like to clean house before I leave for a trip so when I arrive home, I'll feel as if I'm still in a hotel and the maid just left. I like to clean house if my husband has been away, so that when he comes home he won't think I've been out shopping all weekend. Okay, maybe I have done some shopping but cleaning the house distracts him from figuring that out! And I love to clean house for a party or just because it settles me and helps me get away from brain fatigue.

The point of all of this is that we all have times when we feel overwhelmed and cluttered about life, times when we wonder what will happen next. In these scary economic times, I try not to complain. If I have a pile of laundry, that means I have clothes to wear. If I have a sink full of dishes, that means I have food to eat and a nice kitchen to eat in. If I have the clutter of books and magazines and newspapers, that means I am blessed to be able to read and learn and grow. If I have a pet who trusts me and loves me no matter what, that means I know the meaning of unconditional love. And if I have a family that is willing to eat pizza now and then so Mom can work, that means I am one very blessed person.

And that means I am "busy blessed." Busy blessed is much better than being lonely and not so blessed. Busy blessed means that my hands are not idle, that my mind is constantly getting some exercise and that I have a family to cherish and friends with whom I can laugh and the hope of a good tomorrow. We can worry about all of these things--dust, dishes, laundry and clutter. But I have found that it will all be there, no matter what I do. So I try to take it as it comes and roll with the punches. We can worry about what we did or didn't do yesterday and we can worry about what might or might not come tomorrow, but today, for this moment in time, we can look up at our home, at our family, at our pets and out into our beautiful, diverse world and know that all the clutter we worry about--death, destruction, war, economics and politics, crimes and storms--these things will always be out there and we will find a way to work around all of our worries--if we lift up our eyes to the hills and know that God in in control. I'm so glad that I'm busy blessed and that the messiness of my life can't overtake the blessings of my life. And I can smile as I hear my son unloading the dishwasher downstairs. Now if he'd just clean his bathroom!

Lenora :)

A day late and a dollar short

I'm late! I'm late for a very important date. Can you see me rushing to my computer in my coffee cup embellished PJs, my house booties falling off my feet. It's my day to post and late last night I came up to my office to do just that. But in typical style, I got sidetracked! I had to check out all the great fashions on the Golden Globe runway, didn't I? And I had to read e-mail, didn't I? And ... then my tempermental computer locked up on me and ... after kicking it ... I shut the thing down and went to bed. Then I was reading the paper early this morning and it hit me--Lenora, it's your day to blog!!! So here I am, coffee sloshing all over the floor as I hurry up to get things going. But then, I'm always a day late and a dollar short. That's what my mama used to say all the time. I grew up on a farm and it was a hard life. I was in charge of feeding the pigs. In order to do this, I had to go to the corn bin every afternoon and shovel up a five-gallon bucket of corn and drag that down to the hog pen and go in there with those big, mean hogs and cute little piggies and try to get to the feeder before they ate me alive! But before I had to worry about that, I had to worry about snakes and rats in the barn where the corn was stored. Talk about adventures. I think this is why I became a writer. I'd go into that corn bin pretending I was a famous spy and that I was dressed to kill. If I saw a snake, I'd bat my eyelashes and quickly chop him up with my trusty silver-plated shovel. "Take that, you old snake!" Sometimes this ploy worked and sometimes I'd running screaming out of that barn. All of this is to say, today it seems as if we're all a day late and a dollar short--and pretending things are okay doesn't always work. But knowing that God will provides does work. I have a little sticker in my line of sight on my computer. It says "Abiding Love surrounds those who trust in the Lord."--Psalm 32:10. I read that first thing every day, no matter what kind of mood I'm in. And even though I worry just like everyone about what the future will bring, I do know this--I will survive. I have survived the corn bin. I have survived the sloppy hogs. I survived cropping tobacco and hauling peanuts and not having a lot except a roof over my head and food grown right out my back door. I can make it in this world, because if I'm responsible and hardworking and do my best, God will provide. God is never late because He always knows exactly when we need him. I also have this list near my computer:

Eight Steps to Happier Living
1. Face reality
2. Establish warm relationships.
3. Develop outside interests.
4. Seek new adventures.
5. Guard your health.
6. Take pride in yourself.
7. Learn to relax and laugh often.
8. Look toward the future.
And if I might add my own to this list I've had many, many years--
9. Trust in the Lord.
And 10. Remember, better late than never!

Lenora :)