there are so many words that this title brings to my mind right now. it is a question that i have been asking myself on a daily basis for the past couple weeks. am i just surviving or am i thriving? last week there were a couple days where i am pretty sure i was just surviving. but the goal is that when i feel that way... to thrive.
thrive.
our lives are busy. that is just the way our culture rolls. ask people how they are doing and you will generally get one of two answers. the standard "good/fine" or "busy/crazy."
when someone asks me how i am doing, i want to be able to replace my standard "fine/busy" with "amazing" or some other fabulous adjective.
our pastor had us take a little stress test this last week. christmas is worth a lot of stress points.
my life is busy -- however, it is a life that i have created that way. i could go to work and then come home. i could eat my dinner and go to bed. that's not too busy. i could choose to celebrate holidays by buying a present and calling it good. maybe putting up a christmas tree.
that isn't what i choose.
i choose to make an advent calendar with fun holiday activities that i probably won't complete more than half way.
i choose to pull out boxes of christmas decoration to make my house festive.
i choose to send a ridiculous amount of christmas cards.
i choose to spend an entire day baking christmas cookies.
i choose to go to parties and get togethers and socialize with people i care about even though i feel exhausted, my dishes aren't done, i'm still doing laundry from my trip i returned from weeks ago, and my office looks like a black hole.
i choose to make a december daily book (which i may or may not finish in december)
i choose to try and watch all the christmas movies ever made.
my life is what i make it.
i am choosing to look for more ways to serve others this holiday season.
i am choosing to try and embrace the "busy" of the season instead of spending it "stressed out"
i am choosing the reality of my life (messy bedroom, dirty dishes, too many undone projects) and loving it instead of wishing it looked like something out of christmas catalog.
my life is what i make it. holiday or not. each day is a gift. everyday a friday.
my day tomorrow is looking kind of long. i feel tired already... but -- i have two things i am going to look forward to.
1. i want to make someone else's day bright and cheery
2. the eggnog/silk nog we are going to drink while decorating our christmas tree.
what will make your tomorrow be a great day?
tonight we bought our tree.
we picked it out in record time.
not too much twirl and whirl this year.
our house smells like the woods.
it's great.
