Wishing you a MARY Christmas
Does the holiday season make you feel stressed? Guilty? Overwhelmed? Tired?
Do you have too much shopping, baking, cleaning and decorating to do and not enough time to do it? Are you trying to make this the perfect Christmas?
Do you put those expectations on yourself or are you plagued by the expectations of others?
I encourage you to take a minute to relax. Close your eyes. Take deep breaths in and out. Be still and visualize how you want to spend your holiday season.
If you see yourself rushing around a crowded mall shopping for that perfect gift, baking a ton of cookies (as if you will never have access to a stove the rest of the year), decorating every nook and cranny of your house complaining the whole time, and cleaning like Martha welcoming the King himself, then by all means continue to do so.
However, if that is not how you envisioned your holiday season there is still time to change it. I want to be like Mary. Rested, ready, alert, and focused at Jesus’ feet. Taking in all the beauty and goodness the holiday has to offer!
The holiday season is a time filled with peace, love and joyful celebrations of the birth of Jesus! When I vision my holiday I see lots of fun, laughter and time spent with family and friends celebrating the true reason for the season. Yes, of course it also involves shopping, decorating, cleaning and baking, but not to the point of stress and exhaustion.
There are no prizes being given for the best gift, the best cookie, the best decorated tree, or the cleanest house. Take it easy on yourself. Give yourself time to enjoy this season by continuing family traditions and creating new ones. Focus on helping those in need and ways to serve them. It is indeed better to give than receive. This is after all the season of giving. Be sure to give to yourself as well. Give yourself love. Give yourself compassion. Give yourself quiet time. Give yourself rest. Give yourself a break! These are all win/win. You are able to give AND receive!
I give to you wishes for a very joyful, stress free and guilt free holiday season filled with peace and blessings. Do you receive them?
I wish you a MARY Christmas!
Shine Bright,
Teresa
“But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” Luke 10:42
