I’ve been bustling about, trying to get things ready for a family Christmas dinner tonight. It hasn’t been a hurried hustle, and that has been a different experience this year. Last year I got behind, and it made the whole holiday season stressful. I remember feeling like I was drowning in wrapping paper and eggnog.

Don’t get me wrong, I *truly* love this time of year. The season feeds my soul (which is why I blog so much more and invest a lot of time into it). But I am not immune to misplaced focus.

This year, I have been determined to reign it in. To keep it in the road, to keep my focus on what’s important, and to only commit to the things that don’t stress me to my bones.

When I saw this advent devotional, the phrase “wavering between gods” stuck out.

Isn’t this why we find ourselves tense around the holidays? Wavering frantically between the idols of performance, perfection, materialism, expectation, and reputation?

Guess what? It’s not too late to regain focus if you’ve lost it. We have six whole days before the 25th. You may be thinking “it will be a miracle if I can get all ‘this’ done and still have some faithful joy in my heart”. That may be true. Thankfully I know a God who works miracles. All you have to do is ask Him.

I’ll be cleaning and cooking and decorating for the party tonight. In fact, I’ll probably rearrange these napkins another 16 times before I get them right…

But I will be doing those things with a heart full of joy that the big work – Christ’s birth and life on this earth – has already been accomplished. My “work” is a very small celebration of the bigger picture. In the grand scheme of things, all that is required of me is worship.

My favorite Christmas hymn here ❤️