Joy Comes in the Morning

I don’t really know anyone that doesn’t LOVE and enjoy this time of the year.

Everything is just better. The clothes. The food. The music. The movies. The food. 🙂

There’s just something about this season that is magical, hopeful and inspiring.

I know we are only one week into December, but I want a do over! And several people I’ve spoken to recently feel the same.

After returning home from our Thanksgiving travels,  I woke up one morning not feeling great. Well, it turned into a full blown cold and infection. 🙁 

No one likes being sick, but I am especially bad at it. I like to work and stay busy. I don’t have time to be sick! And I especially don’t want to be sick during Christmas!!

I watched my husband put up and decorate most of our Christmas tree before I went to bed early. We are also doing a 20 day fast until December 20th. 

So no sugar.

Hello! We are in the season of sugar!!! 

But I can’t smell or taste anything right now, so it wouldn’t really matter anyway. You see what I mean? Do. Over. 

This is not the way Christmas is suppose to be! It’s suppose to be all hot cocoa and snuggling and not being sick and being able to eat whatever you want! Or you fill in the blank.

Has this season not been what you expected? Are you wishing for a do over too?

I’ve talked to quite a few people lately who are just not ready for Christmas. They’re either not in the spirit or are too stressed or it’s just not the same anymore. 

I was sitting at home on the couch trying to rest and the Lord really spoke to me about how I was feeling! He told me, “You are focusing on the wrong things.”

The expectations and feelings I may have for this time of the year are way less important than the true meaning of this season. 

For me, a foodie, this time of year is awesome. Christmas parties, Christmas cookies and Christmas shopping give me endless opportunities to indulge and enjoy in my favorite hobby! 🙂

Well, doing a fast when you have no appetite AND can’t smell or taste is just miserable. But had I not committed to doing a fast and doing without these things, I don’t think I would have come to this realization and changed my attitude!

That is what happens when we place our hope, our feelings and our expectations in something or someone other than God Himself. We just get disappointed. 

And this reaches way beyond Christmas. Any expectation or hope we cling to that pushes God aside as the center of our lives, is going to be exposed and destroyed at some point. And for your sake, I pray it is sooner rather than later.

For me personally, it was less than one month into my marriage. I was faced with a startling reality I had not accounted for or even thought was possible. I was devastated. 

So, what did I do? It took awhile, but I learned that my hope, my expectations and my joy are best left in God’s hands and not in something or in someone else. 

It’s ok if your Christmas season has started off a little rough. It’s ok if you’re sick or sad or if the person you love the most is not here with you. It’s still going to be hard. You may have good days and bad days. But remember that this season, despite what our culture says, is not about family or food or presents or charity. It’s about the birth of our Savior, Jesus Christ, who is alive and returning soon. That’s what I’m focusing on right now. 

And that’s why this is still the most wonderful time of they year. 🙂