Farming is not the most lucrative business, and we have dreams to add and expand the Allen Family Homestead next spring. To fund our next adventure we need a bit of cash flow, so I have ventured off the farm and back to the city.
I had forgotten what it was like to work the daily grind. I had forgotten what it was like to work retail.
I had forgotten what it was like to work retail during Christmas.
Don't get me wrong, for the most part, working in the mall during the Christmas season has been fun! The halls were decorated and twinkling the day after Halloween. Christmas carols filled the air. This may or may not been the best for our customers, as I readily sang along as a worked my shifts. The customers were excited to chit chat and share their holiday traditions, as the picked out perfect gifts for their loved ones. This was the part that filled me up and helped me get through the day.
The time that I had to spend at work away from my own family was had for me this season. This was the first Christmas I wasn't in charge of the holiday festivities on the Homestead. Decorating was done in pieces, and much of it left to my girls when I wasn't home. Most of the gift wrapping was passed to my oldest daughter, and she has become quite the professional gift wrapper now! The baking was finished between my shifts, and Christmas dinner was held at my sisters instead of our Homestead. I am so grateful for my family stepping in where I could not be, but it made the season feel very different.
To top it off... I missed our Christmas Eve church service for the first time in many years because of my work shift. And that made me very sad.
Something is missing. Someone is missing. Something...
This is when God revealed to me the piece that was missing.
Him
Christmas is supposed to be a season of Joy, Hope, and Peace. We are called to reflect upon what God accomplished by sending his Son to Earth as a baby on this Holy Day. "for behold, I bring unto you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people. For unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord. And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.' And sudddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host, praising God, and saying, 'Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men."
Luke 2:8-14 KJV
Instead of focusing on the Holy Gift of Christ Jesus, I have been focusing on what I haven't accomplished during the Christmas season. Making myself crazy trying to keep up with all the busywork and expectations that I have places on myself to make Christmas special. Feeling "less-than" because I cannot do all that I have done in past seasons, as I take on a job that has many work hours and new responsibilities. How many of us get wrapped up in the busyness of the season, only to miss what the season is supposed to be about?
As we were headed to my sisters house yesterday for Christmas dinner, we were listening to the audio version of "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" by Dr. Seuss. My favorite line in the poem helped me put my own actions into perspective:
“And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow, stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so? It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags. And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore. Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before. What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store. What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more.”
A little holy, mindful nudge was needed as I finish my second cup of coffee this morning. Reflecting upon this season, Christmas came whether I had a perfectly decorated home or oodles of baked cookies. Sending time with my family and friends during the season and making memories is what God wants me to do with my time. Reflecting on God's goodness as the year comes to a close makes the memories we are making this season that much more precious.
May God Bless you during this Christmas season!
May we celebrate together the true meaning of CHRISTmas~
Merry Christmas from The Allen Family Homestead!
"as for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15
