Is it just me, or do you ever find yourself receiving a gift that you absolutely love, and then saving it?  A few weeks before Christmas, I won the beautiful messenger bag (pictured left) from Sew Sweet Quilt Shop’s blog give-away.  It is a gorgeous bag–beautiful fabric, sturdy, with lots of interior and exterior pockets and a shoulde strap.  For the last few weeks, this bag has been sitting around the house, unused.  I’ve been admiring it, and contemplating how I will use it.  Finally, today, I took the plunge–I threw away an old bag (an old, very ripped, unattractive, plain black bag), and put my notebook and book I am studying in my fancy new messenger bag.  It gave me a lift to not just be admiring my treat bag, but using it as well.  Then, I got to thinking–how often do I hold something back, that I really, really love?

fur coat

Well, apparently, too often, because next I thought of this pretty, fluffy, faux-fur, off-white coat I received for Christmas four years ago.  I love this coat.  It makes me feel absolutely luxurious every time I put it on, and I don’t put it on nearly often enough.  I have probably worn it fewer than twenty times.  Why?  Because I’m saving it for a special occasion.  Because I don’t want to be overdressed.  Because I’m silly!  I did wear it once this winter (so far), and I got a lot of compliments on it.  Everyone thought it was a new coat, because no one had ever seen it before.  I am determined to begin to really use and enjoy the beautiful gifts that I have been given.  Everyone has heard the old saying about saving the good china for a special occasion and never having a chance to use it–well, I am going to apply that lesson to everything.  Why wait?

Finally, this year for Christmas, I received my very first ever digital camera–it’s small and red, and it tucks away perfectly in a compact camera case.  So, where is the camera?  That’s the problem–I keep putting it away.  Then, when I want to take a photo (which is often), I have to go dig it out of its hiding place.  Now, to increase my opportunities to use my new present, I am going to leave the camera out (I know I’m taking a clutter risk!), and possibly even take it with me everywhere!

There’s no reason to wait to enjoy a beautiful gift.  What have you got hidden away that might bring you some joy?

1. Hug everyone in your family and smile at them.  If they act shocked by this behavior, you should probably do it more often.

2. Open your Bible and read parts or all of your favorite book aloud.  I love to do this with Psalms.

3. Mindfully cook dinner.  Take time to set the table as nicely as you can and focus on the simple pleasure of serving your husband and/or children.

4. Take a bath (add some bath salts or bubble bath) and enjoy the steaming water.  Relax and count your blessings.

5. Bundle up and go for a walk on a winter’s day.  Winter walking can be cold, but the beauty is underrated!  Enjoy taking in the landscape of the season.

6. Drink a mug of something hot and delicious–coffee, cocoa or tea.

7. Bake a batch of somebody’s favorite cookie and deliver them as a surprise.

8.  Take the time to write an old-fashioned letter to someone who will delight in hearing from you.

9. Thoroughly clean the house–or a room, or organize a drawer.  Mend something.  Polish your shoes.  Sew on missing buttons.

10. Get out your camera and take pictures!  Take pictures of your friends, your family, your pets, your favorite things, rooms in  your house–whatever catches your eye.  Print and post some of your shots where you will see them often and be reminded of these blessings.

I seem to have an annual freak-out during the week after Thanksgiving.  I become stressed and overwhelmed in planning and scamming for the “perfect” Christmas.  I want to bake everything and have my cookies turn out magazine-cover beautiful.  I want to find everyone on my list a gift that will change his/her life.  I want to make gifts.  I want to decorate creatively.  I want to find unique ways to tell, show, and demonstrate the meaning of the season, and let the important people in my life know how much they mean to me.

This only lasts a few days to a week.  Then, I come to my senses.  I realize that Christmas is a special day, but it is just one day, and I am not going to single-handedly make or break anyone’s Christmas.  The pressure fades.  I have also been thinking this year about some of my favorite memories of Christmas past–and you know what they all have in common?  The moments that are most memorable to me were all unexpected, unplanned, and spontaneous.  That really takes the pressure off!

I would like to share a few of those memories with you.

• A few years back, my grandmother lost her brother just a few days before Christmas. This was especially difficult for her because he was her last close living relative.  On Christmas Eve, I was on my way to see my boyfriend (now husband) and decided on a whim to stop and see my Grandma first.  All of the family would be with her on Christmas Day, but she was alone on Christmas Eve.  She was so happy to see me!  We had a nice visit at her kitchen table, eating her Christmas cookies and candy.  We sang some Christmas songs together from her hymn book, and I watched her open her the gifts my mom and aunt had put in her Christmas stocking earlier.  It was good for both of us, and a good time–one of those special moments when I knew that I was exactly where I was supposed to be.  This visit was also nice because on the actual Christmas Day, she is busy preparing food and serving 30-40 family members dinner, so a moment to visit is rare.  This special Christmas Eve we had together is one of my favorite memories.
• Another favorite memory goes back quite a bit further.  I was seventeen and my older brother and I were having Christmas with my dad.  My parents hadn’t been divorced for very long, so holidays were still a little difficult and awkward as we tried to find our way between old traditions, new traditions, and a new way of being a family.  I remember the three of us were gathered by the fireplace in my dad’s newly finished house.  My dad had a bottle of sparkling grape juice (it might have been champagne–not sure) that he opened, and the three of us had a Christmas toast.  That year, my dad had carefully shopped and selected special Christmas gifts for my brother and me.  This was a great surprise because my dad is normally one to give money, and I was touched that he had taken the time to think about what we might want and to go shop for us himself.
• One more to share–this was especially a fun one.  When I was single and renting a house by myself, my mom bought me an artificial tree one year before Christmas.  It was so exciting to me to have my own tree and own decorations!  I didn’t have very many Christmas ornaments, so I went on a shopping trip to some special stores and bought the ornaments that I thought were especially beautiful to adorn my tree.  I still have those ornaments, and when I see them they bring back the joy of that first Christmas tree I decorated on my own.

God has such neat plans for us, even when we are unaware.  Let’s not get so caught up in our own plans and holiday doings that we miss the wonder and joy of unexpected moments of joy.  I was reminded when watching the news the other day, that for many, many people, the Christmas season is a time of depression and loneliness.  I pray that we will all be sensitive to how God might use us to strengthen and encourage others during this season.

Who are the most important people in your life?

What can you  do today to bless those people?

What can you say to encourage them?

How can you show your affection?

How can you make their lives a little easier?

Here’s a challenge–

Write down ten little things that you wish someone would do for you…now, the hard part–try to do each thing on your list for someone else.

It is more blessed to give than to receive. 

It is impossible to be happy and selfish at the same time.

I love fall!  What’s not to love?  Autumn offers beautiful foliage, crisp and sunny days, harvest moon, pumpkins and caramel apples, sweatshirt weather, festivals, and holidays!  Sadly, autumn also coincides with my busiest time of the year–fall semester.  I am hoppin’ to keep up with my classes, meetings, conferences with students and events on campus!  And, when I am home these days, I am chasing a puppy around to ensure that he does not eat all of my shoes.  Occasionally, I spare a regretful look of apology at the house.  Even so, I rejoice in the fall!  I am pausing to admire and appreciate the change in seasons and the passing of one kind of beauty to another kind of beauty.  It’s also a reminder that all things have their season, just as it says in Ecclesiastes.  Like the changing of the seasons in the natural world, we each go through our own seasons in life.  I think it can be very beneficial to consider what kind of season I am in, and embrace it’s blessings instead of longing for something else.  When it’s fall, I will enjoy fall.  I will not waste these beautiful days wishing for a different season, and it is the same for life.  Simple?  Yes, but still true.

While I may not have a lot of leisure hour to pursue a bunch of harvest time activities right now, I am delighting in a beautiful pot of orangey-colored mums (a birthday gift from family!) that to me says, “Oh, Boy!  Fall is here!”  I want to take that extra step and plant them outside and see if I can get them to grow.  I also took time today to look up John Keats’ poem, “Ode To Autumn.” If you need a little beauty or a little inspiration today, I encourage you to read the poem and treat yourself (or a friend) to a pot of mums.

     Yesterday was an exciting day for me–besides all the fun and fireworks of the Fourth of July, my gladiolus started to bloom!  Glads are my favorite flower.  My grandma always grew them and when I was a child, it was just one of the keynotes of summer to see a vase of glads in her kitchen–always a mix of gorgeous red, pink, yellow, peach, and white.  As a child, I never knew the flower’s real name was gladiolus–I just thought they were glads.  It made sense to me that a beautiful, stalky, strong flower with so many buds would be called glad.  They are the happy flower.

     As children, it comes naturally to us to take joy in the small things–watching a squirel chase in a tree, seeing a berry while walking through the woods, looking at the moon.  Somehow, as we become adults, we laugh less, notice less and become much harder to impress.  I am learning again to take joy in the small things, and they no longer seem like small things.  This morning, as I was wiping dishes, I remembered how much I enjoyed doing dishes at my grandma’s when I was a little girl.  Our family had a dishwasher, so doing dishes by hand was a novelty.  I liked the warm water and seeing the bubbles in the sink sparkle. 

     This summer, I have marked some special days with the first vegetable from the garden, the first bulb to bloom, seeing lightening bugs, and just sitting outside.  I especially love the times when I am outside after dark and am blessed with an owl-sighting.  I love owls, and I never used to see them when I lived closer to town.  So in light of all of this, I will continue to call my favorite flower glads, rather than gladiolus as a reminder that just like the flower, I want to “cultivate my glads” by finding simple things every day to take pleasure in. 

Nature in action!