MEH…
That’s how Friday felt. Christmas blues are not unusual
and they hit me hard this morning. I walked into my
office (already feeling this blue film on my spirits) and got hit with a bunch
of emails from Columbus adding complexity, rework, changes in protocol, and
hassle to what is only to be a fraction of what my job is but seems to rob me
of the most meaningful parts of my work.
I did not see an end.
I can become over
stimulated and more tired in December with the extra demands and chaos of
Christmas at a children’s hospital. I
was doing very well, then today…ugh…I
cannot even listen to my voice go on about it. Spare me my own whining! God give me perspective!
I was rescued by a Friday…knowing
that I could center and reset for a few days after the day finished. I am so
thankful to have made the commitment to slow down Christmas daily by going
through “The Greatest Gift” by Ann Voskamp.
It would be my top priority on Saturday morning…no
clock to hurry me, quietness, time to sit in the flickering candles and soft
Christmas music and twinkle lights, time to reflect, and nourish myself with
whatever God had for me.
Who would have thought the story of Ruth and Naomi would have
anything to do with Christmas? God knew…and
prompted Ann to write His message to me today.
Naomi was not having a great Christmas (having lost her husband and two
sons). It was hard to see that her widowed daughter-in-law, Ruth, was there by her side, never to leave her alone.
Ann writes: “There are Advent moments when you’d like nothing more
than to order a Christmas miracle. The one you need when it feels like no one
sees you. No one sees how you really feel. How overwhelmed by the work and
underappreciated by the people. No one sees that you just want someone to cup
your face and look into your eyes and say your name from somewhere deep inside,
like a calling home, like a belonging ~ like a holding that has you around all
the fragile places and never leave.
“Some seasons are Naomi times…In some seasons, for all their gloss and glitz, it can be
achingly hard to find gifts and days can feel like fists.
“Sometimes the miracle begins by growing, not in bitterness, but
in faithfulness.”
Like Naomi, I sometimes miss the love around me…those
who have been faithful Ruth’s in my life.
What a joy to slow down and see them…and so many abundant gifts!
