MEH!

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!