Two years ago at Christmas, Curt and I were furiously trying to finish remodeling our home so that we could move in before the return of our Lord. It was absolutely the most stressful time of our marriage to date. There was not much holiday cheer in the little townhouse that we were so eager to vacate. We chose not to bother with decorating since we had enough to deal with between the house and a baby on the way.
Last year was going to be the most wonderful Christmas of all time. It was going to be one that we talked about for years to come. We had an adorable ten-month-old to add to all the joy of the season. It was his first Christmas, so we would need to document every little thing that happened and make everything as special as possible. We had a very cute house to decorate to our hearts’ content. And boy, did we. Looking back, I can see that I was putting, hmmmm, just a leetle bit of pressure on, well, everyone and everything for it to be nothing less than magical. It makes me tired just thinking about it. And, honestly, I made no room in my heart for the baby Jesus. No room at all. In fact, on Christmas Day I started a huge argument with my sister. Yep, it was me. I picked it. And it was a big one.
This year is going to be different. The name of the game is peace. Financial peace. Sisterly peace. Peace in our schedule. Peace inside my house. (With about half the decorations we have instead of it looking like I robbed Hobby Lobby.) Peace outside my house. (With about half the Christmas lights we had last year, when Curt channeled Clark Griswold). Peace in my expectations. Peace in my heart with God.
Peace is something I will fight for this year. I want to enjoy this Christmas without all the self-inflicted pressure, unreasonable expectations, and needless distractions. I need there to be room for the baby Jesus, who, incidentally, is our peace.
I think if Mary had given birth to Jesus in 2007, she might have gone on eBay and ordered some custom-painted letters that spelled out his name on the wall. She might have emailed a picture of his crib bedding to the artist so that she could make it all match. To spell P-R-I-N-C-E O-F P-E-A-C-E would have cost Mary an arm and a leg. She might have even hoped Joseph wouldn’t notice the $150 to PayPal on their bank statement. But those 13 letters are worth all the money in the world. They’re the most lavish, expensive, mind-blowing, life-changing present we could ever give or get.
Colossians 3:12-17
Therefore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience. Bear with each other and forgive whatever grievances you may have against one another. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.
Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful. Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God. And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Amanda…Next year I want YOU to write my Christmas card letter. Mine was boring this year while yours was SUPER DUPER!!!
Love you..and your Mom too!
(((hugz)))…Sue
Yea! Never having experienced a “perfect” Christmas yet (no matter how much effort is expended), I’m so grateful for the timely encouragement to slow down, chill out and remember my Savior above all. Enjoy your little boy while he’s still little!
Michele
Amen, Siesta! Amen!
(and thanks!!!)
Amanda, Rember Jersus is the reason for the season! Merry CHRISTmas!
Don’t forget that Mary would have had to find a monogrammer and have “Prince” or “Prince of Peace” or “POP” embellished on bibs, John-John suits, burp cloths, diaper bags, blankets, ……. 😉
We girls do go crazy most of the time but every now and again we land back on planet Earth to come to our senses for a bit BUT that is why we love being women.
So true, AJ, let’s all pray for a holiday full of PEACE rather than our going to PIECES over the small stuff! You are a treasure. Jill
Thank you so much for this blog-especially today. God has used it in so many ways in my life. I have been praying for more than a year for peace and restoration between two family members I dearly love, and this was a reminder to keep fighting for that peace. Thanks for “doing life” with all of us!
Thank you Amanda for sharing that testimony. That IS the gift I am praying for this year. PEACE, in the midst of my marriage separation, PEACE in the midst of all the church parties and the going from here to there. PEACE in the midst of my 3 boys yelling at each other as I write this. Jesus IS PEACE and he so lovingly does not hold back His peace and love no matter what our current circumstances are. Glory to God in the Highest.
I have been lurking here for almost a year now without posting even once–although I’ve laughed and cried and been touched and taught along with the rest of you. What an encouragement this was for me today! I have been feeling sorry for myself lately that I can’t really decorate my little Connecticut cape house for Christmas this year due to extensive drywall work that is happening all around me. (It’s an amazing task just to keep the house CLEAN–forget beautiful!) But a drywall mess can’t keep me from decorating my HEART, and that’s what this post has encouraged me to do.
Julie
Such a wonderful blog Amanda. I work diligently to have all Christmas preparations done by Thanksgiving so I can spend December actually remembering why we’re celebrating. That includes all cards mailed Friday after Thanksgiving and all gifts bought throughout the year and already wrapped. It’s much easier to keep our Saviour in my heart when I’m not so frantic with details that don’t really even matter.
Amanda,
I could not agree with you more!!!! In fact, that is exactly the place where I am this Christmas season and it seems as though, because of my renewed focus, the stress level I have created for my family has been MUCH less than usual this year! Imagine that!!! I have finally come to grips with the fact that I am not responsible for everyone I know to have the happiest of Christmas seasons. Christ alone fills the empty places. How great it is to actually slow down and allow Him to fill my empty places as well.
May this Christmas surpass all of your expectations.
In Him,
Michelle
Very wise and well spoken, Amanda. I needed to hear that today. Thank you!!! In Jesus’ Love Kathy Knoblock
This is a VERY timely word for me, too! I’m in the middle of grad-school finals week, and trying to figure out how I’m going to find time to write and print 90 Christmas letters and address and write 120 Christmas cards, not to mention actual Christmas shopping, and more decorating, and baking eight kinds of cookies … but why am I putting all this pressure on myself? I like your goal: PEACE! I’m going to soak in that for a while …
I love that the one thing the world can not replicate, is what God offers so abundantly- PEACE, the kind that transcends all understanding, guards my heart and mind. I have a prayer list full of people who could use that as a gift this season! Praise God, he does not ever run short! No false adverstized specials- just real heart-changing peace. Amen
Hey, Amanda. Merry, merry!! It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Susan (f.k.a. Newbie from Jacksonville).
I agree with you 100%. I sometimes think that discontentment or lack of peace is our “attackers” first tool in his arsenal. Life is great…we’re being obedient servants and then someone throw us off our game with a comment or we try to meet other’s (perceived or real) expectations (know this one toooo well). Such a disguise…the whole discontentment thing….probably is the first step of all “volunteer” pit-dwellers (know this one very well, too). Thanks for the reminder to keep focused and remain content in all circumstances. P-E-A-C-E!
Good for you, Amanda! You’ll be so glad that toned down. And Jackson will profit greatly.
Your post reminded me of a quote that I saved from years ago – If Jesus had not been bored with the commonplace things of life, who was I to demand ever more exciting and scintillating companions, challenges, and experiences in order to be happy as a Christian. (Keith Miller) It just reminds me to be content. And to simplify rather than complicate.
Blessings on you and Curt and your little one!
Guess what! I,too, decided to scale back the decorations AND the lights outside this year in order to have a little more peace and simplicity. In fact, I chose as my “fast” for the Daniel study to NOT put up all the Decor this year. We left it all in the attic except for the tree and a *few* outside lights! In exchange, the children and I have *made* all of ornaments for our tree this year! It was great fun and kept it simple and meaningful. I don’t know what we’ll do next year, but I’m sure glad we scaled back this year. It’s actually been more fun!!
Thank you, thank you for your encouraging words that so many can relate to during this season! I too, after several years of “perfecting the season,” have committed to finding much more meaning and worship in these days. Our 5 & 3 year old boys have so enjoyed putting up the Nativity scene and begged for days to do so. They have rarely mentioned the Christmas tree..therefore it’s still not up in our house!! But God is so good and showing Himself to us through His Peace and enjoyment of this season. It’s His season…not ours…His kingdom come and His will be done…Mine is way too out of hand!
Blessings to you!
Amanda! Girlfriend I could have not said it better myself! We always put so many expectations on ourselves and our loved ones at this time of year! Why do we do that? It’s like you said…the most important thing we need to keep our eyes on is baby Jesus! This year has been a very humbling year for me…may big life changes…but the most humbling things of all are my boys. I have twin boys who are 4 1/2…and they remind me about Jesus and sing Happy Birthday to Him every chance they get! The Lord will even use our own babies to show us to slow down and savor His Sons birth!
Merry Christmas!
Donna
Amanda,
Thanks so much for the reminder of what we should be focusing on this time of year – Christ’s birth. We try to keep it simple around here, but there is always the temptation to focus on how the world celebrates and forget about the true meaning. You are so right – we all need to seek the Prince of Peace.
Amen and me too!!!
thank you for the reminder. I have been stressing over the past week about gifts, money, working, the whole nine yards and my heart has been quite empty and it is because I am lacking the peace…I too need to fight for it…so bless you for sharing
love and peace
Tealady Tammy
umm… I just happened to check this blog (which I do faithfully nearly every day) as I was madly checking websites for all the last minute gifts I haven’t gotten…Caught. Your message was God gently nudging me to remember who He is and what abiding in Him during this holy season means. I need to be reminded that I have a more important gift to give my kids this year…Him. Thank you, Amanda, for the great reminder.
What a well written and authentic blog post.
Thank you for sharing!
You can feel blessed to have learned this so quickly. I’ve seen many more Christmases than you and I’m just now learning to simplify. Print out your post and put it in the September page of your 2008 calendar!
One of the things I most appreciate about this blog is the willingness of you (Amanda) and your mom (Beth) to be so honest, so transparent about your walk with the Lord and how you step it out. And how He deals with you and guides you In His will and His ways.
I will be sharing this blog comment as the devotional for my small group’s holiday social tomorrow night. We are a group who has been studying the revised version of A Woman’s Heart, God’s Dwelling Place. Thoroughly enjoying and growing in our faith walk through this study, by the way.
PS Could I suggest Digital Photography for Dummies available on Amazon.com for somebody’s mother for Christmas. LOLRL (Laugh out loud, REAL loud)
Amanda,
Your timing is perfect! I have once again found myself trying to make this Christmas “the perfect one”, and I can get so bogged down in stressful little things that don’t really matter. I’ll spend way too long debating over which Christmas picture background to use on the cards or which cookies to make for my sons’ 2nd grade class party (or should I just make cupcakes instead of cookies?) Anyway, your writing was the perfect reminder to keep perspective and to keep room for Baby Jesus in all the plans. When we do that, everything else falls into place.
I adore you!
Kristen
Thanks.
I don’t typically decorate for Christmas…I did last year because I was snowed in for a week and I had nothing else to do (except snowboard down the monsterous hills the city plows made in my neighborhood…that was some serious fun). This year I wasn’t up for decorating either, I figured it’s just me…why decorate. I forgot my brother is coming out next week…and staying through Christmas…weird… before he moved, he lived a couple miles up the street and I spoke to him twice in 11 years…now he’s staying with me for a couple weeks on a job assignment. I may have to bookmark this blog…and I think I will tape those scrips to my cabinet doors…maybe carve them into my countertop! (Ok, that might be stretching it.)
Thanks again!
after a day of christmas shopping and indulging the sheer materialism of Christmas; I came upon a church sign that read: It’s Merry Christmas, not Happy Holidays! Well it took all my southern strenght not to turn the car around and head straight for the church’s office. In lest, I need to remind anyone Jesus was a Jew, the jewish people celebrate the holdiay hannukah, whereas other religons have their own traditions as well. But to single handedly develop such a one sided sign seems prepostorous and counter to everything Christmas is truly about. ps. I have drank about 2 red bulls, so it could be the caffeine that has me up in arms
Thanks, Amanda. You brought a smile to my face and re-re-re-reminded me of what (strike that) WHO we’re to be celebrating this December. Swaddling clothes and a manger is so simple. Isn’t it ironic how our ways of celebrating such a sweet, sane birth are so exhausting? Well, I’d best scoot so I can make my 72 cookies for tomorrow’s cookie exchange (sigh).
Warm in Alaska.
Thanks for remindig us where our focus needs to remain this holiday.
I too have found myself distracted by expectations. And not just over the holidays. I found earlier this year that the reason I would be so quick tempered with my children at times is because I had unreasonable expectations!!
I will do all I can these next few weeks to COME TO THE END OF MYSELF (my “needs”, desires, and memory making) and focus on CHRIST!
Oh and a sidenote- we used to live in Colorado and frequent Hobby Lobby… one year, my husband and I went there on New Years Eve for two boxes of fudge pop sticks (I can’t think of what they are really called.) We had a contest to see who could build the most creative thing out of the box of sticks…
Hearing you say Hobby Lobby reminds me of some great times we had as newly weds 10 years ago.
Merry Christmas!
Amanda: I’ve missed you on this blog, but this post was worth the wait! God surely gave you a timely word for us siestas this day. What a precious and WISE YOUNG WOMAN you are! So many will never learn the truths of what you have written so genuinely from your heart.
I am so proud of you, girl, and I cannot say thank you enough for this precious post. Like Mary, I pray all us siestas will find time to “treasure and ponder all these things in our hearts.”
Blessings and Peace to the Moores and Joneses!
Jan Morton
Your Georgia Siesta
Our circumstances this year have been beyond tough, but I agree with all of these dear sisters – JESUS has been & will continue to be soooo faithful! What a bounty of glorious Grace..
May we all have HIS beauty for our ashes, & be annoited with HIS oil of JOY!! for our mourning..Is 61
HIS gifts are so much greater than anything we could ever hope to give!
I pray that all of us are blessed with HIS bounty this year – as we all continue to seek HIM!
Love Ya’ll! mistie woods – abilene
Amanda,
I hear you and all I can say is stop what you’re doing right now and lift this sister up! I am in the throws of your last year’s Christmas! I know it’s craziness and my husband has loving told me over and over to stop the stressing and I even told the Lord yesterday that I would NOT let satan steal my joy this season…yet, here I am still stressing. I don’t know what is wrong with me. And every bit of it is foolishness that could be set aside. Thank you for these words, pray that I will stop long enough to listen. I love you for your faithfulness to Him!
WOW, it seems that every time I come to the “BLOG”, the Lord has something ‘just for me ‘.
I so needed to read this today.
Thanks again!!!
Dear Siesta AJ,
How I wish I had learned what you have learned as early in life as you learned it! I’m your mom’s age now, and Christmas is soooo much simpler and full of meaning for me.
First, I no longer send out Christmas cards, or the infamous “yearly letter.” I respond to those who choose to write me, and that is usually those with whom I correspond throughout the year. Though I have to find a different use for the “card holder” the money saved has allowed me to send an additional 5 Bibles to China this month.
Second, I purchase almost no Christmas presents. We asked our children and our siblings to please take the money they would have used to buy gifts for us, and give to a local charity or mission. Our kids especially have had such fun deciding where the money should go! Our oldest will begin his church plant in January; the added funds were much-needed. Our daughter “adopted” an additional foster child to buy Christmas presents so they would have a happy Christmas. Our sibs donated to a local free medical clinic, etc. We only asked that they let us know where the money went, so we could rejoice and pray with them.
Third, I keep decorating simple. I devote my bay window to “all things Christmas;” small tree, my nativity sets (I collect them). It makes cleanup so much easier.
We keep the Advent wreath on the table, and light the candles. It’s there when I pass to do laundry, cook meals; I see it all day and am reminded of the birth of the Savior.
Much “bless God” to you and Curt! Jackson will be blessed as he grows.
Your siesta in Oregon,
Beverly
Interesting…the very thing that has been on my mind…
Amanda:
Thanks for the reminder. It is so easy to lose focus of the real reason
we celebrate Christmas. It is also a challenge to keep it there in the business and craziness of it all.
Kim B. In AZ
We all need reminding of what this season is really about – I need a reminder daily, so thank you!
Thank you, Amanda. This was just what I needed to hear today.
The timing of your comment on peace was perfect and was utilized this morning. The holiday stomach bug has infested my house . In fact I just returned from taking my oldest son, Chase (8) to school (the other two, ages 6 and 3, are sick and riding along in their pajamas.) Mary Mac, the 3 year old, determines during the ride that she has to vomit. Luckily, because my car is a mess and I have random items everywhere, I was able to hand her a Santa hat (why this is in my passenger seat is beyond me) So, she threw up in Santa’s hat.
Ho Ho Ho.
Thank you for the reminder! I truely needed it to put things back into focus! You all are such a blessing to me!
Merry Christmas!!!!
Your siesta from GA!
Amanda, when I first started this blog, I must admit, it was purely to know more about Beth. Now it is so much more. I have grown to love you just as much as your mom.(and that is a whole lot) You guys sharing your lives with us is such a special gift from above. May the freedom bells keep ringing, and may His anointing continue to fall upon the Moore’s and Jones’.
Beth, your contagious love of our Lord has truly changed my life. Thank you for being real. I am doing the 90 day devotional about David.. and may I say His word has truly become Life to me. That is a gift I can never repay. I know you hear it all the time..but I am so blessed by you, but most of all the way He shines through your life.. Hope you feel His sweet arms giving you a hug for me as you read this. With much love and wishing you a Blessed Christmas season, Tina
I am praying for sweet peace for you all; the spirit reminded me, this will be the first without your father.. O, how He love you and me!
Amanda,
You nailed it! Thank you for the edification and timeliness. I am thankful to have you as a sister in Christ!
We recently celebrated our 1st Hanukkah this year with some dear friends of ours (from a Christian angle). I must say, it gave me a peace much different from all other years. He is the fulfillment of LIGHT and PEACE and so many other things….Praise Him and thank you!
Wendy
AJ,
Things here this Christmas have been STRESSFULL with a capital S. Thanks for the reminder of what Christmas is truly about! I just know when we get to heaven we will all have the best slumberless party ever!!!! Stop by my mansion ANYTIME!!!
Have a great day!
Amanda in SC
I am encouraged by your determination to keep the Main Thing the main thing, and will gladly join you in the battle! I pray that we all are simply blown away by the unimaginable joy of the Lord this Christmas season.
This is the first year in a long time I haven’t ended up with the “bah humbugs.” I only put up half of the decorations and my husband and I actually made a budget and are sticking to it. It’s so much more peaceful this year when I’m not trying to live like Martha Stewart’s t.v. show. Thank you for your transparency and this timely reminder!
Thank you Amanda! Each day is a countdown until the celebration of His glorious birth, may the peace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the reason for this wonderful season consume our hearts. Thank you for your kind and honest reminder. It is a daily battle. Waking up with our first thoughts of Jesus and His peace. As we stand in our long waiting lines for purchases, as our lists seem to get longer instead of shorter, I pray that the peace of our Lord will encapsulate us with the sweet reminder of why we are here on this earth in the first place – to give honor and glory to His Name!! Blessings dear siesta in Christ! JH
I read this blog and then immediatly after that I read this blog on an article by a very godly man – CJ Mahaney: http://www.newattitude.org/blog/entry.php?id=399
about the passage in James 4 –
How very funny – the connection – particularly re: interpersonal conflict. What is God saying to me here?! 🙂
Thanks for that timely reminder. Funny how in this season of the Prince of Peace’s birth, we are often the most stressed. A good word today! I would love to see some pictures of your house last Christmas, though, especially the outside!!
I absolutely love this message and its meaning. This year, my family is striving for the same thing. Having been diagnosed with a genetic disorder 17 months ago and having that change EVERYTHING around me- including my family and friends- makes me want to live for and enjoy the one thing that is constant…the Prince of Peace.
Even though our family just adopted a four year old girl this August, who continues to fill our home with joy, we want to be mindful that our hearts, as well as hers’, is filled with Jesus Christ.
I believe it is possible to decorate and enjoy Christmas, while still making the Prince of Peace our main focus.