Well. On November 9th, I stood in the check-out lane of the local vintage-music-playing supermarket I'm always telling you about, when I looked up and spied Christmas decorations. On November 9th, weeks before Thanksgiving, even!
Now, Old Debra would have sputtered and murmured in her heart, "Good grief. In the Old Days, people waited till Thanksgiving passed before they began pushing Christmas. Can't we just celebrate one holiday at a time?"
But what did New Debra say? "Oh! Those snowflakes and little snowmen are pretty. It's nice of my store to stretch this lovely season, to make it longer for us to enjoy."
No, really.
Did you notice the "Old" words I used? Old Debra, Old Days? Well, they are old, as in, in The Past. The way it used to be. Belonging to a different time. No longer relevant.
And I'll tell ya... I'm no longer going to spoil my Today by believing it should look exactly like Yesterday.
Times have changed! And it behooves me to change along with them, lest I become an old, cranky, irrelevant woman who people run from rather than listen to because she chose her battles unwisely.
Besides, last night I glanced out of our big dining room window and oh! One of our neighbors had put up their Christmas lights already, pretty blue and white ones. The house beside them still had their Halloween lights up--tons of orange ones--but hey! I became excited because it all reminded me of last Christmas, our first at Hobbit Cottage, when a whole lighted fairyland suddenly appeared outside that window for Tom and me and charmed our socks off for a whole month of nights.
Then, when I later walked upstairs to my room last night, I glanced out that window where I told you I'd seen the dancers and wow! The 'gingerbread house'.... :
... had also put up their lights and rarely have creamy white and red lights so charmed me. Oh, they are gorgeous, not overdone or gaudy, just one of the best lighted houses I've ever seen.
And it's mine, all mine, every single night from now--before Thanksgiving--to even after New Year's Day, most likely. A treat, a reward for me just for climbing those stairs each long winter night.
Early Christmas-- a marvelous season stretched even longer! I wasted too many years trying to micro-manage the whole world each November, disguising my control issues as "just wanting Christmas respected," but now? Now I'll just enjoy all these reminders of what--of Who--this season is really about. And isn't that the main thing, anyway?
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"For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord." ... Luke 2:11
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Wow, speaking of changes, it's so Last Days City in our world right now (perhaps in Heaven they're calling it The Last Minutes). Please join me in praying for Israel as more and more biblical prophecy comes to pass.
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I didn't have time to comment yesterday and your post today follows up on yesterdays so I will comment today. I saw a show years ago where people wished and had Christmas every day. . Very soon it became no fun. The things we oh and ah over in life happen because of the wonderment and excitement of it all. The newness. The memories stay because they were special..one of a kind almost. They touched our soul and gave us very warm fuzzies. Would we want to be left in our 6th year the year we had that great snow for sledding? Would we want to stay in that moment we held our first child for the first time?...and never see the daily wonder of them growing up? Would we exchange one of our favorite memories for all others? Best to be thankful that God has given us so much joy in our lives. Even the sad times are our times. I have off and on wondered if I could have just one day back which would it be? An impossible thought. Even if I just pointed to a day on an old calendar and got the luck of the draw what would I get? would I get the day I won at marbles in grade school or would I have picked the day I had the flu? Even our every day lives...days we stay home make dinner and sit and watch the sun set are very wonderful days. No days a bad day per say. We need to stop thinking of the past and wake up and see today. While we are off day dreaming of our past days the memories we could have stored of today is slipping away. I am saying this for myself too as I write this. Sarah
ReplyDeleteI had been on a nostalgia trip for a while and you several posts on this thinking of the joys of the past have helped me wake up. It has put things into perspective. When I thought of the show where every day was christmas it jelled some things in my muddled brain. It helped put those days of pain and joy into like old diaries in my mind..pages filed with each time. Now I feel I have new a blank diary to fill with each new day. I can pick them up and glance at them for a moment when a friend recalls a time or two then put them down. They are my past life. They no longer clutter my mind so bringing tears to my eyes at the thoughts. As even the most special joyous times of the past can bering a tear to ones eye., especially if it includes a dear one. I don't mean to hog the comments...I am just trying to explain how I see this now. It really is a new awakening. Am I making any sense? Sarah
ReplyDeleteA good post, Debra....I'm sending you this link that may interest you because I know you like David Grayson's work.....
ReplyDeletehttp://www.swarthmore.edu/SocSci/rbannis1/Baker/grayson.html
Aw, Sarah.... I always appreciate your comments and please make them as long as you like. It seems some good changes are happening within you and I believe your comments can also help others find good changes within themselves. And yes, I do understand what you are saying! Again, please keep saying it.
ReplyDeleteKristi--thank-you for that link! My, my, my... I know Ray Stannard Baker appreciated lots of his mail (I've read his biographies), but some of those letters sounded so depressing, especially if one has nothing real (like Jesus) to offer to others as the answer to their pain. This was just one more example of how many people throughout any decade in the past have had hard times, especially without God in their lives, making it true that really, there were no true good old days apart from Him, or at least, apart from people who live out godly principals whether they know Him or not. (Hope that makes sense). Thanks again for sharing that!
Blessings, Debra
You are right about praying for Israel in this time!! It does make one wonder just what will happen and where we are in prophecy alright. We have friends over there that we are concerned for too...pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Such a peaceful feeling to that city was what we experienced there...amazed that anyone could WANT to fight in that place!!
ReplyDeleteElizabeth now in VA
I love that you embrace all of this glittery wonder as "mine all mine," Love that!! It is yours and mine to enjoy, every thing we lay eyes on, every bird whose song we hear...all ours to enjoy. Beautiful. And indeed, we pray for Israel with you. Those picket fenced houses in heaven may be ours sooner rather than later.
ReplyDelete