Today, my friend started a cool thing. She started a facebook group of women whose goal it is to give God the first fruits of our morning and to keep each other accountable about it. This Christmas season, I'm seeing through things with new mother eyes. Sam doesn't really understand things yet. He likes pulling the ornaments off of our Christmas tree, but he doesn't know why it's there. We light more candles, we have special songs, we have more things on surfaces, but he doesn't know why.
I love the Christmas season. I love that it's Jesus' birthday, and I tear up at so many songs now that I didn't before, but I also love the general cheer of the season. I want to make sure that I don't get caught up in sharing that with Sam and miss any opportunity to share with him the real reason of the season (in the future). Thanks to Sam's grandmothers, we have some awesome books to read to him next year and a nativity to play with.
This season, I tried to plan gifts a little early, to get safe decorations up, to play the music when we could, etc. to make the most of each day. Of course, I would also be determined to be nice and caring and next thing I know, I gave a snotty tone to my husband, got stressed over something small, or some other thing. I can't do all this on my own, but I try too often. Even knowing and accepting things don't have to be perfect, too often I can't help by try. Most of the time I don't know what I'm doing, and I wish I would stop and pray and ask for help, but no, I jump in impulsively. And I think I need a change. A reminder on how to focus and where to focus. Thinking about making the first 15 minutes of my day all for God is encouraging. And challenging. But mostly exciting.
So this year, from the One who gave the best gift, I'm going to try to give back my waking moments. :)
