17 Shopping Days Left ~ I'm Really Not Worried

It is just 18 days until the big day set aside to celebrate Christ’s birth. And, um, I’m kind of not hardly even partially or minutely ready. And you know the strange thing about it all ~ I’m not worried about it. I’m not really sure why it took so many years ~ but this ~ my 50th birth year ~ I have finally arrived at being relatively calm about Christmas. I figure when I enter the final stretch it will all come together so I am really enjoying not getting uptight, not panicking as I hunt for just the right gift, not killing myself in my decorating....

Whether it should or should not have ~ something happened this year when I turned 50. I really stepped back and took a look at what I had to show for 5 decades of life. I saw myself running through the field ~ as a young girl ~ rounding up the pigs on a school morning ~ it seemed they always had an uncanny way of getting out right before the school bus arrived. I remember when I would climb one of the apple trees in the orchard and get to the highest branch possible so I could be alone and think ~ that was hard to do with what seemed like three pesky sisters back then. I saw myself sitting in the church choir at 12 years of age ~ my mother approaching me at the invitation of a good ole revival meeting and asking me the most important question of all time "If you died tonight do you know whether you would go to Heaven?"

And then there were the times I remember marching out onto the football field with my high school band ~ twirling my flag ~ or on one particular evening a huge cardboard bow painted yellow ~ we performed to "Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Ole’ Oak Tree" that night. I know I’ve walked the wedding aisle in my mind many times this year ~ watching my dearly departed father cry like a baby as he linked his arm in mine. I saw myself waddling ~ nearly nine months pregnant ~ across the stage of the Singletary Center at the University of Kentucky to receive my master’s degree in education ~ but actually (and accidentally) I was walking with the doctorate recipients instead. My moma kidded me that I received two degrees that day.

I remember the birth of each daughter ~ and how they have grown up way too fast. I can see the day our eldest walked the wedding aisle herself and kissed her prince for the first time. I could go on and on........ but I think that somehow you get the picture. My life has passed before me so many times this year ~ some memories very sweet and others not so sweet. And all of these moments and so many more have helped to mold me into the person that I am today.

So with all of this pondering and walking down memory lane I’ve come to two conclusions. Life moves so quickly ~ it is so dawgone short ~ and we need to enjoy it ~ which is where I think my not getting uptight about the hustle and bustle of Christmas is coming from. And the other thing that I have concluded (been reminded of) ~ is that time is of essence ~ and only what we do for Christ will last. People so desperately need the Lord. And I think that a lot of them want Him too ~ they just don’t know how to get Him. And that is where we come in.

So, I’m planning on enjoying the next 18 days to the fullest ~ a little shopping here and there ~ making up some homemade fudge ~ sending out a Christmas card or two ~ but that which I want to do the most is tell someone about the greatest gift of all time ~ the LORD JESUS CHRIST. May I be as bold as lion!