THE Tub

I can feel the rush of the holidays begin to push me on with the tide. Our job as Christians is to slow that ebb and focus on the true meaning of Christmas. That almost sounds impossible now and I don’t have any work responsibilities or little feet urging me forward. Even now, I finished my Good Morning Girls Bible study and was ready to dash off to finish cleaning up and putting up holiday decor. Instead, I wanted to stop to write.

We leave tomorrow for Connecticut, so there are bags to pack and laundry to be done. I need to gather up the presents I already purchased for my boys. I told Bob that I would put up decorations until we left, and then time out, decorating was done. I thought that would slow me down to prepare. Instead it has the speed for today on high. Oh no!

Last night, Bob was already dreaming of sugar plum fairies or the pathetic Bears when I went downstairs with some big tubs to store down there. I even crawled up into the crawl space to finish looking through the additional tubs to find special items that had to make the Tuesday deadline. That’s when I made my big mistake.

I opened THE TUB, that special one that is stocked full of holiday movies, Christmas music and all of my precious books. I have gathered almost a tub of books that get lugged up every December for my personal enjoyment. I always try to read them all in my big, comfy recliner by the light of the Christmas tree. It’s perfect when it is snowing, and I have a big cup of hot chocolate close at hand. I own wonderful picture books for the young in all of us. They progress all the way to novels, with all sorts of books in between. One such novel is The Autobiography of Santa Claus; I highly recommend it. The books have always transported me to locations far and near, taking my mind off any pain that I have that day. What a beautiful way to rid the discomfort without the use of strong medication.

I guess that I am writing you this with a twofold message. To those of you who also have that chronic pain that tries to take all the memory making out of these next weeks, don’t you dare let it. Find your secret escape, like my devotion to my books. To all the rest of you who are running around at warp speed on your “normal” days – stop. Take a breather and find some special joy. Spend time with the kids or hubby. You don’t know how long you will be blessed with a day like today. It just takes one slip on the ice to drastically change your life big-time. Prepare yourself for Jesus to come again. Are you really ready for that? Listen, and then listen some more. If you turn your head just so you will hear the true meaning of Christmas. Stop and listen. Life is good!

One More Way God Uses My Chronic Pain to Prove that Life is Good:

    -  I get to slow down to read my special books and hear the angel singing Alleluia.