Can you even believe it's December?!? I cannot. Like the tree is up, the Christmas parties are planned, and all the things but still for some reason it's not feeling a lot like the Christmas season for me. Not sure if it's just because our year has been so crazy and I'm in denial that so many months have passed in the blink of an eye or what, but I'm trying to get there!
One of the ways I'm trying to soak in this Christmas season is to really be intentional about my advent studying and Bible reading for myself and for the kids. They are loving our cards from She Reads Truth that we are going through this year. I am reading an advent book I love and have done for the past few years, Oh Come Let Us Adore Him by Paul David Trip.
The Lord has really been working on my heart the last few weeks about where my focus is and where my peace comes from. The phrase, "seek peace and pursue it" from 1 Peter 3:11 has been running through my mind over and over. I hadn't even come across it in my Bible reading lately, the Holy Spirit just planted it. There hasn't been much peace for us this year. It's truly been chaos. Organized chaos, thank you very much, but chaos none the less. Starting this website took months. It was such bad timing in my mind, but the nudge from the Lord to write became so heavy that it was time to be obedient. If anyone knows me, I do not like to do things half way. I like to go all in and make it happen. I put a lot of pressure on myself to do my best work no matter what it is in life. This leads to a lot of unnecessary stress. Josh tells me all the time, "You did this to yourself." Yeah yeah, I know. But writing, opening up my home to people, making Christmas memories for my family that require me to make pancakes look like reindeer (ugh!!! haha!) are all extremely fulfilling to me as well.
But back to writing, when I started this, it was just to write. But in our world today, when you blog or do any sort of writing online, you also "have" to be present on social media. Instagram is the new way of blogging essentially. I just have too many words for that haha! But truly it's all about getting people to read there and interact and be on Facebook (or maybe not Facebook anymore!?!?) See I don't even know what the platforms are these days. Truly. What the heck is Tic Toc? Do I blog there? Dance there?? I'm too old for this. Anyways the social media part of writing TOTALLY stresses me out. I love sharing on stories about life and the day to day but the parts where I have to find a perfect picture to post and a blurb that makes you want to read what I've written on the website is totally overwhelming to me. I want to just post my words into the world on here and be done with it. I don't know the right way to go about it. I was expressing this to a friend and she said some very simple but wise to me. "God didn't call you to social media, He called you to write." AMEN. PTL for that haha! It was just such a great reminder. I was feeling crushed by this made up schedule I wrote out of when I had to post and on what day... because that's what bloggers do! Right? Well you know what, just as Josh says, nobody cares but me!
So longggg story short, I'm taking the month of December off from writing... unless I want to haha... just no commitment either way. No typed up schedule of when I have to write this or say that. I have lots of posts on deck that I wrote prior to even launching all of this but I'm just putting them on hold for now. There's a stirring in my heart that's saying pause, pray and seek peace. In the new year I'm hopeful I'll be back with a renewed sense of peace and purpose for this space.
I know, I literally only started a few months ago, but that's just enough time to get all jumbled up and off track. I'm going to finish this year seeking peace and truly pursing it during this advent season. Time to be intentional, time away from social media, time to focus on Him and not me. If you need permission this Christmas season to seek peace, unplug, and drink a dang cup of hot tea in the afternoon, this is it! Do it. Your soul will thank you. The peace you're searching for is not on social media or here on this blog. It's in God's word. Approach His word expectantly and you will receive the greatest gift. Him.
Thanks for riding this crazy train with me, friends! Merry Christmas!
