With the holiday seasons coming, my heart has started to feel overwhelmed. I love the Holidays! I love being with family and celebrating together what matters most. I just don't like the stress of getting there. Let me back up.
Growing up, we were blessed to have the necessities, and that's about it. As I look back, I never felt like I really went without. I had great friends, I was healthy, I had a warm bed, loving parents and supportive siblings and that was great! I learned early, that if I wanted something, I worked for it. I had babysitting jobs from when I was 12, and a "real job" with a paycheck when I was 15. I bought my own school clothes, paid for my gas to get wherever I wanted to go, and paid for anything extra I wanted to do. Along with many other things, I learned the value of work that maybe I could've only learned this way.
Our Christmas' were humble, we had a tree and some years we had presents to unwrap. I'm not going to lie, the years we didn't have presents were sometimes hard to go to school and try and avoid the question, "What did you get for Christmas?" I remember thinking, instead I am going to say, "Well, I didn't get much, but here's what I gave." I wanted to be a person who didn't dwell upon the things of what I got, but rather what I did to serve.
I am still working on that. I never really found a service project, or did anything wonderful...it was a thought I had, and I still dream of acting upon it. Procrastination, yep, a great trait I have! But I did try and be a little nicer to others, and look for people who may have needed a smile, compliment, hug, or just a friend to listen to them.
I am not trying to toot my own horn, that wasn't my point. But I guess what I am trying to say, is that I learned to not dwell upon what I didn't have, but be grateful for what I do have.
A few years later, I married into a family who is crazy good at gifting! Like, putting Santa to shame, good! My mother in law is the most charitable woman who would give you her coat of her back, and she actually has done that for me! I love his family! They have some fabulous traditions and I have learned a ton from them and have fun being a part of their family.
However, because I have been introduced to this new Holiday Season lifestyle, I get really overwhelmed. Not because what they do is overwhelming, cause they are great at holding their own. I am just still trying to find balance...because if you know me, I am sort of an over achiever. I don't like doing things half way.
Recently, we've been facing some challenges, which has put a damper on my over-acheiveness (if that can be a word for a minute.) I have been a little bummed out about the things I can't get for my kids. BUT today I got a little slap in the face. And I loved it. I thought I would share because in all honesty, I just want to write it down.
Today I was reading about Abinadi, who was a prophet in The Book of Mormon, who was one of the last righteous men in his little town. The Lord told him he needed to go and tell the people, especially the idolatrous priests and king to repent. The kingdom had become very prideful and forgot God. God wanted them to repent so they wouldn't destroy what He had given them. Unfortunately, they didn't yet and Abinadi was sentenced to death...but what hit me was how he was describing the pride.
Again, on Sunday, we had lesson 21 in the Lorenzo Snow book, which was basically teaching, Be in the world, not of the world. You'd think I should've caught some hints awhile ago, but I didn't, and I am sure I still am missing out on a lot. But what I did gather is that pride in worldly possessions, is a sin.
Anyway, if I can make this any longer, I was just watching a show from the early cartoon years (probably like when cartoons first came out) with Ryker and Brinly about Christmas and one of the little clips was about these two little poor kids, who had one set of pajamas and one set of clothing. No shoes, holes in their blankets and bedding, and a candle to light their home. They were put to bed and then it showed their dream. They dreamed of clothing on trees and as much food as they could probably imagine. Then they woke up and the town had come together to bless this little family with food and a warm home. The kids were THRILLED and jumped out of bed and ran to the table to eat until their heart was content.
It made my heart sink as I thought about how prideful our nation has become. How prideful I have become! As a mom, I want my children to have everything they could dream of. I keep saying to myself, "When Trevor gets a good job...blah blah blah" but lets be honest, if I don't fix my desire to have everything, I will end up with nothing. I will have lost what is most important. I can count my blessings and be grateful for what I really do have, appreciate what I have so that one day, I won't have to have a rude wake up call. Like the famous saying, "You don't really appreciate what you do have, until you have lost it."
With the natural disasters, families losing their homes and loved ones, it has really made my head spin on how blessed I am! I do have so many, many blessings that right now, a lot of people do not. I have a warm house, money to pay my bills, unconditional love from my kids, husband and family members, I have healthy children, I have never felt the ache of infertility or loss of a child. I have a garage, a dishwasher, washer and dryer, plenty of food, running clean water, an eternal perspective on life, and much more that will take me years to list.
Back to the punch line, when did Christmas become so commercialized? When did we start to feel our child(ren) needed to have more than the next kid? That they needed to have a million toys to entertain them? Yes, some are great, but what did kids play with 50 years ago? I am thankful for advancements and the ability to learn, but I'm just really feeling like we missed out on the simple life. The simplicity to have 5 shirts and 1 pair of shoes, and maybe a pair of pants if we were feminist. When did our society change? I want to take a time machine and go take notes on living in a simpler time...then pair them with modern medicine and live there!
Anyway, I'm done. I'm working on pride, and gratitude. Thats it. ;)
Growing up, we were blessed to have the necessities, and that's about it. As I look back, I never felt like I really went without. I had great friends, I was healthy, I had a warm bed, loving parents and supportive siblings and that was great! I learned early, that if I wanted something, I worked for it. I had babysitting jobs from when I was 12, and a "real job" with a paycheck when I was 15. I bought my own school clothes, paid for my gas to get wherever I wanted to go, and paid for anything extra I wanted to do. Along with many other things, I learned the value of work that maybe I could've only learned this way.
Our Christmas' were humble, we had a tree and some years we had presents to unwrap. I'm not going to lie, the years we didn't have presents were sometimes hard to go to school and try and avoid the question, "What did you get for Christmas?" I remember thinking, instead I am going to say, "Well, I didn't get much, but here's what I gave." I wanted to be a person who didn't dwell upon the things of what I got, but rather what I did to serve.
I am still working on that. I never really found a service project, or did anything wonderful...it was a thought I had, and I still dream of acting upon it. Procrastination, yep, a great trait I have! But I did try and be a little nicer to others, and look for people who may have needed a smile, compliment, hug, or just a friend to listen to them.
I am not trying to toot my own horn, that wasn't my point. But I guess what I am trying to say, is that I learned to not dwell upon what I didn't have, but be grateful for what I do have.
A few years later, I married into a family who is crazy good at gifting! Like, putting Santa to shame, good! My mother in law is the most charitable woman who would give you her coat of her back, and she actually has done that for me! I love his family! They have some fabulous traditions and I have learned a ton from them and have fun being a part of their family.
However, because I have been introduced to this new Holiday Season lifestyle, I get really overwhelmed. Not because what they do is overwhelming, cause they are great at holding their own. I am just still trying to find balance...because if you know me, I am sort of an over achiever. I don't like doing things half way.
Recently, we've been facing some challenges, which has put a damper on my over-acheiveness (if that can be a word for a minute.) I have been a little bummed out about the things I can't get for my kids. BUT today I got a little slap in the face. And I loved it. I thought I would share because in all honesty, I just want to write it down.
Today I was reading about Abinadi, who was a prophet in The Book of Mormon, who was one of the last righteous men in his little town. The Lord told him he needed to go and tell the people, especially the idolatrous priests and king to repent. The kingdom had become very prideful and forgot God. God wanted them to repent so they wouldn't destroy what He had given them. Unfortunately, they didn't yet and Abinadi was sentenced to death...but what hit me was how he was describing the pride.
Again, on Sunday, we had lesson 21 in the Lorenzo Snow book, which was basically teaching, Be in the world, not of the world. You'd think I should've caught some hints awhile ago, but I didn't, and I am sure I still am missing out on a lot. But what I did gather is that pride in worldly possessions, is a sin.
Anyway, if I can make this any longer, I was just watching a show from the early cartoon years (probably like when cartoons first came out) with Ryker and Brinly about Christmas and one of the little clips was about these two little poor kids, who had one set of pajamas and one set of clothing. No shoes, holes in their blankets and bedding, and a candle to light their home. They were put to bed and then it showed their dream. They dreamed of clothing on trees and as much food as they could probably imagine. Then they woke up and the town had come together to bless this little family with food and a warm home. The kids were THRILLED and jumped out of bed and ran to the table to eat until their heart was content.
It made my heart sink as I thought about how prideful our nation has become. How prideful I have become! As a mom, I want my children to have everything they could dream of. I keep saying to myself, "When Trevor gets a good job...blah blah blah" but lets be honest, if I don't fix my desire to have everything, I will end up with nothing. I will have lost what is most important. I can count my blessings and be grateful for what I really do have, appreciate what I have so that one day, I won't have to have a rude wake up call. Like the famous saying, "You don't really appreciate what you do have, until you have lost it."
With the natural disasters, families losing their homes and loved ones, it has really made my head spin on how blessed I am! I do have so many, many blessings that right now, a lot of people do not. I have a warm house, money to pay my bills, unconditional love from my kids, husband and family members, I have healthy children, I have never felt the ache of infertility or loss of a child. I have a garage, a dishwasher, washer and dryer, plenty of food, running clean water, an eternal perspective on life, and much more that will take me years to list.
Back to the punch line, when did Christmas become so commercialized? When did we start to feel our child(ren) needed to have more than the next kid? That they needed to have a million toys to entertain them? Yes, some are great, but what did kids play with 50 years ago? I am thankful for advancements and the ability to learn, but I'm just really feeling like we missed out on the simple life. The simplicity to have 5 shirts and 1 pair of shoes, and maybe a pair of pants if we were feminist. When did our society change? I want to take a time machine and go take notes on living in a simpler time...then pair them with modern medicine and live there!
Anyway, I'm done. I'm working on pride, and gratitude. Thats it. ;)
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