Thursday Thoughts <3

It is finally beginning to look and feel like Fall here and yet last night on my after work run, I noticed a few houses along the way with Christmas lights shining through the windows.

I confess we are not early decorators here at the Reimer house. I understand some have to because of busy schedules getting even busier once the Thanksgiving table is cleared, but I always like the idea of waiting for Advent to officially begin the process. **apologies to those who receive the newsletter version of this because I totally missed the edit of that last sentence before hitting send…***

I am reminded of the stories my mom would tell me about her childhood.

There was none of this redoing of houses in evergreen and holiday knick-knacks. Born to a poor family and in the midst of the Depression, they did things more simply.

Oh they had a tree. Santa brought it on Christmas Eve and set it up in the living room while the children slept. It was small and had candles and in their stockings were a few pieces of candy and the most treasured and expensive item of all, an orange. Such a luxury in the month of December to them.

One year her dad had made a child size table and cupboard out of the crates from his grocery store. Sadly the cupboard did not survive the years, but the table and chairs are still safely tucked in our basement.

I don’t know why I share this with you today, except it is what is on my heart.

I guess we just need to remember that sometimes we have a tendency to get carried away and we think bigger is better and more is the way to go.

And yet those simple gestures of love expressed in the middle of the hardest of family times impacted my mom and now I treasure the legacy of her memories.

Our church recently had a sermon and then handed out cards at the end. One side has a picturesque scene of a lake and some hills and the words “Be Still” in lovely script along the bottom.

On the back are two typed message prompts:

I will trust God about:

I will be still before God in the midst of these circumstances:

Just as each of us will make decisions about how we celebrate, shop, cook, entertain in the season that is rolling out before us, we have the option each day to choose to trust God about the things we are overwhelmed with and to be still before Him as we make our way through them.

So take a deep breath…and a moment…and think about how you would fill in the blanks.

One more time…

I will trust God about….

I will be still before God in the midst of these circumstances…..

Blessings on you this week <3