You know the ones. Those beautifully produced letters that paint a picture of family PERFECTION.

Of course, we always get them in the mail after a LONG day of work and playing taxi driver.

We’re rushing to get dinner together because we have to HURRY out the door to our next holiday event.

And then we see it; a Christmas card from a friend or relative where every hair is in place, the kids have angelic expressions on clean faces and everyone is smiling, successful and CONTENT.

Don’t you just HATE that!

Are We Fair?
So what’s our first response many times? We JUDGE. We judge their year-end highlights against our day-to-day life.

We decide we don’t MEASURE up, our kids don’t measure up and our spouse doesn’t measure up.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword?” Romans 8:35 (NIV)

Who are WE to be criticizing and beating ourselves up?

It’s A Trap!
The person who separates us from “the reason for the season” should NOT be us!

We should not be tearing ourselves DOWN…or tearing others down, either.

In a season when we’re supposed to be celebrating the birth of Jesus, the enemy will use ANYTHING to make the Christmas lights shine a little less in our eyes.

Keep the Twinkle!
Enjoy the chaos, the quiet or whatever it is that we have. Find the JOY in knowing that this moment we’re in will be a memory we’ll treasure in the future!

So before we work ourselves into a FRENZY trying to make this year’s Christmas TOP all our childhood memories, we should take a moment and realize.

Wherever we are, if we’re following God’s plan for our life, this will be the ONLY year just like this.

These ARE the good old days!

A Prayer for You
God, I pray that we lift up the circumstances of our day to You.

We know that You are bigger than the enemy. You are bigger than the circumstances. You lead our heart out of defeat into victory EVERY time.

God, lead us into the joy that You provide as we celebrate You in this season! Amen.