Yesterday, I received an e-mail inviting me to take part in the From Chaos to Calm: The LET. IT. GO. Christmas Challenge! being hosted by Karen Ehman. I read about the challenge and thought it was totally worthy of my time. I read the encouragement for Day 1 – and thought “maybe I should blog about it”.
Day 1 is titled “The Dare” and pretty much lays it out on the line for us moms – we need to let go of some of the control!
This really hit home for me because, quite frankly, I’m a control freak. Or maybe, more accurately put, I’m an out-of-control freak. I don’t know. I like to be in charge of things and I definitely lean toward perfectionistic tendencies.
It was all rusty tin and country, complete with popcorn strings and weeds that I would cut, one by one, and place among the branches.
My best friend passed away the following year, and I lost my desire to really decorate for the holidays. So, though it’s not really my personality, I did relinquish my tree-decorating control last year. We went out and bought a new tree and all new ornaments in bright, cheery, non-country colors and I let my middle daughter take over.
It’s an all-new look for us – and I like it. It really wasn’t that hard giving it up to her and she does a great job. She loves doing it and I think it gives her a sense of pride.
And me? I’m left wondering why I was so uptight before. I mean, is it really worth it? Does it matter if 2 ornaments of the same color are placed on side-by-side branches? In the grand scheme of things, who cares, right?
I’m going to challenge myself, going into this year’s Christmas season, to relinquish a lot more control. Yesterday, I left the kids bake cookies, pretty much on their own. That’s not like me – I don’t like the mess, so it’s easier to just do it myself. But, that takes the fun away from them.
Karen encourages us to practice saying “I have no opinion in the matter—you choose!” I’m going to try – really hard – to use that phrase throughout the month of December. Hopefully, it will become a habit! We’ll see. I think, if nothing else, I’ll become more relaxed. And, hopefully, my family will feel more relaxed as well!
“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had.” ~Philippians 2:3-5
What about you? Are there areas in your life where you need to let go of your tendency to be in control? Be challenged to do so this month – and may your holidays go From Chaos to Calm as well!
1 comment:
Nice post, thanks. I took last minute time off from work to be with our daughters, who flew 3000 miles to give us a surprise early visit for Christmas. They have other Christmas Day plans but yet still made it here. Calm exists no matter what the timing.
Post a Comment