Let this be your year

Honoring room to breathe this Christmas season sounds awesome.

Right?

The day after Thanksgiving is a tradition. My girls are photographed by me. These photographs are then used for our Christmas card. In the years past, I've learned by Thanksgiving the cotton's picked for the year. Since cotton's been on my list of backdrops. We planned beforehand this year.

Can you believe it?

We planned.

The girls dressed in their cute comfy outfits hopping in the car. The camera sat on the charger. I bagged it in my black camera bag. In the driver seat, my bottom plops.

My husband mentioned the week before he saw cotton. I drove my car opposite from what he suggest. My mind knew where cotton would be. Forty-five minutes later, I pose the idea to my daughter, "call your dad". After the spill, "I told you where cotton would be." I turned in the first driveway. Both ways, I glanced a clear view. In the opposite direction, we head seeing cotton in no time.

I turned downhill a dusty road in front of "the best" cotton field. Giggling how the people across the street may run us off for playing in their cotton. Dust covered our toes as everyone slide out. The wind pushed hair in one's lip gloss and across their eyes. My trained daughters mandarin around cotton stems posing.

This year after Thanksgiving was relaxing. The Sunday after, I edited the picked pictures creating our Christmas card. Days later the Fed Ex carrier pulled in our driveway. My memory pondered, "what could he be delivering?" The carrier drove away. A box laid outside my garage. I opened the garage. My body leaned forward grabbing the box. The return address revealed where from the package shipped. I remembered.

Christmas.

Cards.

The only holding tradition of my family's is taking the girls picture and creating a Christmas card.

The girls are older now. This tradition might not always carry. A different season brings different things. Growing in a direction with being okay with seasons changing is awesome.

If you have not created a Christmas card for your family, let this year be yours to breathe. Be the change. Cards don't have to be created. There are things through the year we as the Murphy's don't do: beach trip at the end of school year, long trips during spring break, go to all the home college football games, etc. If I am honest, seeing or hearing those things can cause a raunchy feeling in my soul. I don't mean to, but it happens.

Please, if this year isn't yours, let it be.

Relax.

Enjoy.

Be free from the enslaved fast pace craziness. There is no bylaw saying, "You must send Christmas cards to be valued, be in the loop, or to have it together".  Rest in His goodness.

Kiss the cards goodbye.

Set a new trend.

Sabbath.

My presence will go with you and I will give you rest. Exodus 33:14

Answer Two or More

You may have more to offer than you realize.

Are you a note taker? Do you have little slips of paper laying around with scribbled words? How about the margins of books you read, do you write on those margins? Do you pull out a pen and paper when the preacher preaches? Are the notes on your phone full of things you write down? Are your tweets or facebook status' of strong conversational wisdom you and God have discussed? Do you blog? Are you a leader?

If you said yes to 2 or more of these questions then consider yourself a writer. Although you don't have some fancy platform of readers yet doesn't mean you are not a writer. You may be further in your writing calling then you realize, whether it's the early stages or advanced stages. In Gods timing, He will prompt you in the direction you need to go. Make yourself available to His calling on your life as a writer. Now is the time to be okay with what stage of writing you are in. It shall pass. You shall grow.

Continue on the 2 or more questions you answered yes to. Build on a few more from the list. This may require you to drop one of the ones you already answered yes to.

You don't have to have a book published to be a writer.

If you write, you are a writer.

Say it, "I am a writer."

You need to see yourself as God does. You are valuable to His kingdom. He loves you and your worth is greater in Him than mankind. Don't deny the value He already created for your life.

Matthew 10:29-31 TLB

"What's the price of a pet canary? Some loose change, right? And God cares what happens to it even more than you do. He pays even greater attention to you, down to the last detail even numbering the hairs on your head! So don't be intimidated by all this bully talk. You're worth more than a million canaries.

Write.