Look Up!

Gifts? Check. Dinner planned? Check. Travel plans? Check. Work completed? Check, check, check.

This time of the year can be so stressful. You have to get things done for work and the end of the year, extra family members, kids, you’re spending extra money, you have lack of sleep because you need it all to be done. You’ve put on your big girl hard hat, looked down and gotten extremely focused that you don’t even care about the stress. It will be over soon.

But in all that busy-ness did you take the time to look up? Your kids want your undivided attention from your phone. That person sitting next to you in church needed some encouragement to walk to the front while you were so deeply in prayer for yourself. That person in the cold really would appreciate just a bit from the leftover box you walked by with, that you’ll just eventually throw away.

The reason for the season is not this. What is it to you? What is this season to you? Do you remember? It’s not always for you to play superwoman to everyone. But at least be something super to somebody today. Even if it’s to yourself.

Take the time to look up and show your gratitude. People don’t just appreciate things that you do, they also appreciate YOU. This time of the year I see everything that I want to get everyone, but my account doesn't always feel the same way I do. And I have to stop and ask myself, the people that really care, do you think they will really care whether they get that or not? And I slow myself down and remember that there is more to me than the things I can materialistically give. Show love to a stranger. They might not receive it from anywhere else either. Instead of being in a holiday mood you can be the reason to making someone else’s season.

And when I slow down long enough from the other work I'm doing I remember to not be so overwhelmed because everything will still get accomplished. The same is true for you. You will be so much more fulfilled along the way if you take the time look around you and notice the little things that will make the biggest impact. The time is now.