Regrouping After a Lost Post -Christmas Potpourri

Twelve Days of Christmas Grief Relief, Day 5

So, I worked on this post for the past two hours and was inserting a few pictures and for reasons I will probably never agree happened (like I forgot to save it or something ridiculous like that), when I returned to this page, the only thing that appeared was my original rough draft....and after many attempts to figure out where my amazing writing was hiding, I give up. 

My first reaction to this mysterious loss, "What, where, please.....please, appear...." and then "But God, why, why - isn't this for You?"  And then, I am not going to cry over this......do You know how much cleaning I could have done in preparation for the Staff Party but instead I worked on this because well, it seems more spiritual...and...Lord, what do you have for me in this?  There has to be a spiritual reason...or maybe not!  Maybe, I just lost the post for no reason at all and I have to just get over it but Lord, I committed to writing one post a day through December 31 and I......

Sharon, remember all of your counsel to others......I have a feeling anyone reading this will resonate with your frustration!  So what's the message for me - for anyone who might stumble on to this blog?

Today's little bit of Christmas Grief Relief message - roll with the punches!  Don't sweat the small stuff.....trust God with the details....

Yes, God is in the details, even a lost blog post when time is short and you have to get your house ready for a staff Christmas party - and not write.

So if you, like me are trying to make Christmas magic such as writing a supernatural blog post, or bake cookies that taste like (or better than) your sister-in-laws, create the most amazing lighted house in the neighborhood (no, that's not us - just candles in the windows when most of the houses in our neighborhood look like a winter wonderland), gifts wrapped to look like what's inside the box (yes, one year I gave men's shirts in boxes that I had wrapped to look like men's shirts - and that was before Pinterest!) and speaking of Pinterest, perhaps you're trying to do all those amazing crafts or decorations and totally amazing cookie decorating.....and you're ready to cry or pull your hair out, or throw the cookie dough, or smash the oven door because the heat isn't working right or maybe even scream at the kids (Heidi and son Chuck spent all of one Christmas Eve Day sitting on chairs because they wouldn't behave - in other words were acting like little kids the day before Christmas -  because I was getting ready for a Christmas Eve Open House for our church family and pridefully refused any help because "this was our gift to our congregation!" Yes, I think pride had something to do with that - but hey, I looked like the perfect hostest with perfect children on the outside by the time everyone arrived.  (But on the inside, something was very wrong.)

And for all of you who are trying not to panic because you have way too much to do, let's all take a deep breath, find a quiet spot to just sit.....and whittle down that list even more. And rest in knowing that God is sovereign over all these details and maybe there's a special treasure He has for us in the chaos......

And perhaps tomorrow, He will multiply my minutes so that I can recreate that most amazing post on Mary.  In case you take those few minutes by yourself, sit a while with Mary, the mother of Jesus, and let her story quiet your heart and redirect your frustration or maybe your tears and grief and soak up these words -
Mary (put your name in place of hers),




Our twinnies, Abby and Nathan

You who are highly favored!  The Lord is with you! (Luke 1:28)

and Mary's response to this most amazing conversation -

"I am the handmaiden of the Lord.  May it be to me as you have said."

Happy Birthday, Jesus!

In His grip (Thankfully!),
Sharon