Take a Holiday Time-Out

Moms, we care about you. If your life is feeling a little stressful during this holiday season, take a 10 minute break and read on, for a good dose of laughter and some important reflection.

It was our first Christmas in Pennsylvania. That year, we had transitioned to a new ministry position from Alabama, and expectations of our first northern Christmas were set high. Surely snowflakes would adorn every tree, cold weather would lend to cozy fires, and to top it off, my parents would be up from Florida to spend Christmas with my family! I couldn’t wait to “wow” them with the perfect Pennsylvania Christmas we’d have together.

Christmas morning, I woke up early to get a head start on the day. My to-do list was long and my breakfast menu ambitious. A southern breakfast casserole, fresh, warm biscuits, and ambrosia with chantilly cream (fancy, right?). I tip-toed downstairs in my reindeer jammies so I wouldn’t wake our snugly sleeping toddler, making a few preparations for the morning.

Christmas music playing, I put the finishing touches on my centerpiece, started a pot of coffee, and filled the sink with hot water to wash a few leftover dishes from the night before. Productivity high and expectations higher, I ran back upstairs to take a quick shower before putting our morning feast into the oven.

Showered and refreshed, my family stirring – it was time to start cooking!

I ran back downstairs into the kitchen, when what to my wondering eyes should appear, but a kitchen nightmare, a disaster, severe.

Water. Lots of water.

E.v.e.r.y.w.h.e.r.e.

I forgot to turn off the sink!

Soaking my rug.

Flowing quickly into the hallway.

My kitchen island, now an actual island. “Christmas Oasis” was not the theme I was going for!

As I was mentally shifting my role from gourmet chef and super-host to the Christmas clean-up crew, my husband appeared, horrified. Before I could scoop out a single bucket of water (yes, we’re talking buckets), my parents arrived as well. The whole party was there for my breakfast-bazaar turned, well…just bizarre.

Graciously, my holiday guests, now flood victims, joined our clean-up efforts. Within an hour, we were back on track with breakfast AND my floor was sparkling clean. In my haste and desire to do-it-ALL, I got off track. I was so distracted that my (foiled) good intentions to have the ultimate Christmas experience, led me to a good dose of humility and the realization that I was off mission.

Hey, this wasn’t the first time God used a flood to get someone’s attention.

In all of the doing of Christmas, it can be easy to lose sight that the whole point of Christmas is that Jesus did it all. I don’t have to strive quite so hard to be the perfect host, give the perfect gifts, and check off all of the holiday festivities, because that isn’t really what Christmas is about anyway.

Christ came at Christmas, not to add more expectations to our plates, but to become the perfect fulfillment of God’s promises. He came to take off the load, not to add to it.

What greater gift could we offer our families this year than being mothers who have remained Christ-centered during the most wonderful, but also hectic, time of the year?

Today, Jesus is offering you rest. Yes, He really is – even during the Christmas countdown.

His Word is full of reminders of what he has done for you. I encourage you to read the following reminders slowly and intentionally, and let your heart rest in the promises of God.

As you meditate on who you are in Christ, your heart moves away from a place of striving and returns to a place of rest and security, wanting to reflect Jesus and yearning for others to want a relationship with Him. (That’s what Jesus wants for Christmas, too!)

These reminders are for you – read them slowly, and out loud!

I am a child of God.  This sounds so simple and yet, it needs to be repeated. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God. John 1:12

I cannot be separated from God’s love. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8:38-39

My life has great purpose. For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago. Ephesians 2:10

As we celebrate the birth of our Savior, may you rest in His promises and remember that He’s the one who loves you and came to save you. 

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Kristen Czuchra lives in Spring City, Pennsylvania with her husband of eleven years and two daughters, Adeline (11) and Annalise (8). She grew up in church, but God became real and personal to Kristen when her mom was diagnosed with terminal cancer and passed away when she was nine. That lead to years of turmoil for her family and God became her constant in a changing world. Currently, Kristen and her husband serve at Grace Assembly of God church. Kristen has her Master’s in Education from the University of Alabama Birmingham.