I kid you not. I have five saved blog drafts that I've started and not finished in the last week. I get distracted like that. And I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one. What is it about December that is so distracting? Um...Maybe all the twinkly lights and holiday hoopla. Oy. Don't get me wrong, I'm all about Christmas. PRAISE GOD that He sent Jesus! That miracle blows me away! I'm just not all that in favor of the commercialized overkill of "the holidays." Gag me. What is Christmas about if not Christ? Duh. But let's just forget Him and make it a PC happy-happy-ho-ho-ho day that means nothing other than too many presents and cookies.
I'm on a soapbox. It's like the world doesn't even attach the two anymore. Christmas is one thing. Holidays are another. A small minority celebrates Christmas, but EVERYONE can celebrate a holiday, right? What?? What's the point, then? And who gave the world the right to abandon the meaning of the day so that everyone could celebrate it? By all means, everyone SHOULD celebrate it, but it can't exist without Christ, and that's okay! It shouldn't!
Good grief. Linus, get up here and tell us what Christmas is all about again. I don't think anyone heard you the first kabillion times.
Well, folks, on another note, it's my last night as a 32-year-old. Woot woot! Let's hear it for another year! I'd pretty much like to say that this one was one of the most eventful I've ever had. I got engaged, left a job I'd been at for 10 years, spent a month in treatment for an eating disorder, planned a wedding, moved to Kansas and got hitched to the most amazing man on the face of the planet! :) I'm tired. haha! No, really.
I think I could write a book about packing all of the major life changes into one year and outlining the effects. The only thing I didn't do was have a kid. That would have made things reeeeeeeally interesting.
But here's what I learned. Today, I'm sitting here at the same computer I was last year as the same woman. Sure I've changed. I'm stronger in many ways, weaker in others. Wiser, yet more foolish. But you know what? I'm still Jill. I'm the same creation that was formed by God in my Momsy's womb 33 years ago. I still have the same gifts and personality. I still love the Lord and am, at the end of the day, still a sin-stained woman in need of His grace. And the best thing is that, just like He always has and always will, He's still giving it to me.
I loved a quote I heard from Joyce Meyer the other day. She was talking about how we often don't feel like we deserve God's love, mercy, grace and salvation, and she piped off: "Of course you don't. That's what makes it so great!" Ain't that the truth! Every day I wake up intending to live a perfect, holy life, and pretty much before an hour passes I'm already way past that. But every day, God provides the forgiveness and redemption I need. He's amazing like that.
As much as I have and haven't changed in the last year, it's comforting to me to know that God isn't changing, nor will He. That was one of the most valuable things I learned this year. When everything else turns upside down, God remains the same. As it says in Hebrews 13:8, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever."
So, as I turn another year older, I'm just going to let it come and go, enjoy the day with my hubby and friends, and know that at the end of the day I'm still the same beautiful daughter of the King that I was when I was born.
Love you all!
- Jill
