the crazy days

{found via pinterest from BelleWest}

if you're as familiar as i am with the dialogue in the disney movie "cars" you will remember that the wife of the couple who gets lost in radiator springs says at one point: "we were headed there for the crazy days".

if you have no idea what i'm talking about then you clearly do not have a preschool aged child who loves lightning and mater.

weird as it may seem i've heard that character saying that line over and over in my head for the past couple of days. because these are the crazy days.

the craziness comes in the form of more and more shootings across this country, and even in the sense of the christmas rush. it's on. there are only 21 days until christmas m'dears. i'm nearly done with my christmas shopping, and i'm a little stressed out when i think about the next three weeks.

but. in light of all of it i'm reminded of a quote i heard five or six years ago now. "we don't know what the future holds, but we know who holds it."

we know who holds the future. and in the midst of chaos and confusion, we have no reason to fear.

this is not to say we should bury our heads in the sand and pretend there isn't a problem. but perspective is so important.

perspective is crucial when we talk about any issue plaguing our country. it's important when we examine our own lives. it's important when we talk about christmas.

right now i don't have enough coffee in me to take on all of the issues of the day. in regard to all of these shootings that just keep happening i will simply say this: they break my heart. this senseless violence solves nothing, and it breaks my heart. at the end of the day i am thankful that i know God is in control - even if i don't understand why he allows these things to happen. i trust him more than i trust my own reasoning or judgement.

i understand this is far too simplistic for some. i'm not saying i think nothing needs to change. i think plenty needs to change, but rushing into a decision usually creates a lot of unintended consequences. often in these situations we are so blinded by grief and despair that we cannot think clearly, and we put something into practice or law that only ends up creating other problems. then a few years later we end up dealing with the problems created by the unintended consequences of the proposed solution to another problem.
see? not enough coffee yet.

as far as christmas goes... i think in past years i've been a bit jaded by christmas. i've put too much stock in christmas, and i've come out disappointed.

christmas really is the most wonderful time of the year if we keep it in perspective. it is not the end-all be-all when all the problems of the world drift away. it's like a spotlight on our problems. it brings to mind all of our broken relationships, and ramps up expectations of everything being wonderful.

christmas is loaded. when we make it bigger than it is we run into problems. it's just like anything else that way.

there are a lot of wonderful things in this world, but God is the ultimate thing. we mix those up a lot. and we wind up jaded. we expect the magic of christmas, or the beauty of marriage, or the gift of a child to fix everything. good things don't solve all of your problems. if we keep them in the right context they add beauty to our lives, but they do not fill our deepest longings.

only God can do that.

i pray that during these crazy days you will allow God to fill the space that he alone can fill.

{found via pinterest from unexpected elegance}

i am thankful that God is God and i am not.
especially during the crazy days.

xo