I was just at Target picking up 7-Up and saltines for a sick kid, and I saw the $5 DVD displays.  In the past, I’ve looked them over to see if there’s anytrhing good there, but tonight it made me sick to my stomach.  If there had been a good movie there, I think I would have paid the same amount to rent it and avoid having it stay in my home.

I simply love what we do in the church at Christmas.  We remember Jesus’ birth and welcome him into our lives again.  Children and adults alike share their gifts.  People who are very different serve side by side to make sure that thigns go smootghly and everyone receives a warm welcome.  And my family had a great Christmas breakfast together and a wonderful dinner with my parents and my sister’s family.  I even received some stuff I can really use!  But the gift exchange felt out of place to me.  And I’d be happy not to buy anything for a long time.

I am thankful for my family and my life.  I’m grateful that God loves me enough to come into the world for me!  I need to pay the bills, and make sure my kids have what they really need, but it’s a lot less than I sometimes believe.  I’m going to pray to hang onto this perspective.

What has your experience of Christmas been like?  Do you feel the overload?  Or are you looking at it from a completely different perspective?

I know this because I just did my old weight program at the gym for the first time in just about a year.  Now I could make plenty of excuses.  I stopped last year because I got sick a few times in a row (thanks to kids and preschool).  Then I had to work at the preschool during one of my two times available for the gym.  And then we had a baby.

But those aren’t the real reasons.  I just got out of the habit.  It happens.  I used to have the same problem with church (now I’m pretty motivated to be there   You’re in a good groove and then something happens to interrupt the routine.  Even if it’s a really good thing to do – maybe especially when it’s a really good thing to do – it’s hard to get back into the routine.  And the time just gets away from you.

I’ve finally come to a point where I need to get my exercise so I believe I’ll do it.  I guess that’s the secret.  You really have to internalize the desire to achieve a goal or to have something good in you life in order to make the effort again and again.

So I faced it.  I dealt with the ground I’ve lost in a year.  And I’m ready to go back!

Do you have any good habits that have gotten away from you?  Let me know…