Lord, you have been our refuge in every generation.
Before the mountains were born, before you gave birth to the earth and the world,
from eternity to eternity, you are God.
You return mankind to the dust, saying, “Return, descendants of Adam.”
For in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by,
like a few hours of the night.
Psalm 90:1-4
When This Time of Year Gets to You
I’ve already started getting the emails; perhaps you have, too. My inbox is all, “17 Ways to Have the Best Holiday Season Ever” and “The Countdown Begins: XX Days ’til Christmas!” Then I open my actual mailbox and find not just one Target holiday catalog. One for each of my kids, I suppose? Straight to the recycling bin!
This week we’ll dress up our kids and answer our doors with bowls of candy and like all the adorable costume pics on Facebook, and then BOOM! It’s full-speed ahead into The Holidays, two months of merry madness and frantic festivities. As I try to organize my to-do lists (yes, more than one), balance my budget, and fit All The Things into my calendars (yes, more than one), my mind feels dizzy and my heart feels heavy. Even listening to a podcast about not going holiday crazy is stressing me out!
How am I supposed to fit in all in?
How can I do everything without losing my mind?
How can I keep my focus — and my family’s — on what’s true and important?
How?
Finally, shoulders drooping and head shaking, I peek into the Word for just a minute. Maybe the answer’s in there. I know the answer’s in there.
And it is.
There, in a psalm I don’t remember reading before, God reminds me exactly how I’ll make it through another holiday season. “For in your sight a thousand years are like yesterday that passes by, like a few hours of the night.”
“For in your sight…”
I was asking the wrong questions! This isn’t a matter of “how can I,” but instead it’s about, “who.”
Who can help me?
Who is in control of this calendar?
Who do we thank and praise and worship in this season?
Before I spiral into stress about too many tasks and not enough time, I must look toward and lean on the One who created and controls time, the One who is bigger than time, before and after time, never limited by something as small as time. I must remember that, no matter how hard the world tries to whip me into a frenzy over the next several weeks, God remains the same. He is steady, and He is safe.
He is our refuge, and from eternity to eternity (from harvest festivals to new year’s resolutions), He is God.
He is God (and I am not), and He will walk with me through this busy season. He will hold me tight when I’m overwhelmed, and He will protect me when I’m tempted by pride or fear (of missing out) to attempt more than is wise or even possible.
Do the holidays stress you out, too? Do you wonder how you can stretch your minutes and hours to hold more and more and more? Do you need to remember that regardless of how much or how little time you feel you have, God is God?
Friend, I encourage you to turn toward the One who truly controls our calendars, the One who holds all our time in His hands. He is the reason for all the seasons, and if we lean on Him, He will stay by our sides as we walk through this season together.
How will you remember that God is God from eternity to eternity this season?
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