Is "#socialmedia" #ruining #your #Holiday #season?

Sleigh bells ring….are you listening?

In the Lane… snow is glistening….

(Unless you live in Austin, Texas like myself where it's 74 today.)

(photo credit Guy Wulf)

Back to the song….

A beautiful sight, we're happy tonight….

Happy?  HAPPY?

I'll have time to be happy after the shopping list is done, Christmas cards are out, school parties are wrapped up, bus driver gift purchased, pine needles from dried-out Christmas tree are vacuumed (again!) holiday baking complete, church craft supplies bought, and biggest-light-display-ever is in place outside in my front yard.

And…

I've successfully recorded it all on my Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat page.
(Don't forget to tweet it out…)

I mean… c'mon!  You gotta show the world how "organized" you are.  How "busy" you are.  How "involved" you are.  How "Merry" you are.

Don't misunderstand my heart… there is joy…it's just a little suppressed and choked off right now….

Do you know that I was so tired on Saturday morning that I actually took the wild advice out of some "beauty secret" column?  I probably read it during my Birthday pedicure appointment; no joke, I put hemorrhoid cream under my eyes to reduce the bags that had formed from a week of staying up way too late to finish way too many things!

(For the record… it works!)

But that's not the point, people!  The point is… we've become so fixated on all of the extras in the holiday season… and having to broadcast it out to the world…. and watch everyone else's holiday session unfold via photos scrolling down our screen…that we don't even notice if there is snow glistening down a lane.  We're too exhausted to see the "beautiful sight" and "be happy tonight."

I'm not writing today to suggest a "Mary spirit" in a Martha season.  (For those that have NO idea what I'm talking about a great passage in the Bible about 2 sisters…one's a worker and one appears to be slacking off while her sister is prepping food in the kitchen.  You can read about it here… great story to pop over to for context.)  I'll wait…..

Okay, good, we are all on the same page.  Okay, so I'm not pointing fingers at the Martha.  Fellow fan-club President of Martha…right here… I empathize with all of us who are losing hair every December. I mean, you could choose to not send out Christmas cards, do any holiday baking, stiff your nieces and nephews and skip the shopping.

Yeah, right!!!  Okay, so not very realistic… and that's why I'm not asking you to just sit at Jesus's feet for the next 8 days.

BUT…..

This time of year gets noisy.  Media is noisy.  It can be bombarding.

We see around 247 images a day.  NOT including Social Media.

And since I know you are reading this via social media of some-sort… let me land the plane and make this short…..

We'll never see if the lane is glistening… or see the beautiful sights of the season if we've got our nose buried in our phone looking at what OTHER people are doing during the holiday season.  The season is a fixed time… it only lasts a short while… it's (despite what culture has turned it into) Jesus's birthday… the Savior… the King… came to earth as a child to save us and restore us to God!!!!

Rejoice… dear friends… rejoice!!

Don't "like" what your friends are doing… get together with them!
Stop scrolling… and start enjoying.
Don't compare; share…. yourself… with others… not as a "selfie" but share your time, your resources with those in need…with those you love….

Go walk in a winter wonderland…. get quiet… keep your phone in the car…. and just soak it in.  God created a beautiful world…with beautiful people…. and a beautiful Son…. for us.

I challenge you to do something "off the grid" this week… tell me… post…what will it be?  (Ironic to post it…yes… but hopefully you'll inspire other readers to do the same!)