Deck the Halls

So, it’s early. To be Christmasing…and yet I am. :) I suppose I’ve never followed any conventional rules, and this is no different. I just wanted to have my girls help with the tree, and it was the only weekend I had for it.

So on Saturday, after a refreshing time of raking leaves (I love being outside in crisp air!) 5 of my 6 LifeLine girls came over. We hung out, made hot cocoa and choc chip cookies, and then decorated my Christmas tree. It was such a fun, vibrant time!

I realized at one moment that I was choking back tears, tears of happiness. Because I looked around, and here is Jess dancing around in the Christmas tree skirt, singing at the top of her lungs. Chloe is hanging ornaments, Katie is sprawled on the couch and Kirsten has her legs dangling over the side of the chair, drinking her cocoa. And my heart just swelled. It might not make sense to many people, but for me, the best compliment is when people feel comfortable in my house. Because that means I’ve effectively made it into a home.

And that’s a big thing to me. Another way of redeeming my past is to make sure I’m intentional about ‘comfort’ and ‘welcome’ in my future. And seeing my girls just enjoy being at my house, and feeling free to completely be themselves – well, it told me I’m going in the right direction.

Another interesting thing that happened was when two of my girls accidentally broke Christmas ornaments. (Funny thing is, if I had done this myself WAY more than 2 would have broken! So they felt bad, when in reality they actually broke less than I do.) The one girl immediately felt bad, and got upset and apologized. I told her it was fine, but she said “oh, but I’m sorry! I broke it. If my mom were here, she would be mad at me and say ‘Jessie, you broke that because you were goofing around and you shouldn’t do that.’” And that broke my heart, because already her mom’s voice is that record player in her heart and her mind. And it’s a critical voice. True, she was goofing around. But it was a party, a time MEANT for goofing around. Anyway, we talk a lot in LifeLine about the lies we have in our tape player, and the truths we need to replace them with. My prayer is that as her youth leader, I’m replacing some of those lies with truths. And so I kindly but firmly looked her in the eye and said “Jess, it’s OK. I don’t mind that you broke it, and I’m not mad. Let me vacuum it up, and then let’s get back to having some serious fun!” A small thing, and maybe it made no difference. But I wanted her to see that love isn’t based on following rules or not breaking things or acting a certain way. I love her, and the ornament is just a thing.

It’s replaceable.
She is not.