Peace-ing it together <3

Happy Friday!

I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving. We are able to have some time with Sarah and Rachel and the four grands today. Zach has to work and John is in Texas so they’ll be missed for sure. 

I am putting some soups together but wanted to send a note off to you all. Quick reminder that besides the big Friday sales push and Small Business Saturday, Advent starts on Sunday! Yay!!!

This past week when we went to be with the kiddos, they had finished a jigsaw puzzle on the kitchen table. Caroline was so excited as mom had started it with them, and Graham had helped finish it that morning after mom left for work. We ate lunch and played games around the completed picture of the Peanuts gang getting ready for Christmas. 

Rachel asked me later if I had noticed the sizes of the pieces. I had not. 

She said it is called a family puzzle and on one side the puzzle pieces are quite large, for younger children. As you move across the puzzle the pieces decrease in size until they are small like the 500 -1000 piece puzzles adults are used to working. 

Besides the fact that this might keep little hands busy on one end so you can work your side in less frustration, what a great idea to just hit different skill levels in one project. 

As I was getting ready for our day this morning, it occurred to me that this would also be a wonderful example for us as we enter the holiday season. 

Some of us are operating at full talent. We have our decorations up and are watching Christmas movies while we bake and wrap and address cards.

Others of us are doing okay. We have some minor stress and some challenges from the year that are putting a damper on the visions of sugar plums and such, but we are ready to embrace whatever Christmas looks like this year. 

There are those who are faking it as best they can and figuring out how to prioritize what is essential as they let go of anything they can of traditions so sanity and peace are maintained. 

And then there are those who are grieving and dreading that stocking that won’t be hung, the favorite dish that won’t be requested…whatever the circumstances. 

I am picturing the next month as it lays in pieces in front of me waiting to be put together.

And I am praying I find the size of pieces that work for us here in our home this year; in this time, for this Christmas 2022. I am praying I work with the ones that are meant for me right now. 

I am also praying that my heart is sensitive to those who are journeying alongside us currently; the people I will encounter up close or casually as we are out and about. 

I pray for sensitivity to realize that the ones who are nailing it are doing the smaller and more challenging pieces. I don’t want to envy them. I want to be thankful for their role.

And for those who are working hard just to get that big old corner piece in down in the pre-school appropriate section…I hope I see them and I hope I figure out a way to make them understand how important they are to all of us. 

Wherever you are in the puzzle right now, you are seen and you are loved and you matter much to the Kingdom <3

Love, Laura <3