The Gift of Grace

The best gift we can all give ourselves this Christmas season is grace.

As a recently returned to work mom, after staying at home with my children for many years, I have given myself the grace knowing my house getting clean and laundry getting done is not happening till Sunday afternoon...and that's ok.

As much as I try hard to stick to my weekly menu planning to save money and eat healthier at home, I give myself grace as I find myself going through another drive thru or ordering from another menu because time in the evenings goes at super speed...and that's OK.

As hard as it was to stay silent in my blogging world for the last three months, I needed that time of silence to regroup and re-encourage myself through another big life transition... and that's OK.
 
As hard as it is to stay away from sweets and my favorite food group- chocolate, I allow myself the grace to give in to one indulgence a week...and that's OK.

As much as I would love to spoil my family members with indulgent Christmas presents  every year, I give myself grace as I go reaching for the gift-cards and sale racks making small purchases to allow my dollars to go further...and that's OK.

As this holiday season comes around with all of its hustle and bustle and the New Year's resolutions pressure returns its ugly heads, reminding of us of how far we fell off the wagon last year, we need to extend ourselves grace.

We aren't perfect, we will mess up, we will fail our family, friends and ourselves. But the important thing to remember here is that we get back up, try again or try harder next time. It's good to plan, it's good to budget, it's good to  set goals, but sometimes we are a little hard on ourselves. 

When we internally reprimand ourselves for screwing up or falling off the bandwagon, we bring thoughts of self condemnation upon ourselves that make us want to give up. That's not where our heads should be, we should extend grace to ourselves to not allow slack into our lives or a pattern of laziness to take hold but to remove the stress and pressure of perfectionism.

As we extend grace to ourselves, remember to extend grace to those around us too. 

Did a certain family member forget to send you a Christmas card? Extend grace. Did an in law make a snide comment at the Christmas dinner table about your parenting skills? Extend grace. Did your husband change the tv from your Christmas movie to the football game? Extend grace. Did someone take your parking spot at the mall? Extend grace. 

There are little ways to make this time of year a bit more peaceful and grace is the gift we can receive and gift to help make the holidays a bit more joyous this season. 

This year give the gift of grace.