Today is the 20th of December. I just finished my Christmas shopping this morning. We didn’t put up a Christmas tree this year; that was a task I allocated to the first week of December, a week when I was sick with a sinus infection, an ear infection, and bronchitis. A stack of unprepared Christmas cards is waiting on the dining room table. It didn’t even look like Christmas in our home until yesterday when I purchased a pre-decorated porch decoration (see picture) and put it on a corner table in the living room. Tomorrow, I hope to unpack one of the ten tubs of decorations stored in the garage, declaring this a “one-tub Christmas.”
At Thanksgiving, my husband and I were at our daughter’s home near Indianapolis. I helped decorate her Christmas tree and single-handedly put up all her Christmas village decorations. A “white elephant” gift exchange was the start of our Christmas gift-gifting season. This past weekend, my husband and I were in Washington, DC, at our son’s home. I entertained our one-year-old grandson while my son’s wife decorated their Christmas tree. We also exchanged our Christmas gifts with this family of three.
Suddenly, it’s four days until Christmas Eve and there is still much to do to “officially” get ready. My home isn’t decorated, the gifts aren’t wrapped, and the cards haven’t been sent or even prepared. On a positive note, my semester grades are finished, and the next semester’s classes are ready (the semester starts on the 5th of January). Furthermore, in the past month I’ve enjoyed time with all six of our grandchildren, our three children, and all their spouses, requiring travel to Indiana, Oklahoma, and Washington, DC.
HOWEVER, I have been less than completely well for two months. As I write this, a throat lozenge soothes a minor, but multi-day irritation. At some point in October, I exceeded my physical limitations; the consequence is illness.
Every December I review the expiring year and set goals for the upcoming one. At the top of my list is to be more healthy, or at least less sick. The goal is simple; the path to the goal is not. Somehow, I need to make adjustments in my life so I live within my physical limitations.
One day of every seven has been invested in writing a weekly message for Mystery’s Voice. These 15-minute messages require at least six hours to produce from start to finish. When I travel, I plan extra days for writing and schedule messages for release while I am away. I set this expectation for myself and have honored it faithfully, but somewhere this year I gave away more of myself than I had available. No one else did this to me. And no one else is responsible for fixing the personal depletion my actions have created.
I reflected on the problem of my poor health and realized the solution was in my own hands. As of today, with this post, I am adjusting my expectations for my writing. This “mini-Mac message” is part of the remedy to trespassing beyond my personal boundaries of energy and time. Until my full health returns my messages will be shorter and simpler. During weeks when life’s demands have depleted my resources, I will produce a “mini-Mac message” instead of a full-length edition of Mystery’s Voice.
What about you? Where in your life are you depleted, exceeding your limitations? Did life do this to you; or did you do this to you?
Like me, you might hold the answer in your own hands, in expectations that surpass your resources. Where can you make adjustments so 2026 is better than 2025?
“By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures.” (Proverbs 24:3)
As I look ahead to the new year, I want my days to be filled with the treasures of more health and less illness and definitely fewer used Kleenex. For the coming year to be better built than the old, I need wisdom, knowledge, and understanding of better building practices. Like a wise builder, the demands of my life shouldn’t exceed the strength of the structure. If the weight of the load exceeds the limitations, something will break. For me, that something has been my health. What is broken or at risk of breaking in your world?
Oh, Lord, help me. Show me where I am exceeding my limitations and paying a price. Give me the wisdom to know where and how I can make adjustments. Provide courage and resilience for the changes needed. Thank You for helping me. Amen.
