A Christmas Homecoming...

I love Christmas. The time between Thanksgiving and Christmas is my absolute favorite time of year. Everything about it makes me happy! It's so much fun preparing for Christmas with decorating, making cookies (and my new found favorite Oreo bark), getting a tree and shopping for gifts. I'm not sure where that month went this year because before I blinked... it was over!

I've never really lived away from home. I went away for college, but it was only an hour and a half and every holiday I've been with my family for the most part. This year, I moved to Indiana. I wasn't home for Thanksgiving, but got to go home for Christmas. It's no secret to anyone that knows me things with my family for the past few months have been more than tense. Distance has healed, but what happens when you go back for the first time? Does all that tension stay gone or does the hard-headed opinions of everyone come crashing together Christmas morning? I was excited to go home, but also very apprehensive. There were so many things going through my head about being back home. Between my parents, my brother and my old lifestyle staring me back in the face in the small town of Winter Haven, I wasn't sure how I would stand up.

My homecoming was more than sweet. It was one of the best times I've ever had with my family. I saw God's grace all over the place! My brother and I were able to get closer and I hopefully made a positive impact on his life, my parents and I had an awesome time together and I was able to spend time with precious friends... with a 3 week old baby, a little basketball and a little wrestling mixed in. My time was so great, I fought with not wanting to come back to Indiana. A place that had scarred me so deeply... a place that defined who I had been... a place that I swore I would never come back to... I quickly forgot it all and wanted to be back there. Was it because my brother was back? Was it my parents and I were ok again? Was it because it's where a special couple that's like a mom and dad to me live? Was it because I found a new family with a new big sister and new nephews that live in the area? Maybe it was a combination of things and maybe it was just because this place was so different than when I left... but when I got away, I realized going back wasn't the answer. The answer is that I'm in Indiana for a purpose... God put me here. The rest is in his hands. It's not my job to decide to go back because the puzzle pieces are back where I think they need to be... it's to follow God's path for my life. The truth is that he put me here for a reason and I have responsibilities here that I'm to carry out and people who I care about and that care about me.

I don't know about you, but that's so like me. I take a situation and see it through my eyes instead of through God's. I see a situation that I feel like is right, but what does God see? I think I want to be back because things seem ok. God might see something else. I was too busy and wrapped up in the moment to see the big picture. How often would we see things differently if we stepped out and saw what God saw... if we looked at the outcome instead of looking in the moment? How differently would we see things if instead of looking on impulse, we look through prayerful eyes?

Yes, my Christmas Homecoming was good... in fact it was great. But that's what it was... a homecoming. And I'll have another one, and another one... and I'm sure that many times after each one I'll have to be reminded to look at the bigger picture... because God's looking out for me all the way through the end of the game... not just the end of the 1st quarter!