Gift #510: Poinsettia

I’ve been in a rather bruising mood recently – feeling guilty about every single thing I have or haven’t done.  Today’s guilt trip was that I’ve been wasting my blog posts on December and I should have had a beautiful 25-day series lined up and typed up ahead of time with a single coherent theme, all leading up to a perfect post on Christmas.  Instead, I’ve been randomly blogging about whatever was of interest to me at the time and frittering away my blog time much like we perceive a child who is chasing butterflies to be wasting her time.  These sorts of thoughts bludgeon their way through my mind all day long and after a few days of it, I’m guilt-ridden, exhausted, and completely devoid of joy.  I haven’t discovered a quick-fix to get it to stop.  It usually involves lots of prayer and speaking God’s truth over my thoughts….over and over and over.  Today was spent in much this way.  One of the things I do when I’m feeling this way is to thank God for who He is and what He’s done for me – it refocuses my attention on where it belongs. I did give some consideration to starting a Christmas-themed series for the month, but decided that this was not the year.  Maybe next year.  I was reminded through a quote in a book I’m reading about why I started my blog.  I wanted to capture the sweet, ordinary gifts of life that can often be overlooked.  I wanted to see the ways God tells me He loves me every day.  In short, I wanted to spend time chasing butterflies.  My blog is meant to be a place of rest where we can share together in all the “ordinary miracles” of life.

So today I will tell you what greeted my eyes when I walked into work this morning.  It was my first day back from Thanksgiving break, and during the time off our atrium had been transformed into a winter wonderland with the addition of poinsettias everywhere.  The atrium was a sea of festive red.  My company has been doing this for as long as I’ve been there, but it really took me by happy surprise.  I just stopped and stared at them and how beautiful they made the entry look.  It was truly an ordinary miracle.  It means a lot to me that my company continues to do this for us.  It’s a tough time for a lot of businesses right now and it would be easy to cut costs by eliminating such “extras.”  But the poinsettias are still there, and they make me smile.

All our moments, all our waking – all the globe is a looking glass to God, and the wise keep seeking the presence of Christ in a thousand places.  – Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift

Blessings to you,

Sarah