With Christmas just a week away, I hope everyone is healthy and enjoying this wonderful season.

I love driving around and looking at all the Christmas lights and decorations.  I love trying to find the “perfect” gift for someone, something simple, yet treasured.   I love wrapping and placing those gifts under the tree.  And I love spending time with friends and family.

But the reality of the season is that it can be hectic and stressful.  Hectic as we go from event to event, party to party, and home to home. And stressful as we try to fit too many things into our schedules, shop for the best deals and promise ourselves we will not overspend again this year.

I encourage you to slow down and enjoy the season by taking a deep breath and relaxing a bit.  Reduce your expectations of yourself.  What is the worst thing that will happen if you don’t get all your decorations out this year?  Will you still be able to enjoy family and friends?  Yes.  Will Christmas truly be ruined if you don’t bake that 14^th batch of cookies?  I highly doubt it.  Give yourself some grace and let go of the non-essentials – you’ll be surprised at how many non-essentials there are.

While you are giving grace to yourself, give it to others too.  For some people the holidays are difficult.  They are reminded of absent loved ones and their loneliness seems to be hiding around every corner.  For many, the hustle and bustle of buying gifts leads to grumpiness and bad attitudes.  For others the reuniting with loved ones, although welcomed, brings old wounds and dysfunction to the surface.

So whether you are waiting in line at the mall or sitting with family around the dinner table be flexible and offer blessings to those next to you.  Your blessing may be just the kind word that reminds your neighbor of the miracle of Christmas.

Choose a Better Life by celebrating Christ’s coming and remembering to offer grace and blessings to those around you.

I know I shouldn’t be, but I am always amazed when God does something so personal there are no words to describe it.  This happened for a special friend of mine Wednesday morning and I was blessed to be a part of it.

My friend and I meet once a week for brunch.  It is a great time of sharing and encouragement.  Although I will see her again before Christmas I felt moved to give her her gift this past Wednesday.  The gift itself was not a big deal, just a simple ornament that my daughter and I had made placed in a simple gift box.

The night before, I was contemplating exactly which ornament to give … the pink and white one or the purple and white one.  Even though I was leaning towards giving the purple ornament I choose the pink one.  I carefully placed it in the gift box and set it on the counter for my morning delivery.

But, before I was able to deliver the gift, my daughter opened the box to see which ornament I had chosen.  As she did, the ornament fell and shattered on the floor.  Although I was disappointed, I knew I had the purple ornament left.  So, after cleaning up the broken glass, I carefully placed the purple gift in the box.

When my friend opened the box at brunch she began to cry.  I had no way of knowing, but her Christmas tree is decorated with only purple and white ornaments.  As she carefully admired the ornament I had just given her, she explained the significance of those two colors in her life.

After years of pain and anguish, God began healing her heart.  In May of 2007 she took a personal retreat similar to the one I went on in October.  During her time away God began pouring his salve of grace on her wounds and enabled her to forgive those who caused her so much pain.  Just before she left her retreat God gave her a special message just for her.  As part of that message he told her that purple and white represented who she was to him.  White because she is pure before him and purple because she is part of his royal family.

I had known my friend went away in May for a personal retreat, but I didn’t know about her special message, and I didn’t need to.  Because God knows each of us intimately, better than we even know ourselves, he knew what my friend needed that Wednesday morning.  He knew that because of a difficult Tuesday night she needed to be reminded of who she was in Him.  And He used the brokenness of a pink ornament to bring wholeness and encouragement through a purple one.

I am honored that I was able to be a vessel for God’s message to my friend.  And I am truly amazed by the ways he meets our heart’s deepest needs.  The intimacy found in a relationship with the Creator of the universe can be compared to nothing else.

Choose a better life by choosing to allow God to meet your deepest needs and experience the abundant joy that can only be found in a relationship with him.

A friend said something to me a week ago that has been on my heart ever since.  He said, “A person’s behavior is consistent with what s/he feels the future holds.”

I have been pondering this and looking for examples in my own life and in the lives of people around me.  Interestingly, I find it to be true.

People who expect the future to be more of the “same old thing” tend to have a dour demeanor.  And those who expect “something horrible to happen” live in fear.  And people who expect to be disappointed often are.

Once I realized that my future was largely shaped by the choices I make today I was able to let go of my defeatist attitude and start living with an expectancy of great things to come.  As a result, my life is much more exciting and fulfilling.  I am not easily thrown off by the bumps in the road or the obstacles I come upon because I know they are just growth opportunities, helping to shape me for the good things to come.

What do you believe the future holds for you?  Why?  How is that belief impacting your life today?  Your future is not engraved in stone.  You have the power to shape it and make it rewarding.

Choose a Better Life by choosing to expect great things.

The new Choose a Better Life website.

If you have not been to www.chooseabetterlife.net in the last 24 hours I invite you to do so.  Thanks to Paul Miller (www.justpaul.com) the CABL website has been revised and re-launched!

My blog is still active (Yes, I am posting a day late this week.  But, that is because I was waiting to invite you to the new site.), but www.chooseabetterlife.net now has additional features.  On the site you can sign up for my monthly newsletter, join my prayer team, shop at the CABL store, and more.  While on the site you will also learn about my speaking engagements, assessments (still under construction) and employability workshops.

Visit www.chooseabetterlife.net today and give me your feedback.  I look forward to hearing from you.

I bless you today as you Choose a Better Life.