By Hannah Sweet
I love Christmas. I always have. The lights, the music, the decorations, the behavior of everyone in the days leading up to Christmas. I just love it all. One of my favorite holiday traditions is watching that old classic, White Christmas. To me watching Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera Ellen, and Danny Kaye sing, dance and fall in love during their countdown to Christmas is unparalleled. I know all the songs by heart and have no shame in singing along. When I was a little girl and I would wake up with a bad dream, or I’d be up worried about something, my mom would often sing me the song, “Count Your Blessings Instead of Sheep” from White Christmas. Now my mom often quoted her mom at me and I now quote them both, and am of the firm belief that you can’t worry and trust God; I know this is a subject I’ve written on before, but no matter how many times I tell myself that I can’t worry and trust God, the worries still find their way into my head. Worries about money, (of which there never seems to be enough of) worries about my husbands health, (which never seems to be just right) worries about my career, (which I fear will never be more than odd jobs here or there) worries about whether my husband and I will ever be parents and if we are will we even be an good at it, & the list goes on and on. These worries infiltrate my mind as a fleeting thought, but what I often fail to realize is that once that thought crosses into my mind the seed of worry is instantly planted in my heart.
What do you do when your worries have seemed to pile up and you just can’t seem to sleep? You take the advice of Bing & Rosemary:
When I'm worried and I can't sleep I count my blessings instead of sheep And I fall asleep counting my blessings
When I lay awake in my bed and begin to think on all my blessings, I realize I have infinitely more blessings than worries. I am blessed with a husband and family who love me, even when I’m not my best, I have a job that keeps my bills paid, I have a place to live and food to eat. I am blessed with a mind that never stops thinking of new things. I am blessed with creativity. In fact, it wasn’t until recently I realized I was so abundantly blessed, and so instead of thinking about what I couldn’t do, in this instance I realized that it was math in particular I couldn’t do, I should instead focus on what I can do. A verse my parents often quoted me popped into my head at my revelation, Romans 8:31:
If God is for me, who can be against me?
God is always on my side and the things that are important to me are important to God, and so given that that is true I am left with nothing to worry about. God will provide for me. He already has laid the plan for me to succeed, I all I have to do is have unfailing faith in the Lord, a little hard work at times on my part and the rest will work itself out the way it’s supposed to. So as you work your way through the Christmas season and worries arise, remember God is on your side and He has already blessed you more abundantly than you even know. But if you’re too overwhelmed with worry, or you’re just unaware; try counting your blessings and marvel at all God has blessed you with.