My Son is a Holiday Hoarder
My Son Is a Holiday Hoarder
My son is a holiday hoarder but he taught me how to hope for the future. I think most of us can agree that the holidays are special.
Holidays bring anticipated celebration. You go to bed with butterflies in your stomach because, by the time you wake up, the world will be transformed. Many rules and boundaries would be lifted for those 24 hours.
You may be able to hunt eggs and eat candy left in the yard, launch fireworks after bedtime, eat birthday cake with your hands, or open presents left under a glowing tree.
These rituals are not difficult to duplicate and could easily happen any other day of the year, but it would not feel right. You can’t celebrate Halloween on June 27th.
The neighbors wouldn’t be prepared. You can’t showcase Christmas decor and lights on your lawn in April. Although, the year after our daughter was born, I am pretty sure we didn’t take down our Christmas decorations until the end of February.
We are proof that you certainly CAN rewrite the social cues for holidays like we did, but it would take out the novelty.
Our sweet middle son, Everett, is a holiday hoarder.
He is four years old and he interrogates me each morning with the same series of questions. He asks me if it’s Christmas. Every single day. “No sweetie, it’s not Christmas yet.” Then he asks me, “Is it Easter?”
I hate to be the bearer of bad news. “No, Everett. It’s not Easter today either.” He persists. “Is it Halloween tonight?” He goes on and on.
We go through this dialogue for a while.
Finally, one morning this week he asked, “Is it Mother’s Day?” And I made an executive decision to not let my little boy down again… “Yes. As a matter of fact, yes Everett. It can be Mother’s Day! Every day is Mother’s Day!” A girl can dream.
By definition, hope is a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.
- The world’s “hope”: The world has a different interpretation of hope than God has for believers. It’s common to hope something goes your way.
Let’s replace the word hope for wish. It’s common to wish something would go your way. You cross your fingers and want the outcome to be in your favor.
There is uncertainty in the outcome and the hope being described here is circumstantial. - Our “Hope”: On the contrary, the hope that believers should hold onto is hope that God will fulfill His promises. There is no doubt or circumstance that could change the outcome. Our hope is placed in the solidity of the future.
Without hope, we’d turn inward to resolve our problems. We’d become even more selfish and neglect to live out our love fast mission.
We no longer have to carry concern about our destiny or live in anxiety as if we are solely responsible for our future. We put our hope in what the Bible tells us is to come.
Do you trust in the HOPE God describes? That your future is not grim and He can be in control?
Trusting that you can wake up each morning, put on your love fast and live slow mindset, then let God do His thing.
You don’t have to play god. You don’t have to nail down a 10-year plan. How about taking off those shackles and living for today?
Once you place your hope in Jesus, you are free. Free to love fast, live slow, and enjoy the ride.
We’d love to hear from you. We love getting comments on our blog to chat through these Love Fast Live Slow topics.
Until next time,
Nick and Laura Mendenhall
