Halloween is over and we are now in the month of November with 2024 just around the bend. In the blink of an eye, it will be a new year.  While this may be good for some people who are constantly looking ahead, waiting for something wonderful to happen, it is not true for everyone. It is very difficult to not feel rushed when Christmas decorations are already put up in stores the beginning of October. The commercial side of Christmas gets a jump start on pushing us to start shopping. No time to wait people! Get it before someone else does!  

Each year just goes faster and faster and one week glides seamlessly into the next. Before we blink the other eye, we’re another year older and things in our world have not gotten any better. While we can’t change any of that, we can change the way we approach the coming months. I have decided I am going to try to slow down and enjoy November for the splendid month it is. It is the month that encourages us to focus on being grateful and giving thanks for all the wonderful blessings in our lives. It is sad we have to be reminded to do that, but this month offers us the opportunity and I’m sure, hopes we remember to do so the rest of the year. We should take it! Praise God for the wonderful gifts we have been given. (The food is pretty good too…just saying, and that too is a gift from our Lord).

Slowing down and focusing on and giving thanks for our blessings is of value to our souls, especially in this troubled world. The time flies by fast enough on its own without us adding to the harried pace with our focus on the commercial aspects of Christmas. Giving thanks and being grateful for what is good in our lives helps us make better use of our time and perhaps feel rejuvenated doing it.

It also gives us time to glide slowly and meditatively into the season of Advent instead of charging forward without focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We can enter the season thoughtfully, which will prepare our hearts for the true meaning of Christmas. Our eyes will be on the birth of Jesus whom God in His unconditional love for us gave us…the greatest gift of all time.

Let’s enjoy November with grateful hearts for our many blessings and enter the Advent season prayerfully and with deliberate focus on Jesus’s birth.  After all, Jesus is the Reason for the Season as we all know. Come let us adore Him! Thanks be to God!

Patty