after-Christmas Blahs

Is anyone else experiencing the after-Christmas Blahs with me?

You run around busy busy for days, shopping shopping, wrapping wrapping, go out to eat together to get in some family time, cooking cooking, ride around looking at lights as family time, baking baking, delivering surprise cookies to neighbors, wrapping wrapping, go out to watch movie as a family, cleaning and cleaning. All of the vacation day from work goes by so quickly and doesn't even feel like a vacation.

Then on Christmas Eve company comes over, wrapping wrapping, rushing off to late worship service, and plopping down in bed totally exhausted. Christmas morning is spent together around the tree unwrapping everything you just took days to wrap, followed by pushing everyone in and out of the showers, making them put on dress clothes, loading up a cooler of foods and somehow managing to shove the cooler, tons of gifts, and other bags of food and stuff into the vehicle, all while managing to leave a seat for the children, who have to sit with stuff on their laps for a one and one-half hour drive to Grandma's.

There's unloading, more Christmas and more loading up and more travel, followed more unloading. You finally plop down in bed once again, totally exhausted, glad it is all over.

The next morning you drag yourself out of bed to head for work and after a long day at work, you return home, walk in the door, and it hits you......

you stand there in your kitchen

staring at the disarray

boxes everywhere

dirty food containers from the long trip everywhere

added dishes from the boys being home all day everywhere

empty plastic containers and papers of instructions and warranties everywhere

and the boys have been home all day and have not lifted one hand

and you stand there totally exhausted and stare

and the after-Christmas blahs hit you hard.

How can I even cook the boys supper when I cannot see my counter or table?

And to top it all off, my wrist is still injured and carrying anything of any weight re-injures it (ie. pots of food, laundry baskets, cutting up food) and it's been re-injured for days on end and there is no light at the end of the tunnel.

And you stand there and stare.

And the after-Christmas Blahs sink in further.

After working about the house, I sat down for some quiet time in the normally uplifting digi-community, only to to find it in an uproar. A popular subscriber community for designers run by Tandika Star has shut down a site on Christmas day due to pirating and words are being hurled everywhere. It's like watching a train wreck, you cannot turn your eyes away from it. I head on over to the blog which has caused uproar in the digi-community for months on end to see for myself what all the fuss is about.

Now, I've never joined this community that shut down on purpose because I am a tutorial writer and I have always wanted to be careful to not be accused of stealing other's tutorials, so although I've always wanted to join, I never have. And on the infamous blog is a link to see one of the tutorials and the little bad guy on my left shoulder argues with the little good guy on my right shoulder and I reach out with mouse to test one of the links because curiousity gets the best of me, and I get a message that the link has been taken down and my IP has been logged. Great. Getting involved in the fiasco was the last thing I wanted to do. And just like that train wreck, I look and look and get sucked into the tragedy.

And the after-Christmas Blahs sink in even lower. It's time for a glass of wine, huh?

And all this following all the ugliness of the pirating and other such stuff and the ugliness of the closing of The DigiShoppe and all the hype about Ashley Olson (not to be confused with Ashley Olsen). What is becoming of the digi-world we all so loved?

We say some of the dumbest stuff, don't we, when we are wronged. We are negative, criticle, and gossiping. Sometimes I just want to say to some people, "Listen to yourself! Meet yourself!" Is what you are saying important to Jesus?

It hurts God when we hurt one another. Saying a bunch of stuff just because we feel wronged may hurt others in ways we cannot imagine. Evaluate what you wrote? Is saying all that dumb stuff helpful? Did it change anything? Maybe it was helpful to make yourself feel better, but was it helpful in any other way?

James 1:26
If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless.

Of course, some things do need to be said, so don't get me wrong, but just say it and move on. Our words need to be working words toward good change. We do not need to be reading a bunch of non-working words. Of course, the pirating must be stopped and we as a community need to be taking action, with working words, but dragging someone down is non-working words.

Even just reading the negativity, although I was not personally hurt, got me down. What we say influences how others feel.

Words are a container for power. That blog and its words has way too much power over us and we need to break the cycle.

We should be making trees of good fruit. For those who have spoken too much and not held their tongue, you will be recognized by your fruit.

Matthew 12:33
Make a tree good and its fruit will be good, or make a tree bad and its fruit will be bad, for a tree is recognized by its fruit.

One person at DST which I recognized by her good fruit is Thena. While all the hype was going on, she was off blessing others finding good resources.

Now, to get back to my own sinning. Although I've managed to hold my tongue for the most part, I still did go peek at that blog and get caught up in reading those threads. I've done so well to stay away for the most part, but sometimes I just get drawn into it. For the most part and majority of the time, I have no desire to read such negativity and it is easy to stay away. Only occassionally does curiosity get the better of me.

Philippians 4:8
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

I pray that God will take away my sense of curiousity and give me the strength to only seek after whatever is noble, right, and pure. I pray that He wipe out of my mind all things of negativity and to help me think of such things that are excellent and praiseworthy. I know, God, that I still need a lot of work on me and I thank you for how you continue to move my heart.