Wait, Christmas is in 3 days?

I am becoming witness to how retail changes my view of Christmas. It's awful. Because I am only seasonal, I have only really had experience of working retail during the Christmas season. As Christmas quickly approaches, the store is getting more and more crowded. I have to allow 30 minutes for what is normally a 5-minute drive to work, due to the traffic of the shopping center around where I work. Customers get more and more impatient and less understanding the closer we get to what is the most important celebration and day in Christianity and the entire world really. I have witnessed customers yelling in associates' faces because they didn't get what they wanted, people lying about price changes and making us, in turn, lose money. It is even making me a bit bitter about the Holiday. I have become so wrapped up in work that I have taken no time to sit and realize the importance of Christmas this year. Each year I take time to read over the Christmas story in the Bible and watch The Nativity Story to really picture what the event was like in my head. I haven't even had the time to make any of my family's gifts yet, let alone buy the ingredients I need for them. Days are quickly slipping by and I am losing time.

So much stress has come with this season, in terms of work and in my own personal life. My days are becoming routine: wake up, do devotions, get ready for work, go to work, come home, go to bed. Lather, rinse, repeat. I have been closing every night, and we do not close tonight or tomorrow night until midnight. I cannot even imagine what is in store for me today when I go in.

I have been going through some things in terms of my future and what direction life may take me. In the midst of my crazy, already exhausting work days, my future is in the back of my mind, thoughts creeping ever so slowly into my focus sometimes while I am at work. I read two passages this morning, however, that have really been encouraging:

 ^'"For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future."' Jeremiah 29:11

"Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own." Matthew 6:34

These verses have been so helpful to my thought process today. Though they are both such widely-used verses, they carry such different meaning in each challenging situation I go through. Even when things get crazy, I know God is always there and that His hand is always at work. So, I'm signing off now and I'm going to try to work out a little bit before I have to go to the jungle that is work. I hope you all have a wonderful day!


~Christy