“At this festive season of the year,” said the Charitable Gentleman to Mr. Scrooge, we ought to be thinking of those in need. I certainly agree with him, but I also have a heart for my Sisters and Brothers in Ministry who will be right out straight from now until December 25th.

For this Monday Extra, I invite you to consider some way, large or small, in which you will take care of yourself. Will you meet a friend for lunch? Schedule a massage? Allot a day for spiritual renewal? Delegate home tasks to another family member? Pull a sustainable sermon from the well?

Whatever it might be, make a pledge to yourself and your RevGalBlogPals, right here in the comments. I’ll post this at the Facebook group, too. And I’ll be back in December to ask how it’s going.

 

19 thoughts on “Monday Extra: This Festive Season of the Year”

  1. I look forward to these comments since I offered to do a devotion at our next Ministerial meeting (last Tuesday of Nov) focussed on dealing with the bustle of December

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  2. Simply put – I schedule in a haircut and pedicure for early December, and then a repeat pedicure on Christmas Eve. Sounds crazy, but that 45 minutes is a isle of sanity. I did it last year thinking "I don't have time!!! for this!!!" But I did. Lesson learned. A relaxed preacher is a more coherent preacher. 🙂

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  3. This is inspiring, Deb. I'm going to call the Aveda school a few blocks away and schedule manicures on work days from now through the end of December. They only cost a little and I'll look and feel much better. I might spread things out a bit too. My husband writes one or two cards a day for several weeks. Maybe this year I'll follow his lead!

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  5. I'm planning a mini get away with my husband and another overnight get away so I can do some beading. No Sundays off, but a few days carved out of the busy schedule to rest. The pedicure sounds like a great idea. I might try something along those lines myself.

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  6. I am seriously worried about how I am going to cope as I am already exhausted. Ideas are welcome! Perhaps if I can just get proper days off it would be a start!

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  7. Pat!You must carve out time for your restoration. Put it on your calendar–schedule the time in. Since most of everything for me is planned out, I am feeling quite excited about the December holidays. Two of our Sundays in Advent are led by musicians, and then our congregation. Praying for all of you–and yes, the pedi mani sounds wonderful. Maybe I should start now…..

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  14. Pat, this is one group that will urge you to the self-care. We assume we're all busy and at risk of giving in to over-scheduling. No praise for that in this community. But schedule a manicure or a massage and we'll cheer! If you're not taking your days off now, my suggestion is to write a plan for each of them on your calendar, a non-work plan. Then follow it the way you follow the commitments on the other days. You're no good to Baby Jesus if you drop in your tracks.

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  17. I just told a woman yesterday that I can't come to the Advent brunch this year because, come December, it's really important for me to sleep in on the one day I can… Saturdays. Since I'll be 37 weeks pregnant on Christmas Eve, I'm really trying to do a lot of reading and pondering in November, so that December is smooth. We're going to someone else's house for Thanksgiving. We'll be way low-key at Christmas. I've ended all "extras" by the second week of December and someone else is planning the church Christmas party. My pledge to myself, to my family, and to the congregation is that I will swim (water walk) at least 3-4 hours every week. Those precious hours where the water holds the weight of me and the baby are both symbolically important and physically crucial.

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