Christmas is the time of year that my ridiculous organizational and planning skills go into overdrive and seem to actually serve a purpose making it (typically) one of my favorite things.  I have serious Monica moments (from Friends) where I get excited to make lists…sometimes writing them out JUST so I can feel accomplished and cross things off and at Christmas is just feels right.  CHECK!  I know…I’m totally nuts.  I have a method to my madness that no one else could probably understand because from the outside looking in it probably doesn’t really make sense.  We have lists consisting of written, mental, electronic…menus, calendars, shopping lists…to-dos, to makes, and don’t forgets…they all coincide as if a well-oiled machine so that I don’t do what I did today and feel like a completely unorganized, forgetful idiot.

I FORGOT Maxwell’s book to exchange at his preschool Christmas party this afternoon because I forgot to make a list this morning let alone check it twice and the book sat wrapped beautifully…in my office.  This coming after I dropped items off this morning for Emalynn’s Christmas party which isn’t until tomorrow thinking I was one step ahead of the game. This coming after I’d loaded the car with the paper products, food items, his backpack and teacher gifts so I wouldn’t forget anything.  This coming after a dear friend asked me as we walked out the door…Now…do you have everything?   Yeah…not so much.  Even the most organized forget something once in a while, right?  THANK YOU to the very organized mom who thought to bring extra wrapped books to the party saving me a trip home!  And thank you to Max’s preschool teacher for every so sweetly saying It’s okay…there is so much to remember! 

It’s days like this when I think I do all of this and STILL forget things!?  Is it worth all the effort?  And it’s so much worse when it involves my children.  I feel SO badly when it affects them.  It’s amazing how one little insignificant thing makes you question things about yourself.  But there is one thing I will NEVER question.

I am on a list.  God’s list.  I belong to Him because of the gift He sent over 2000 years ago.  The gift of His Son who took my place.  No one can ever take me away from Him.  I cannot be perfect, I cannot remember everything and no amount of lists or planning or organization can help that.  It’s days like this when I question why I am the way I am and why even still I can’t get it straight that it makes me feel so good to remember that I am His, and He is mine.  In the end…that’s all that really matters.  One of my favorite things about Christmas is that God has a list…and because He sent His Son to die for me…I am on it.

My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.  I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one will snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.”  John 10:27-30