Christmas is next week.

wow.

i looked at the calendar yesterday and was like "oh, I'm going to Alabama next week. Yay!" Then it hit me. I'm going to Alabama next week. CHRISTMAS IS NEXT WEEK.

with everything going on from finals to friends coming home to taking the annual Christmas Card Picture with the family, i guess i failed to really realize that Christmas is next week. until yesterday.

yesterday was a super duper hard day for me, but i learned a ton. i have this issue where when i do something that i end up regretting, i tend to live in that moment. instead of assessing the situation, processing the outcome, and moving on, i play the "what if" game. which is so not healthy.  Erwin Lutzer puts it better than I ever can when he says, "In Christ, we can move out of our past into a meaningful present and a breathtaking future."

so, even though i've been super busy so far in December and i wish i had done some things differently, i'm grateful for what the Lord is teaching me through it all. my future, which is in Christ, can and will be amazing as long as i don't live in the "what if" stage.

and realizing that Christmas is next week, i'm going to keep my perspective on what Christmas really is all about--the birth of our Savior and Lord.