Wishing you a wonderful Christmas season and blessed New Year! For my Christmas message, I wanted to share a passage of scripture and insight shared with me by a friend many months ago during a bit of a crisis. Considering the season, I thought it would be appropriate to share this lesson from Jesus in this newsletter.

From Matthew 9,
“When Jesus entered the synagogue leader’s house and saw the noisy crowd and people
playing pipes, 24 he said, “Go away. (emphasis mine) The girl is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. 25 After the crowd had been put outside, he went in and took the girl by the hand, and she got up. 26 News of this spread through all that region.”

As you prepare for the holidays and time with family, be encouraged that even Jesus chose to send people away so He could focus on the task at hand. It is not reasonable to think we can do everything, for everyone, every minute of the day. You have permission to follow Jesus’ example and say no so that you can focus on the truly important things during this hectic holiday season and in the new year to come. Perhaps you can’t say it to your boss but if you stop and consider all the things that “fall on your plate” during the course of one day, I would bet that you could find one thing to tell,”Go away”. And if you do, let me know what it is! I’m always inspired by your replies.

May you have blessings and balance,

Janet Jackson