It’s October.
And somehow, you may already be carrying December in your head.
Who’s hosting Thanksgiving?
When will everyone get together?
What needs to happen at church?
What are you buying?
What are you cooking?
What needs to happen in your business before everyone checks out for Christmas?
Which traditions are you keeping?
Which invitations are coming?And somewhere underneath all of that, maybe you’ve already made yourself a quiet promise:
This year, I want to actually be present for it.
Because you remember what happened last year.
You were there.
You bought the gifts.
Made the food.
Kept the traditions.
Got everyone where they needed to be.
Kept the work moving.
You made the holidays happen.
But maybe you weren’t really there for as much of it as you wanted to be.
The danger isn’t that you can’t do it
If you’re a high-capacity woman, here’s what makes this season especially tricky:
You probably CAN pull it all off.
You can organize it.
Host it.
Remember it.
Fix it.
Volunteer for it.
Find a place for it on the calendar.
That’s why the question most of us start asking this time of year can lead us in the wrong direction:
How am I going to fit all of this in?
Because there’s an assumption hiding inside that question.
All of this belongs.
But…What if it doesn’t?
Or what if something belongs, but doesn’t need to look the way it always has?
Or what if something God has entrusted to you shouldn’t automatically get pushed to January just because the holidays are coming?
That’s the conversation we’re having on this week’s REDEEM Her Time podcast.
And I’m giving you one question I want you to ask before you start planning the season—one that could change the way you walk through not only the holidays, but any busy season when everything starts competing for your time + attention.Because I have a feeling you already know what you don’t want:
Another holiday season that feels more hustle + bustle than holy.
That’s exactly why we’re gathering Tuesday, October 13 for Hustle & Bustle → Holy, a done-with-you Holiday Stewardship Planning workshop inside Stewardship Circle.
Paid subscribers get a FREE ticket.
What if we’re starting in the wrong place?
We’ve been talking a lot around here about sacred + strategic time stewardship.
And here’s what that means as we head toward the end of the year:
Your calendar doesn’t get to decide what matters.
But that’s often where we start.
We look at November + December and immediately start placing things:
This goes here.
We’ll travel then.
I’ll have to get that done before this.
I’ll squeeze that in here.
Before we know it, we’re solving a scheduling problem without ever stopping to ask whether everything we’re scheduling was actually ours to carry.
That’s backwards.
Because we’re not sovereign over our time.
God is.
We’re stewards.
And Scripture tells us what is required of stewards:
“Moreover, it is required of stewards that they be found faithful.”— 1 Corinthians 4:2
Not capable of doing everything.
Not indispensable.
Not impressive.
Faithful with what has actually been entrusted to us.
And that’s where the question I unpack in the episode begins to change things.
Paid subscribers get a FREE ticket to Hustle & Bustle → Holy.
There’s another cost we don’t usually calculate
We tend to think the cost of overcommitting is exhaustion.
And yes, it can be.
But there’s another cost I think is especially important as we approach Christmas:
presence.
We’re about to enter a season centered on remembering Emmanuel—God with us.
And it can become the season when we’re least with anyone.
Our body is at dinner.
Our mind is making tomorrow’s list.
We’re sitting at the Christmas program thinking about the emails we haven’t answered.
We’re wrapping one gift while mentally shopping for three more.
We’re technically present everywhere...
while our attention is scattered everywhere else.
The incarnation is infinitely bigger than a lesson about being present. Jesus came to save His people from their sins.
But surely a season intentionally remembering God with us should cause us to consider whether we’re actually living attentive to the God who is with us—and to the people + responsibilities He has placed in front of us.
Sometimes the cost of carrying too much isn’t failure. It’s presence.
And friend, I don’t want us figuring that out on December 23.
Before the hustle + bustle decides for you...
That’s why we’re doing something about it now.
On Tuesday, October 13, we’re gathering inside Stewardship Circle for:
Hustle & Bustle → Holy
This is a done-with-you Holiday Stewardship Planning workshop.
We’re not starting with a prettier holiday calendar.
We’re going to slow down before we schedule anything, discern what God has actually entrusted to us in this season, and then build a plan around what matters in the real time + capacity we have.
You’ll leave with your Holiday Stewardship Plan built—not another list of good ideas you’re supposed to implement on your own.
And here’s the best part:
Paid REDEEM Her Time subscribers get a FREE ticket to the workshop.
So if you’ve been reading + listening for free and you’ve been wondering when it makes sense to step inside Stewardship Circle...
this is a really good time.
Upgrade now and come do this with us Tuesday.
And if you’re finding this after October 13, you’ll get the Hustle & Bustle → Holy replay + Holiday Stewardship Planning Guide so you can still build yours before the busyness decides for you.
Before you plan anything...
For today, don’t redo your calendar.
Don’t start crossing things off.
And don’t make another holiday list.
Just notice:
What have I already assumed I’m responsible for?
Then hit play on the episode.
Because before you ask:
Where am I going to fit all of this?
I want to give you one question to ask first.
And I have a feeling it may change what makes it onto the calendar in the first place.
Time is sacred. Stewardship is strategic.
Share this with a bestie who might wanna be present to what matters this holiday too
