Details are starting to pile up as we prepare to leave the country and then flow into a panoply of holiday gatherings, travel and all the accompanying arrangements. How to keep it all in pespective??

I personally am devoting myself to enjoying the chaos, no matter what happens. I recognize that there will probably be no way to keep my house in order as I like it, maybe no time to clean, except for the most basic basics, for the next month or two! That doesn't square very well with a woman who grew up in a house where you could eat off the floor!

BUT I don't think I serve a God who is going to grill me on housekeeping details when I stand before Him. He may, however, want to know which lives I reached out and touched. So maybe I oughta keep my mind on those who need me and off my own desires for order and peace as I understand them.

The first group I think of (because our trip is imminent) who could benefit from my involvement is our friends and partners in Ukraine. Orphans, widows, struggling people who have been oppressed for so long in unimaginable circumstances, who just deserve to live a normal life. I'vebeen reading more hstory on the Ukraine, and the stories of the unprecedented starvation, death, destruction and tragedy are just mind-boggling. How can a leader and a group of people be so completely cruel and heartless, preying on the innocent and destroying families who only wanted to mind their own business and be happy? For generations these people have suffered - not years, but generations! It's time somebody did something, and I'm so grateful that Music Mission Kiev and organizations like it are giving us the stepping stones to be in there helping.

It's a worthy sacrifice to give up my comfort for a couple of weeks to those who have never known peace or a childhood like mine. It's a worthy sacrifice for our family to experience separation for a couple of weeks when thousands of these people have lost family members for no good reason at all. When I look at what they've endured, I know I have no reason to whine about anything in my life.

The second group that needs me is my family. They'd really like me to be present in our holiday events instead of running around, stressed out, or constantly cleaning up. Therefore, I have given in to pleading friends who are inviting us to North Carolina over Thanksgiving. To me, it looks like one more opportunity for travel chaos, but at the same time, I won't be cooking! It's a camp kind of situation where the girls can ride horses or rappel (sp?) and be active. And I have secured permission to stay in our cabin and be a hermit if I like. We will have had just a few days to get over jet lag and I may just sleep!

These friends who have invited us are a group of families that have grown up together and are making a place for us in their very secure, comforting circle. How much we need that in this new and strange big-city environment! So I have signed up in spite of my crammed calendar.

And when we get home, another friend comes to visit - from the other side of the country! She is another speaker who's asked us to partner with her in Nigeria next summer. We have never met in person and it will be a joy to have her here. And since she travels as well, she'll understand if there are suitcases and dirty clothes all over the floor.

Just after her departure, we head home to another priority in relationships - our grandparents and friends in the north. My speaking and our Christmas reunions will have to share a few days, but these times with the original families are few and far between. If there are still dirty clothes from Kiev in the laundry back home, they will have to wait.

And then home for Christmas - home to rest, home to breathe, home to begin to plan for more January speaking and a conference in February. The happy chaos goes on - and maybe the house will be put in order again.

If you pray for me, pray that I will keep my eyes on what is really important in all this. I myself will not be able to have the "ducks in a row" that I would like. But I will spend time with people all over the world that I love, cherish and value. And the best gift of Christmas will be to reflect on all of it.

But for now, just this day … just this week ahead … just enough light for the step I'm on …