I wrote the following post in July of this year. Several of you read it at that time, but I wanted to bring it back out as we become entrenched in the “crazies” of the holiday season. A little perspective can go a long way and, well, maybe spare your children. *grin* 

Read on and you’ll understand. Let my pain be your gain.
Hubs and I were getting ready for an office gathering that took place at our home last night. We’ve been having a lot of rain lately (it is hurricane season, after all) and we recently had a roof leak that showed itself through an unsightly brown stain on our breakfast nook ceiling. As we were icing down drinks, he commented about how sorry he was that the stain hadn’t been painted over before the party.  
I just said, “oh Honey, it ain’t nothin‘ but a thang.”  One of my favorite expressions given to me by an old friend from Mississippi.
“Wow,” he replied, “you’re really getting a lot better about stuff like this.”
Yes I am.  Praise God and hallelujah!  
My husband is a “don’t sweat the small stuff” kind of a guy.  I, on the other hand, have spent a good part of my life on this planet not only sweating my own small stuff, but helping others sweat theirs as well!  I will tell you I’m certain it hasn’t added to the quantity of the life I have left, and it absolutely has not added to the quality!  
My “reformation” started several years ago when, due to some very difficult situations in my life, I was forced to do a little self-analyzation.  This process (along with some very wise council) led me to the book Boundaries, by Henry Cloud and John Townsend.  I will pause for a moment to allow you to check out the link and then purchase the book if you have not read it (or call a friend and borrow theirs – somebody you know has one).  It will change your life.
No, really.  
Do it.  
NOW!
Okay.  So, I read the book and I began to see the many, many ways in which I allowed my life to be consumed and ruled by the small, inconsequential stuff that I thought would define me to other people. I was also reminded of another party (my very first, in fact) that I gave back in the early 90’s.  
I, mother of two small children, spent days and weeks pouring over every detail of a neighborhood Christmas-caroling party that, incidentally, was pot-luck.  POT LUCK, y’all! You’d think that would’ve been pretty stress-free, but no! What should’ve been a fun time for my girls, getting ready for Christmas and planning a happy party for their friends, was time spent with a distracted, Grinch-like mom who was far more concerned with the perfect presentation of our less-than-magazine-quality Christmas decor.  I tended to every detail, and so thoroughly cleaned my house that any cabinet could have been opened and any sofa checked under without finding so much as a piece of lint. It was insane.
The big day finally arrived.  Just as the doorbell announced its first ringer, I was so over-the-top stressed that my stomach cramped up and sent me flying past the front door to the bathroom!  And there I stayed the ENTIRE EVENING!  I missed the food, the laughter, and even the caroling.  
If only I’d known then what I know now, I would’ve realized that all that perfectionism and drive to get people to like me or be impressed by me was “nothin’ but a thang”.  It was really the small stuff in the grand scheme of things; the big stuff being time with my kids, warm (if imperfect) hospitality toward my neighbors, an ease in my spirit that puts others at ease in my home.  
Learning about healthy boundaries has helped me in a zillion ways.  But my main discovery was the realization that I was blown around – like so much flotsam in the wind – by my ever-changing feelings…feelings that were never stable because they were not rooted in the Truth. Instead, they took a very shallow root in the opinions and thoughts of others. Oh the plight of the people-pleaser.  
I think that’s why I love the old hymn “On Christ The Solid Rock I Stand”, so much.  I like that my roots are no longer so shallow because they’re rooted in the Truth instead of the “shifting sand”.  After all, that shifting sand?  It ain’t nothin’ but a thang.