When Your Christmas Is Not Holly Jolly
How can we take our focus off of the temporal and place it on to things that are eternal? When Christmas doesn’t feel joyful or jolly where do we focus?
It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas, isn’t it.
In almost every store we hear Christmas songs telling us that it is “the most wonderful time of the year.”
And for many of us, it is! The lights and decorations, the songs and parties, the food and family get-togethers, these things bring many of us pleasure and excitement.
But you might belong to the group of people who do not find the same kind of delight in the Christmas season.
Calendars fill up quickly and stress builds, finances are tight and you dread spending time with family because of anticipated conflict. Maybe you have experienced loss and holidays make the pain worse, or perhaps you had a very difficult childhood and Christmas brings back some of those uncomfortable feelings.
This post is for you! But I am not going to tell you how you can, all of a sudden, love everything about the Christmas season. Instead, I want to help you and me take our focus off of the temporal and place it on to things that are eternal and substantial.
I want to help all of us focus our eyes on Jesus.
Jesus, Our Joy
We are told in Philippians 4:4 to rejoice in the Lord always.
Always? How is this possible?
Many of us experience trials of various kinds that seem to go on forever. And yet we are called to have joy?
Here is the thing, we are not called to walk around with a fake smile plastered on our faces, telling ourselves and others that everything is fine. Everything is not fine! But we can have a calm and deep joy that comes from knowing Jesus.
Keep your eyes on him and you will see someone who was born in order to endure hardships for you. He endured death on the cross in order to forgive you of every sin and with his resurrection he gave you the power to be joyful in the most difficult times.
Celebrate the gift of joy this holiday season, study it, pray for it and practice it.
Jesus, Our Hope
When we struggle with the pain of loss, ailing bodies, financial strain, broken friendship and a messed up, hurting world, where can we look for hope?
Once again we should always fix our eyes on Jesus because He is the only person in our life that is not broken! He is the hope of healing, the hope of restoration, the hope of salvation. He does all that he promises. He will make all things right someday, and in the meantime He will be with us to help us through this life.
Celebrate Christ our hope this Christmas by meditation on what hope really means.
Jesus, Our Peace
On that first Christmas night, the angels announced the birth of Jesus to the shepherds. They couldn’t contain their joy and burst into song, singing “peace on earth, goodwill towards men”.
But doesn’t it sometimes feel like peace is a figment of our imagination, nothing more than an elusive idea? We see conflict and war all throughout our world, and we feel turmoil in our own hearts. Where is this peace that the angels sang about? The baby that was born to Mary and Joseph is our answer.
Our biggest need is to be at peace with God and Jesus came to make this possible. Through Christ, we have the ability to be at peace with others and to experience peace in the midst of hard times. On top of all of that Christ is preparing a Kingdom for his people where peace will reign and war, hate, and conflict will not be welcomed.
Celebrate the peace you have in Christ and think about how that peace should affect your everyday life.
While we cannot escape much of the commercial parts of Christmas, we can make a bigger effort at focusing on the birth of Christ and reason why he was born. It will give our holiday season a richer meaning and a quieter and deeper joy.
Blessings,
Jen
For the Mom Who’s Dreading the Holidays This Year: Finding New Joy
How to Enjoy A Stress-Free, Debt-Free Holiday with Your Family This Year {Real Life with Lisa}
