It’s not about you.
Hearing that could feel like a slap. But it can also be a relief. It takes our focus off self and relieves the burden of trying to live up to unreasonable expectations of others. It’s not our job to make someone’s Christmas what they think it should be; it’s our job to love God, and love others.
Read more about loving God and loving others during the holidays here.
The Peace of Knowing It’s Not about me
When it gets down to it, the most obvious reason we don’t have to sweat the holidays is that they’re not about us. Say it with me… It’s not about me. Our role in Advent, in all of life, is worship. In everything we do, we choose the focus, the object of our attention and effort – what we worship. When our goal is to please God, and do everything as if we’re doing it for Him, it takes off the pressure of pleasing others.
The Peace of Knowing the Reason
I know. It’s a cliché . But Jesus is the Reason for the Season. When we live life remembering it’s not about us, we gain so much more than we lose trying to get what we want.
Understanding who God is, and our identity in relation to Him, is crucial to not just spiritual health but also mental health. God created us. He understands the intricacies of how our brains work, and how they don’t. We can’t be fully healthy living in opposition to the design of the Designer. The healthiest order is honoring God first, and the needs of others second; it’s funny how our needs get taken care of when our wants aren’t our top priority.
Take time throughout the holiday season to thank God for His blessings, and carry that habit into the new year. Don’t leave God out of your decisions.
Read more about healthy choices during the holidays here.
We can be at peace because of what has already been accomplished on our behalf.
Like joy, we can have peace despite chaos around us, or even within us. If I wait for my feelings to be calm and joyous, I will never let myself rest in the Truth and comfort of my Creator Father’s embrace. It is in His Presence and will we dwell in peace.
The holiday season is transformed when we remember the reason. He came. He lived. He died. He lives. He redeems. He’s coming again.