(December 6, 2012) Lights, camera, action! The Christmas holidays beckon us to perform.
We’ll host get-togethers for friends or family. We’ll decorate, shop, wrap, bake, and send out greeting cards with our family photo—the one that shows us looking relaxed.
The Christmas season has a way of strapping us into the back seat and taking us on a wild ride. It can drive some of us into a ditch. (Depression abounds during the holidays!)
Whether it’s age or wisdom, I’ve realized my need to put a firm stake in the ground during December. For one thing, I won’t decorate until I feel like decorating—which seems to happen a bit later each year.
This Christmas I don’t plan to make fudge for the neighbors as I always do. They’ll probably appreciate that since none of us needs the calories.
I can avoid stress by reigning in the holidays. But that won’t ensure a blessed Christmastime. For that I’ll need Christ reigning in and over the holidays—and me.
I’ll need the fortification of God’s Word. I’m already making out a Christmas list—scriptures to help me maintain a right heart and mind throughout the holidays.
With a house full of visiting family members, I’ll need to show hospitality without grumbling, and serve by the strength that God supplies (1 Peter 4:9, 11).
For the times that my plans for our Christmas meals and gatherings might not appeal to someone else in the family, I’ll need to remember Ephesians 5:21, which recommends “Submitting to one another out of reverence for Christ.”
There will be requests that require a sacrifice of time or resources—or both. I hope to remember to not grow weary of giving. I’ll try to accept every opportunity I can to do good to everyone—Galatians 6:10.
My greeting cards might not impress anyone this year. (Did I really want them to?) And there might be a 25-year drought on my annual Christmas production, Cherry Cream Pie.
But I hope that some other things won’t fall short. I pray that the light and joy and peace of Christ will be seen in me—and in you—this Christmas.
Blue Ribbon News special contributor Patti Richter works as journalist, writing news and feature stories, book reviews and more for many Christian publications. She lives in Heath with her husband Jim.
Read more by Patti Richter:
Beholding wonders
Straight ahead – in the wrong direction
Heat and Ice: God’s Hot-Cold Therapy for Spiritual Stiffness?
God’s not-so-random acts of kindness
To submit your news, events, or a guest column, email editor@BlueRibbonNews.com.
Reigning in the holidays added by Editor on
View all posts by Editor →