I’ve always loved the holiday season – or at least I’ve loved the idea of it! I get wrapped up in the ideal and allow the commercialization of the season to create a picture of what I want things to look like. I clean and decorate my home, look for festive recipes, search for the perfect gifts, and might even purchase a cute outfit to wear that fits the season.
Although there is nothing inherently wrong with any of those things, I am finding that I need to mentally push the pause button, take a step back, and prepare my heart for what inevitably will be thrown into the mix and ruin the perfect picture I’ve created in my mind – like someone has splattered paint all over a beautiful work of art.
God has been impressing on my heart that I need to take the time to prepare my heart for the “splattered paint” – those real life circumstances that intrude into our lives, ruin our picture perfect plans, and can take some of the joy out of what we’d hoped would be a season of celebrating.
Let Every Heart Prepare Him Room…
I am preparing my heart for whatever will inevitably enter these days that I often anticipate with unrealistic expectations, and I’m intentionally drawing near to God. I’m trying to intentionally take refuge in him this season. I want to have the mind of Christ and clear out my heart and mind of all that is there and fill it with Him, making room for what matters most.
Why don’t we work on doing this together! Then we can move forward into blessing our people, not only with our beautifully decorated homes, deliciously baked food, and our carefully chosen gifts, but with a heart that is filled to the brim with God’s perspective and a love and peace that can only come from him alone!
13 Things You Can Do to Prepare Yourself for the Challenges of the Holiday Season
Begin Praying Now:
- That God will prepare your heart for what is to come.
- For the people you will be spending time with.
- That you will be sensitive to the needs of those around you.
- For help to see how you can serve others.
- For the grace to not be easily hurt or offended by others this season.
- That God will show you ways to encourage that particularly challenging family member.
- Arm yourself with scripture that you can be praying over each person or circumstance that will help you focus on God & truth.
Choose the Following:
- Focus on what you have in common with those around you.
- Don’t let politics divide you, talk about something else.
- If the topic of politics does come up, focus on respecting others’ opinions the way you want to be respected.
- Ask, “What is your biggest challenge right now?” and take time to listen to the answer.
- If you have children, prepare them for each event they will attend by talking them through it and praying with them.
- Enter each situation with no expectation other than that you will strive to glorify God.
Those things that enter into our circumstances that feel like paint that is being splattered all over the beautiful image in our mind of what we want our holidays to look like, can actually be used to make the image more beautiful than we ever imagined. When we’ve scooted over and made room for the beauty of the heart of Christ to take over, the result is a more beautiful picture than we could have ever imagined on our own.
