The holiday season is here! Thanksgiving is recently in the rearview mirror, Christmas and New Year’s Eve are quickly approaching. What a wonderful time to relax!
But often, it’s a time of year that feels far more hectic than peaceful. There’s not so much rest as there is exhaustion.
Why is that?
The answer is so multi-faceted that I’d need to write an extremely long blog post to cover all of it and I don’t pretend to know all the answers to that question anyway, so I’ll address just one or two ideas here.
What are you looking for?
If you want more peace and rest this holiday season, are you looking for it? If you’re hoping to find it in buying the “perfect” gift or in that favorite food/drink you only have at this time of year or in a Christmas movie, what you’re actually looking for is relief. Relief is temporary. What our souls are truly wanting is restoration.
John Eldredge at Wild at Heart has some very profound things to say on this subject that have been extremely helpful to me in many situations. Check out what he has to say!
Another guy who also has great ideas on the topic of where to look for true rest and restoration said this:
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Matthew 11:28-30 (MSG)
Where are you looking?
Often we believe peace and rest will be available after the gifts are wrapped, after the food preparation is finished, after the traveling is complete, but we’re looking at the wrong things. Peace doesn’t come from circumstances or situations. A situation may feel peaceful, but the peace we may feel in a situation is not generated by the circumstances of that situation. The peace we’re craving comes from connection with God - the true source of peace.
What’s grabbing your attention? Where’s your focus? There are so many things to accomplish and so many people to take care of during this season, and those things are good! But if we’re trying to do all of those things solely through our own efforts and entirely in the timeline we’ve created for ourselves, we’ll burn out before we’re half-way through!
Invite God into all of it. Talk to Him while you’re wrapping gifts and preparing food. Look for Him while you travel. Find ways to share His love and joy with those you encounter along the way this holiday season.
We continue to look outside of ourselves, but if we look at the place within us where we’ve invited the presence of God to dwell, we’ll find the peace and rest we’re searching for.
We are vessels designed to be filled with the presence of God, but we go searching for God and His love and peace outside of ourselves. We go looking for it “out there,” but it’s the presence of Christ in us that we need to turn to.
And so that you may find peace and rest this holiday season, maybe you choose to take a break from some of those “things we’ve always done” at this time of year. It’s more than okay to lay one or two things aside this year. You can decide next year to add them back into the rotation of holiday traditions. Or you can decide to let them go entirely. Invite God into that process as well. Your traditions, your family, your peace, your heart matter to Him. YOU matter to Him.
Can’t seem to decide if or how to lay aside a tradition or two this holiday season? Not sure how to begin inviting God into these places and situations? I’d love to talk with you about it! Please feel free to send me an email or schedule some one-on-one time with me. And consider subscribing to my blog, where I post lots of helpful suggestions on how you can begin (and continue) this journey of recovering your blueprint!
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