Don’t Let Christmas Become a Struggle

Once every year, the Christmas season descends upon us. As a child, it was a marvelous time of anticipation and excitement.

Perhaps the most exciting time for me (if I am being honest) was the arrival of the Sears Wish Book and the Canadian Tire Christmas Catalogue at our house. Hours would be spent looking at all of the new toy and sporting equipment listings presented on their collective pages. It was the specific moment that heralded the arrival of this special season in my childhood.

Now that I am older (much older!), I find that several new things “herald” the arrival of Christmas time in a much different fashion and with different emotional reactions.

Let’s start with the shopping malls beginning to play Christmas music somewhere between early and mid-November. You just never know when you will walk into a Christmas décor and ambiance blitz! However, you can always rely on it somehow arriving too soon and coming off as incredibly heavy-handed and crass. And yet, I usually love bopping around to Christmas music!

Then, there is the seasonal increase of busyness. Again, I cannot circle a specific date on the calendar for when this starts. But somewhere, usually at a different point every year, things begin to continually get busy and more complicated. Making family plans, meal menus, working through gift list requests, the trip to hunt and capture the perfect Christmas tree, along with our home’s Christmas morphing through decorations and seasonal touches inside and out. Somehow the “to-do” lists have not gotten smaller with each passing year. And every time things start to crowd each of our personal calendars – there is always a bit of trepidation that there just won’t be enough time to get it all done at the right time. And yet, I totally love when our outdoor lights and Christmas tree are twinkling in joyous colours and hues!

And how about the amping up of the general public’s demeanor. The battle of moving through their plans is often accomplished at the expense of other shoppers, store check-out clerks, and anyone else they interact with as they go about their appointed rounds. Every year patience goes out the window, along with goodwill towards anyone and anything else! And this emotional whirlpool is constantly reaching out to pull the unsuspecting into its tempest of anger and frustrations. And yet, I actually love shopping in the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season … REALLY – I DO!

Do you see the pattern here?

My positive Christmas experiences are still present within me, and they’re still is a love of the many special things that come with this time of year. Especially the turning of my mind to the gift of the Christ child. I know that over the years, it seems to have become a struggle to retain and lift up the “reason for the season” in the face of corporate-this and consumer-that. Even the joyful sharing of a simple “Merry Christmas” has come under scrutiny and public pressure in the pursuit of some sort of all-encompassing political correctness.

And this happens in the very midst of one of the holiest Christian celebrations.

Like so many things in my life and in my faith journey, I can find myself bogged down in a myriad of details. But each one of these struggles represents a trap. It is a place where my mind and spirit can become mired down in the mechanics of everything except that which it should be focused on.

Christmas is a celebration! The coming of the baby Jesus to commence a rescue mission that has spanned centuries until today. And that mission continues into tomorrow. 2022, 2023, 2024, 2025 – it will go on and on. Yes, there is lots of stuff happening in preparation for and engagement of the Christmas season. But, viewed through the amazing gift of a Saviour come down to earth, all else pales when held up against that filter!

So many of our struggles gain mental and spiritual strongholds in us – and then proceed to rob and destroy all that should be at the heart of our fully living out this season. We need to stop the struggles BEFORE they begin.

“And now, dear brothers and sisters, one final thing. Fix your thoughts on what is true, and honorable, and right, and pure, and lovely, and admirable. Think about things that are excellent and worthy of praise.

… Then the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8-9

This year, let us be able to meet every stress and struggle at the exact moment they pop into our head/heart. Let us stand unified to defeat the efforts of the enemy to take our blessings away.

Let us rebuke his attempts to stress and strain us at the very time when we should be joyous and openly declarative.

Christmas is NOT a struggle. It is a gift! A precious gift given freely by the Father to ALL of mankind. And in this ONE TIME every year, may we see and know the beautiful freedom that has come through this moment. And may we truly fix our thoughts on what is true and good at Christmas time. And may all that flows through and out of us at this time of year be done through that focused view of Emmanuel amongst and over us!

Let me encourage you:

Go tell it on the mountain…