Be brutally honest. Which of these two phrases do you exclaim most often this time of year: \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m so busy!\u201d? When a Christian spends the Christmas season in a stress mode, that doesn\u2019t honor God.<\/p>\n
Here are six tips to help you have joy — inside and out — during the busy Christmas holidays.<\/p>\n
1) Begin well. Personally start each morning of the holiday season by reading the Bible and asking God to give peace and wisdom. Those minutes will invigorate and focus your day.<\/p>\n
2) Snatch snippets of time for peaceful relaxing. A new 1000-piece puzzle sits on our coffee table each December, with a goal of finishing it by Christmas as family members or friends sit and chat, working on the puzzle. Find ways to encourage laid-back conversation and togetherness for your family or friends to do together. Sit around a fire. Decorate Christmas cookies. Sip hot cocoa. Watch a Christmas movie. Sing. Cram into the car and drive around town to see Christmas lights.<\/p>\n
3) See people in your pathway. Be extra kind to strangers. Smile. Show sincere interest. Be patient. Don\u2019t critique non-Christians who don\u2019t celebrate a Savior they don\u2019t even know yet. Instead, let them see Jesus in you, spreading His joy everywhere you go.<\/p>\n
4) Refocus. Remember that Christmas is about celebrating Christ. Yes, we treasure traditions, decorations, parties, community events, benevolence projects, baking, eating, gifting and so much more. We\u2019re especially busy this month! But when our key reason for celebration is Christ, the stress to please people disappears. There\u2019s joy. One idea: place a touchable nativity on child level for kids\u2019 and grandkids\u2019 hands-on play.<\/p>\n
5) Joy doesn\u2019t whine. Philippians 2:14 says, \u201cDo everything without grumbling or complaining….\u201d If we constantly lament, \u201cI\u2019m so busy\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m so broke,\u201d it can come across as, \u201cGod isn\u2019t in control.\u201d A God-follower must never be a complainer. God gives His children joy on good days and difficult days. Treasure all the moments of life.<\/p>\n
6) Give joyfully to someone who can\u2019t give back. Generously share your time with someone who\u2019s lonely, poor, grieving or ill. Give an extravagant missions offering. Be kind to a child. Anonymously bless someone in Jesus\u2019 name. Instead of a \u201cwish list,\u201d help your children discover the joy of giving, making homemade gifts or doing Christian ministry projects.<\/p>\n
This Christmas season, will you choose to stress out and complain? Or will you joyfully celebrate Christ. Be the \u201cJoy Whisperer,\u201d spreading God\u2019s joy wherever you go. Joy is not loud or forced. It comes directly from God. Your Christian joy oozes over those around you, even at Christmas. Especially at Christmas!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Be brutally honest. Which of these two phrases do you exclaim most often this time of year: \u201cMerry Christmas!\u201d or \u201cI\u2019m so busy!\u201d? When a Christian spends the Christmas season in a stress mode, that doesn\u2019t honor God. Here are six tips to help you have joy — inside and out — during the busy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[276,749,2335,258,1874,885,1255,184,201,2161,2162],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5823"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5823"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5823\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.churchedge.com\/illustrations\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}