I think that sometimes people are crankier at Christmas than other times of the year – particularly in parking lots, checkout lines, at the post office, etc. Recently, I had someone cuss me out in a parking lot because I didn’t park my car well. This was really unpleasant, and it caught me off guard. Needless to say, it took a while for my adrenaline surge to get back to a steady equilibrium.
So, while Christmas can have lots of fun activities and cozy associations, it can also have some additional stresses and unexpected tensions. How do we navigate such things? Here are some helpful ideas:
- Remember who you are. This is important to keep at the top of your mind so that if / when people are cranky, you have the choice to respond in a like manner or you can choose to bring your best self to the scenario and be kind, gracious, forgiving and generous. Consider what the Bible says about us in Genesis 1:27, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Let’s choose to act and communicate from our best self, the one made in the image of God and not the earthy and sometimes odious self.
- Book some time to reflect on Jesus’ birth. In all the hustle and bustle of this wonderful holiday season, it can be really helpful to block out some time to attend a concert or symphony, have some quiet by a candlelight, read Luke 2 with a pen and paper ready to write down what catches your attention in your reading. These are a few ideas to consider, and I’d totally welcome your suggestions in some comments or feedback on this blog.
- Don’t overschedule yourself. It’s really easy to get too many things on the calendar in these weeks. To this end, be careful to identify the “have to” events and the optional events, so that you don’t put yourself on the endless gerbil wheel that can easily happen during Christmas.
- Slow down to experience and enjoy simple things like: sunshine, starlight, tasty tea or coffee, purposeful conversations, a favorite Christmas cookie or treat, a walk around the block, some soothing Christmas music, or enjoying the lights and decorations on a Christmas tree. Remember that God’s generosity can be seen and experienced throughout our daily living.
- Actively choose to be generous by giving: extra grace, the benefit of the doubt (letting a person have good intentions instead of thinking of them as being malicious or mean), kind words, affirmations, gratitude, smiles, letting someone go in front of you and maybe buying the coffee / tea for the person in line behind you at a coffee shop.
At Christmas time, we celebrate that our Heavenly Father is extravagantly generous to humanity by sending His only begotten Son into human flesh to live among us as one of us. Let’s allow such divine generosity to be integrated into our daily living in this Christmas season! Feel free to post the link to this blog on any of your social media places to encourage us to spread joy and grace during this wonderful Christmas season.
