How to take a quiet journey to Christmas. Five suggestions.
Table of Contents
- What a quiet journey looks like
- Suggestion # one: Limit exposure to “Scrooges” if you want your journey to be quiet.
- Suggestion # two: Feel the anticipation
- Suggestion # three: Remember. Remembering makes for a quiet journey
- Suggestion # four: Think about the world on your journey
- Suggestion # five: Don’t let depression spoil your Christmas journey.
- Related Posts
What a quiet journey looks like
I want to take a quiet journey to Christmas this year. I’ve been giving some real thought about how I’ve celebrated Christmas in the past, how Christmas almost became ChristMISS on a few occasions. I want to make sure that never happens again.
Let me be honest, I LOVE Christmas!! I love the anticipation, the crafting, the baking, the music, and the snow. I love all things plaid and fuzzy. I’m always torn between the natural look, the glitzy look, and the cutesy look. So usually, I incorporate all three.
No spiraling down
I wanted to make sure I never let Christmas spiral down into a list of things to do. For me, that means I have to be organized, having my presents bought and wrapped, the house decorated, and the cookie dough all frozen by the first of December.
But amidst all the hoopla, I also want quiet time for reflection. But that means I have to be deliberate about it, meaning I have to plan for it. And one of the ways I want to do that is by reading some inspirational books.
I also try to put myself in Mary’s place as best I can and feel what I believe she felt: anxiety, fear, and confusion, while at the same time, excitement, hope, and joy.
And I want to experience the fun of the season as well, which brings me to:
Suggestion # one: Limit exposure to “Scrooges” if you want your journey to be quiet.
Sometimes you can’t, but when you can, avoid them. Just because some people don’t enjoy the journey to Christmas, doesn’t mean they have the right to dampen yours. guarding your heart is important. It’s especially important during the Holiday season.
Smile at everyone you meet. Be like Elf and make smiling your favorite. (If you’ve never watched the movie “Elf”, do yourself a favor and watch it. It’s clean and fun.
If you choose to say Merry Christmas instead of Happy Holidays, do so. It’s your right. You don’t have to be politically correct, but don’t do it just to make a point, either.
Christmas shouldn’t be political.
Tweetmas
Suggestion # two: Feel the anticipation
Allow yourself to feel the excitement instead of the panic as the days count down. (The anticipation of any event is half the fun anyway). I will anticipate the long hours in the kitchen baking cookies and candy. When you get tired, remind yourself you got this. If your circumstances allow, do the things you enjoy.
Anticipate the looks on the faces of those for whom you’ve created some special gifts. I love all things DIY, and I love “gifting”. Ignore those who don’t get into the spirit of the event. I will focus on my own good time and those who are enjoying it as much as I do.
Suggestion # three: Remember. Remembering makes for a quiet journey
I will remember that Christmas isn’t just about the gifts I give but also about the gifts I’ve received. No, it’s not what you think. I’m talking about the gifts that don’t require opening. And I’ve received so many.
- a loving husband
- a wonderful family
- good friends
- shelter, and food
- dreams and hopes
And, I think, when it comes right down to it, most people feel the same way. Or maybe it’s just my naivete speaking. But I hope not.
Suggestion # four: Think about the world on your journey
I recently saw a movie that centered on the genocide taking place in Africa. I’d seen it before, but it didn’t impact me the way it did this time. One scene, in particular, featured a child whose condition I can’t begin to describe. Words fail because they are just words, and all of them fall short.
As I sit here and write, my surroundings seem almost obscene. I’m not hungry or thirsty. I’m not sweltering in the heat or freezing from the cold. I have clothes on my back and shoes on my feet. I’m not worrying about whether I will eat today—or tomorrow. Whether I will have water to drink.
I wonder if I’m doing enough to relieve suffering in my own part of the world. I’m worried that maybe I’m not. I’ve been “gifted” way beyond what I deserve. When I look at the rest of the world, I can’t help but be thankful.
Grateful people are generous people. Ungrateful people are not.
Me.
Suggestion # four: Embrace your gifts and don’t apologize
I have always been one of those people who hide their gifts in a basket. I don’t like talking about my books even though I know I have to because it’s part of being a writer. Then I realized this is just wrong because it’s an insult to God. Jesus said in Matthew chapter five, not to do that.
So, I decided I will embrace my gifts because to do otherwise is to say to God that he needn’t have bothered giving them to me. I won’t cheapen God’s blessings with anything less than heartfelt gratitude for the abilities he has given me. This is what Christ commands us to do: use our abilities and don’t apologize. It does no one any good.
You can be humble and yet honest about your gifts and abilities.
Tweet
Suggestion # five: Don’t let depression spoil your Christmas journey.
This blog is my gift to whoever reads it. Freedom from depression has been a gift I certainly never thought I would open. Christmas can trigger depression for a lot of people…stress, family complications, financial issues. The yearning for the perfect Christmas and the reality of anything but. We get tired and obsess over unimportant details. And that makes our Christmas journey anything but quiet.
I live in Michigan, with little winter daylight. But I love December 21, the shortest daytime hours, because I know that the very next day, it stays lighter longer. Depression is like that. The darkest day can be followed by a brighter one if you’ll just hang in there.
There are a lot of posts on this blog regarding mental health.)
The miracle of Christmas is much more than a physical birth-it is spiritual re-birth. It is a gift to the world to be unwrapped by each of us.
Tweet
God approaches us as the unique people we are.
I used to think we all had to unwrap this gift of God’s love the same way. That we all had to use it the same way. I don’t believe that anymore. That’s the miracle of Christmas….
…that love reached down to us at Christmas, collectively, yes, but individually as well.
that
God reaches down to each of us as we are. God doesn’t ask us to be like our friends. He doesn’t expect us to change before he reaches out to us. But he finds us where we are and how we are and there is absolutely no one outside his reach unless they choose to be.
The miracle of hope
I truly hope each of you reading this post finds what you need in the miracle that is Christmas, that you make your own journey a quiet one, as best you can. Life can be tragic, as we know from so many recent mass shootings. Where’s the miracle in a tragedy? And yet there is. That miracle is hope.
The hope of healing. Isn’t that why God sent his Son? There is hope for us and our fallen world. I think of these words: “…the weary world rejoices,” from “O, Holy Night.”
It is most definitely a weary world. But we can rejoice because there is hope. Hope in the birth of Jesus-God.
Despite what is happening in the world, I believe we can find a degree of healing through the gift of love that awaits each of us.
God bless you today, and a very Merry Christmas to each of you.
(I continue to pray faithfully for those of you struggling with depression.)
PS Here’s a gallery of some of my decorating this year. Way behind in posting this. (Quiet journey, remember? )
