1 Thes 4: 11, 12
Make it your goal to live a quiet life, minding your own business and working with your hands, just as we instructed you before. Then people who are not believers will respect the way you live, and you will not need to depend on others.
The Christmas season is upon us and, with it, comes all the hustle and bustle of activity, the excitable spending of money that we don’t actually have, the family gatherings, the holidates, the church services, the Christmas dinners, the cleaning, the gift buying, the deliciously cheesy Christmas movies, the getting high on sugar and Christmas music…the list can go on.
I for a surety am no Scrooge. In fact, I am the coworker that plans out festive outfits for the 25 days leading up to Christmas day, and sneakily plays holiday instrumental jazz in the office in September. I personally love the Christmas season and have been dealing with a buildup of Christmas excitement in my body for the past month or so.
But even so, I must admit that this season can be quite bittersweet. I love my family, but can become dangerously drained by the many gatherings (my family LOVES to celebrate…as do I, hence my dilemma). I love the music and the movies, but yet can find myself feeling empty and overstimulated by it all. I love Christmas shopping, but I have had to deal with Pinterest and Amazon Prime addictions this year, and the lows that come when I disappoint myself by breaking my budget limits. Sugar is my love language, but it does my joints no good. And I must confess that this month, the line between excitement and anxiety has felt ultrathin.
This week, as we’re just about 7 days until December starts, I need to slow things down and reflect on what I truly want this year. My insides have been in such a flurry, and I need to quiet down. I realize that there were so many years where I could feel myself chasing a ‘feeling’ through movies and activities that created temporary highs, but deep down I felt empty, like I was trying to fabricate hope and meaning, but hadn’t truly connected to the real magic of the season.
As I’ve been reflecting, I’ve come to realize that my longing for “Christmas Magic” is simply my deep longing for God. And the times I felt most connected to Christmas were the times when my heart was quietly meditating on the incarnation of Christ and what that truly means for my family moments, for my dreams, for my disappointments, for my community, for my future, and for Heaven. I had hope and belief stirring in the deepest parts of me, and an unrushed rhythm of connection with God and the world around me. This is what my soul truly craves.
As I’ve been chatting with a few friends over the past few days, I realized that I’m not the only one who has been craving the opportunity to slow down. And while “slow living” has become quite the trendy topic these days, I think it’s merely because we humans can sense what our souls need, and so we run towards it in the best way we know how. Slowing down creates space for our hearts to connect to God and for our souls to find deep meaning, make intentional choices and prevent the emptiness that comes with the hustle and bustle of daily life.
This Christmas, I’m hoping, by God’s grace, to have a “slow living” Christmas. Here are a few ways that you too can join me in this:
Spend Quiet Time with God in the Mornings
Most people I know who hate Christmas, hate Christmas because of the busyness and the excessive demands of the season. It’s true, this time can get busy, cleaning can become overwhelming, and plans with friends and relatives can escalate, FAST! For this very reason, our souls need to prioritize slow, quiet, noiseless mornings with God. With your warm beverage of choice, the scriptures and a pen and book for journaling, take some time at the start of your days to connect with the One who made you. The scriptures speak of man not living by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Deuteronomy 8:3). I’ve come to take this scripture quite literally, and have seen countless times where my devotional time with God in the morning gives me physical, mental and emotional fuel for the rest of the day, and His word within me also shapes the trajectory of the day and the decisions I make. We cannot underestimate the power of God’s word to nudge us away from the things this season that could pull into overstimulation and excess. Get quiet with God and give your mind, body and soul the connection God desires and the strengthening you need in the mornings.
Find Ways to Use and Enjoy What You Have
This one is tricky but can be quite powerful. The norm of this time of year is for us to buy new curtains, new decorations, new clothes, new mugs, visit new churches, meet new people, etc. But as the scriptures say, godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6: 6, 7). What would it look like for us to ask the Holy Spirit to slow us down and quell our spending addictions? What would it look for us to actually look at what we already own, and find gratitude for our full wardrobes, our decorations from three years ago, our old friends, our present local church community? Contentment is in essence a gratitude practice. It is saying, “I am so grateful for what I have that I will treasure it, find ways to breathe new life into it, and resist the urge to chase something new.” No, I’m not saying don’t buy anything new this year. Unfortunately for me, that ship has already sailed cries. But, as I’m regrouping before December hits, I’m realizing that it is still never too late to slow down our pursuit of new and different things. One fun way, though, to enjoy new things while still preventing excess and practicing gratitude, is to swap with close friends and family. Consider trading Christmas decorations, mugs, curtains or even food this year. For the artsy types, consider Crafternoons, making new festive items with what you already own.
Plan for Rest
Our holiday calendars can become packed very quickly. For this reason, planning ahead will be your saving grace. In the scriptures, Paul encouraged each person in the Corinthian church to give what they had decided in their hearts to give, not grudgingly or out of compulsion, because God loves a cheerful giver (2 Cor 9: 7). I firmly believe that this admonition extends to our time as well. From family and friends gatherings, to church and work activities, the demands on time can come in so fast that we can end up saying yes to things without truly slowing down to consider the cost to us and the state of our internal affairs. Questions to consider are: How am I doing with energy right now? How many commitments do I have this week? How do I plan to recover energy after these activities? How will this impact my devotional time with the Lord on mornings? Plan your days with margin to breathe, sleep (like actually sleep), spend time with God and refill the wells.
Put a Cap on Christmas Cleaning
When I was a kid, I loathed Christmas cleaning with a capital L. Why windows need repainting two days before Christmas was and remain completely lost on me. Now, I understand that some people clean as a sign of respect even as they celebrate King Jesus coming into the world in human form. Others simply do it out of tradition. Regardless, Christmas cleaning has easily become one of the most exhausting ‘traditions’ of Christmas. For this reason, I recommend setting a 2-3 day (maximum) period during which you will tidy up in any extreme ways. After which, you will rest and enjoy your house. Even the Lord urged His people and the land to take mandatory Sabbaths, as an act of reverence to God and trust in His provision. I think we can try this for Christmas too. Trust God to sweeten our family time even if the house isn’t perfectly clean. One thing I also encourage is for you to consider what your family truly needs, even in your cleaning. If your kids (or adult children) are growing to associate Christmas with exhaustion and being overworked, then perhaps you may want to reconsider repainting the house this year. Keep cleaning intentional and brief, finishing ideally by the first week of December. This gives you and your family a much longer period of time to savour what the season is all about, in a clean and restful environment.
Choose Who You Will Invest in This Year
Finally, it’s important this year to take stock of the most important people and things in your life. This season can quickly become a dance of being pulled in 1000 directions by people who aren’t even in our closest circles. But even Jesus had his multitudes, and his 12 and his 3. And He knew when it was time to go out to the multitudes, and when it was time to draw away with the 3. He also knew when it was time to withdraw with the One, with the Father. This Christmas, take time to reflect on who are your most treasured people, and consider building your plans around prioritizing quality time with them. Emphasis on quality. This simple practice can help yank you out of compulsive yeses, and prevent you from missing true connection with God, yourself and those you love most.
There are so many more ways we can practice slowing down this Christmas, but this is more than enough for now. How are you hoping to slow down this Christmas? Let me know in the comments below. Perhaps your suggestions might inspire me and other readers.
Much love,
Candace <3