What does the perfect Christmas look like to you? A beautiful tree surrounded by longed for gifts? A houseful of loved ones? A meal fit for a king? Everyone has a different idea of what Christmas should be. Depending on where you’re from and how your family choose to celebrate the season there are many ways to set Christmas Day apart from the other 364. Regardless of the traditions and rituals you observe there is one thing that can be universal – pressure. Trying to create the perfect day for everyone can be both exhausting and stressful.
Bigger and better
I’m all for the tree and the trimmings. I love the festivities and glitter but the spirit in which frivolities happen has to be kept in check. It’s possible to go completely overboard, push yourself, and everyone else to the limit, and in the process lose your peace. In an attempt to make everything perfect you may well end up ruining it for everyone.
Where is your peace?
It’s often believed that peace is the absence of conflict. You can get along with all your family and friends, have dealt with any disagreements or offences but still find that you are not experiencing peace. While we live in a place of striving for more, constantly looking to be better, more perfect and discontent with our reality we can never be at peace. Our inadequacies and insecurities rob us of the chance to live at peace and be at rest.
Rest for the restless
Our hearts are restless, until they can find rest in you – Augustine
The whole point of Christmas is Jesus. Without Him there is no special day, no need for a tree, gifts, carols or celebration meals. If we miss this fact, Christmas loses its purpose. Jesus came so that we could live at peace. Not just with one another, nation to nation, but also at peace with God and our own reality. Without Jesus we are lacking, restless and unable to live in a relationship with God. On our own we will never be good enough to stand before our Creator. Jesus changes that. He makes it possible for us to stop trying to be good enough, when we know Him and accept the gift of who He is, all the striving can stop. Jesus is the Prince of Peace and His gift to you this Christmas is a peace that can’t be found anywhere else.
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