I know I am not the only one who feels overwhelmed this holiday season. I am doing to share what I am doing to help myself cope and to let you know that you are not alone.
As you might have noticed if you follow my blog, I have not been getting out two posts as week for the past several weeks. We have had a family emergency come up, a grandparent on hospice, 4 pigs to butcher, a baby not sleeping, a needy toddler, homeschooling and Thanksgiving.
This has left me feeling drained and unmotivated.
I know I am not alone in this. Maybe your list is completely different than mine, but I have a feeling that you either know someone or you yourself are experiencing some level of overwhelm this holiday season. Maybe you’re like me and find yourself in a funk that you are having a hard time coming out of, or maybe you just committed to too many things for this season.
Advent Is Important
Growing up we celebrated Advent by using an advent wreath on our table and some years doing a bible reading/devotional overnight. More and more I realize the wisdom of God in the liturgical seasons. We are given a time for preparing for Christmas and his coming before the joy and celebration that is Christmas.
In my dream life we celebrate Advent really well by embracing the season of fasting, prayer and giving to those in need. This is supposed to be a time of fasting between meals, not eating a bunch of Christmas treats (because its not Christmas yet), upping your prayer game and deciding on a way or two to donate time, money and talents to God. This year I still haven’t gotten out our Advent wreath even though we are several days into Advent.
But What Is The Point Of Advent?
If the point of Advent is to prepare our hearts to receive him at Christmas, then does adding a bunch of stress and worry to my life achieve that? For me Advent this year is going to be a lot more gentle.
I already long for heaven where there is no more pain and suffering. I long for his second coming (when I am not distracted by this world), so do I need to feel bad about “failing” at Advent this year? NO! This year I am choosing to embrace gratitude for what God has given me/us. We are so incredible blessed as a family!
Praising God For His Goodness
The planner/achiever part of me want to say that since I am focusing on gratitude this Advent season, I am going to journal 5 things I am grateful for each day and read the bible for 15 minutes. I would love for this to happen. And I know that I can achieve it for a day or two, but not long term this season.
Instead I am focusing on 3 things.
- I am focusing on praying short prayers of gratitude for what God has blessed me with throughout the day and do my best to surrender to divine providence with joy this holiday season.
- I will get my advent wreath out and use it this year.
- I enjoy the excitement and joy of the season especially through the eyes of my girls.
Surrendering To Divine Providence
Lately I have really been trying to learn to surrender to divine providence. This basically means that I believe Christ is ordering everything in my life for good.
Romans 8:28 “And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
If we as Christians actually believe what the bible says then we should embrace everything God gives us, because in his divine providence he has a plan to use it for our good. While this sound great, I have a really hard time living this out. Especially when his divine providence is a child screaming at me, a baby crying all night or my minivan breaking down.
These examples are just the trivial ones, but what happens when we loose someone we love? Can God work good from this?
Yes! This is not to say that any of the things mentioned are easy or good, but they are not bigger than God. I think that is what this comes down to. No matter how hard life gets (and it can get really hard) it will never and can never be bigger than God.
Trusting In The Day To Day
So one of the things I am working on this Advent is trying to see everything that happens to me as an opportunity for holiness and virtue. I am not sure that I can see any improvement so far. but at least having the awareness of what I want to achieve shows me where I can improve.
I know that no matter what tomorrow brings, God’s got it. I also know that I will fail several times, but I am committed to keep trying. Life will happen whether or not we have a good attitude, so I am trying my best to live life with joy not anger.
Take Care Of Yourself
If you are in an especially busy or difficult season it can be hard to remember to take care of yourself. This is not me saying go get a message, this is me saying work on the basics. DRINK WATER! I like to add this electrolyte mix to mine to help with hydration. Get sleep if you can. Eat enough whole foods to fill you up. Take your supplements and laugh!
We got this and more importantly God has got this!
This is wonderful advice. Life can be challenging, in fact it usually is, but God is good and faithful and can be trusted. I think it helps too to try to keep a long term focus. God has a long view of situations, but our view is often “Get me through the next 5 minutes”.
Also, hymns playing in the back ground can help us refocus and bring comfort to our hurting hearts. Remember what you are doing is important work. You are guiding and shaping young souls to honor God, that is no small task! It is important and valuable work that glorifies God. It is a living sacrifice to Him and that is a wonderful way to honor the reason for the season. God bless you all throughout this season.
Especially this time of year I love singing Christmas carols, somehow they always lift the mood. One of my favorite songs when I am overwhelmed is “I heard the bells on Christmas Day”. It is all about trusting in God even when things are hard.
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