This week, we’re coming out of Thanksgiving and diving right into the rush of the holidays.
For parents, it’s buying Christmas presents, getting pictures with Santa, preparing their children for school performances, and trying to please both sides of the family with their holiday plans.
For people who work in church ministry, it’s the craziest few weeks of the year. You’re trying to balance your own family life with a slew of special events that need organizing, toy drives that need promoting, and Christmas Eve services that need to be planned and rehearsed.
For people in the business world, it’s year-end deadlines, wrapping up accounting, and trying to close business deals by the end of the year. It’s navigating time off and trying to please your family while also working hard to finish the year well.
For students and teachers alike, it’s preparing and studying for exams, completing the final push of extra-curricular activities, and trying to enjoy all of the celebrations in the midst of getting everything done before the break.
In each of these scenarios, I could replace the content with “it’s hurry, hurry, hurry.”
If I could summarize the Christmas season in one word, it would be joy. If I were given a second word, it would be hurry.
It’s fun, but it’s rushed.
For the last several years, multiple people have told me that I need to read The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry. (Obviously those who know me are trying to tell me something!) The premise is that we need to fight the part of our culture that claims busyness and hurriedness is the best way to live. This hurry affects us more deeply than we realize.
We are discovering that an overwhelmed schedule leads to an underwhelmed soul.
This is hard for me, but I want to learn to be less hurried.
If your life is feeling crazy right, take a breath.
Meditate on the reason you are celebrating.
Enjoy listening to Christmas music and really think about the words you’re hearing.
Take time to get in the kitchen as a family and mess it up making a holiday favorite.
As you purchase gifts, pray for the individuals who will receive them.
Drive more slowly through your neighborhood to admire the lights and decorations on your neighbors’ houses.
Take a deep breath, take in your surroundings, and stop to enjoy the wonder of this season. It doesn’t have to be as hurried.
