Feeling Down? How to Look Up This Christmas
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What a joy to be traveling to visit my three adult daughters who live in Europe. One of my dear friends, Janet McHenry, is guest blogging for me today. Enjoy this story!
Tricia Goyer
Feeling Down? How to Look Up This Christmas
By Janet Holm McHenry
Some Christmas sights, sounds, and smells bring to mind bittersweet memories.
Ten years ago at Christmas time my sister Nancy and I went to a Cost Plus World Market, and I bought a tinned tea called Comfort and Joy at her urging.
I didn’t know how much I would need it until a year later when she passed away after being on hospice for metastasized cancer.
So I’ve savored a cup each year since then. I also make sure I find the best new box game and watch the best new movie… just as she used to do. And I thank God for giving me such a loving, joy-filled, generous best friend (who just also happened to be my sister).
The Christmas season is supposed to be filled to the brim with comfort and joy-filled activities, but often, difficulties–and even tragedies–fall into the calendar instead. And the following years only prove to be reminders of those hard times. There are practice ways, though, that we can be a people who L.O.O.K. U.P. for God’s comfort-and-joy gifts that can also encourage others.
Listen to Others
Many others struggle through the Christmas season, so we can be their sounding board and extend God’s love simply with our listening presence.
We learn from Paul that we should value others more than ourselves, “not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others” (Philippians 2:3-4 NIV).
I know that when I am focused more on all the to-do things on my daily planner than on my loved ones around me, I am missing opportunities to help others find a looking-up perspective.
Offer to Help
Sometimes listening and empathizing are all those around us really need, but at other times there may be tangible ways we can help them. One church in my little town knows this and yearly provides an Operation Blessing Sunday. At the end of the worship service, the pastor gives a one-hundred-dollar bill to each family—with the idea that they then can extend that monetary blessing to someone they know who needs financial help or just simple encouragement. We see through the life of Jesus that his compassion moved him to action.
When Jesus saw a grieving woman, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he brought her son back to life (Luke 7:11-15 NIV).
While we might not be able to do such dramatic acts of healing, we can extend compassion to others through gifts and simple acts of service.
Observe Traditions
Traditions create happier memories that can lessen seasonal sadness. Decades ago my mom started the practice of fireplace gifts—which was her version of the white elephant gift exchange. We still laugh about the first year when my big diesel mechanic brother ended up with a 3X size pair of ladies’ underwear. Other traditions have included making gingerbread houses, a caroling party throughout town on a hay wagon, the Christmas Eve candlelight service, and the reading of the Christmas story from Luke 1 and 2. Jesus is the reason for the season, and when we shift our mindset from our sadness to our Savior, he lightens our load as well as our path.
Kindle Relationships
The year my dad died of ALS, it was hard to face the Christmas season without him. But we determined as a family to celebrate not only his life but the lives of those still with us.
The Bible encourages us to “be devoted to one another in love” (Romans 12:10 NIV).
Taking time to share Christmas cards or to go to a movie with a friend will not only help develop deeper relationships with those God has put into our lives but also provide joy to us.
Understand God’s Gift
With all the busyness of the season, it’s easy to let spiritual rhythms fall by the wayside. But it’s in those busiest of times that we need God’s direction, truth, and inspiration to guide our words and interactions.
Abraham Lincoln once said, “I believe the Bible is the best gift God has ever given to man. All the good the Savior gave to the world was communicated through this book.”
When we are emotionally down in this Christmas season, God can encourage us through the truth of his Word.
Pray
Similarly, prayer can foster a looking-up perspective.
The great theologian Martin Luther is credited with saying, “I have so much to do that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.”
One way to grow a 24/7 prayerful awareness of God’s presence is to understand that wherever we are, there’s a need for prayer. We only need to open our eyes, look around us, see the needs of others, and pray. One of the names of Jesus is Emmanuel, which means “God With Us.” As we growingly understand that God is with us—in our shopping, in our meal-fixing, in our work parties, and even in our tears—we will find his sweet companionship carries us with comfort and joy through the Christmas season.
5 Ways to Look Up with Others
- Invite a couple friends over to play a new box game.
- Take the kiddos in your life to a holiday movie.
- Meet up with a friend for coffee to break up a shopping day.
- Pick up a friend to go see the Christmas lights in your community.
- Join with others to sing carols at a nearby senior living community
Janet McHenry is a national speaker and the author of 27 books, including her newest, a 365-day devotional book called Looking Up! Finding Joy as You Read and Pray Through the Bible.
Two practices—reading through the Bible each year and prayer-walking—brought about a life-changing transformation in her life over twenty years ago. The leader of the prayer ministries at The Bridge Church in Reno, she is on the California leadership team for the National Day of Prayer. Janet also fosters a 500+-strong group of women who read through the Bible each year through the Bible Girls Facebook group. You can learn more about her ministries at janetmchenry.com.
Additional Resources
Daily Bible Podcast
We’re Tricia and Michelle, two friends inviting you to join us in reading through the Bible chronologically this year. Reading the Bible every day can be a challenge. We’re here to summarize each day’s passage and provide action steps … in under 15 minutes. Grab a buddy and join our community. Take the plunge, and let’s read through the Bible together. We’ll be cheering you on all the way!
You can join us using your own One Year Bible© (if you’d like to purchase one, you can grab your preferred version using the links below). Or you can print up the One Year Chronological Reading Plan. If you don’t have a copy of the One Year Bible©, we will have the exact passages for the next day in the show notes. You can also subscribe to the One Year Chronological Bible Reading plan on the YouVersion Bible App.
