Preparing Your Heart for Christmas

“Why is she blogging about Christmas when it’s a little over two months away?” you may be asking yourself.

Because while our lives are crazy busy now, it will get worse as we head toward Christmas!

The decorations. The baking. The shopping. The Hallmark Christmas movies (they start on Friday, by the way!). The family. The conflicts. The food.

Good or bad, those are all part of the Christmas season.

Some of us cannot wait for the festivities of December 25th! With the anticipation of the joy and memories that are to be made on Christmas day, we envision our holiday like those portrayed in Hallmark movies.

Others look forward to December 26th, when it all will be over with because of the pain of the past. It may be the first Christmas since the passing of a family member or a Christmas when none of your adult children can make it home.

Yes, Christmas can either bring out Scrooge from “A Christmas Carol” or Linus from “A Charlie Brown Christmas,” in all of us.

Let’s Put Christ back into Christmas!

Around a year ago, at this time, I was already dreading the upcoming Christmas season. The pressure of having the “perfect” Christmas weighed on me. I realized that I was breaking my neck to ensure my boys would have a Christmas to remember! Would the memories about my baking or having every inch of the house decorated be something that they would tell their children at future Christmases?

So, I asked them this simple question, “What is your favorite Christmas tradition that we have?”

It turns out their answers were not at all what I expected!

That’s when I knew that I utterly missed the mark of the season. I was so wrapped up in the secular side of it that I was missing the one major component for the whole reason for the season – the birth of our Savior.

And guess who was loving every minute of my distraction?

The enemy, himself.

The more we are distracted by the secular side of Christmas, the more foothold the enemy has on us.

This needs to stop. And it needs to stop today.

Have Yourself a Merry Little Christ-Centered Christmas

This Friday, October 25th,  I will be releasing a five-day devotional to remind you of the real meaning of the season. Let’s release the constant pressure of having a “perfect” Christmas. Let’s give up the things that we think will be memorable to our families.

Last year, I gave up baking. No more Christmas cut-out cookies, no more fudge, and no more M&M cookies.

Why did I do that?

Because I can’t bake!

And guess what, my boys could have cared less – because they know I burn every dessert that I put in the oven.

Will you join me, friends, as we take back Christmas and focus on that sweet baby in the manager? The baby who stepped off His heavenly throne and took on human form. The baby who would grow up and die on the cross for our sins so that we could have eternal life with the Father.

It’s time for us to “Have a Merry Little Christ-Centered Christmas!”