What images come to mind when you think of peace?
- The sounds of waves on a beach?
- A quiet cup of coffee on your own?
- A day to yourself?
During the Christmas season, peace can be elusive. You search for it, yet it seems to slip through your fingers like grains of sand. How can you experience peace?
Your mind is going twenty directions at once. There are presents to buy, relationships to navigate, decorations to put up, and of course, those cards to send out and cookies to make. Whatever your holiday traditions are, you have a list a mile long.
How is your mind, heart and body processing all the activity and extra to dos? What is your body telling you right now? How much are you enjoying this time of year? What do you need to examine to truly welcome Jesus, the Prince of Peace into your Christmas preparations? Consider these questions for bringing more peace into your Christmas season.
What is peace?
According to Merriam-Webster dictionary, peace is freedom from disquieting or oppressive thoughts or emotions or a state of tranquility or quiet.
When you think of peace, what do you visualize? Are the scenes you consider external or internal? Especially during a busy time, like the Christmas season, start with your external choices to see what you can control.
One external choice for peace is how you schedule your calendar. When you look at the next two weeks, how can you choose choices that bringf tranquility and quiet into your life and your family’s life?
Put in the big rocks first – the activities that are the most important. For me, it is church on Sunday, a family gathering on the 28th and time set aside to write and meet with clients – which is my work. I also put in meals, rest/self-care and sleep.
Next put in the the medium size rocks – want to’s. What are the things that you feel make the holidays special? When is your time to wrap, decorate your home, and complete any holiday events and entertaining you want to do with family and friends? What will you truly enjoy?
Hopefully, then you have space left for peace in your external life. What might you need to eliminate?
What is abundance?
How you approach the Christmas season also impacts your peace. Now that you have looked at your calendar, what disquieting or oppressive thoughts are still coming to mind?
This season tends to bring out the wants and the not enoughs. If you approach it from a scarcity mindset, no matter what your budget is, you won’t have enough. You will have disquieting thoughts because you are focused on the negative and what you don’t have.
Instead, when focused on abundance, everything you have is enough. It may sound like semantics or glass half full / glass half empty kind of thinking. However, when you practice gratitude and abundance, your mind begins to see the abundance around you, like a magnet.
Our brains find more of whatever we focus upon. What can you focus upon? Psalm 23:1 says:
The Lord is my Shepherd, I have all that I need. NLT
What does the Prince of Peace bring?
When you desire peace and focus on abundance, you begin to see all that Jesus, the Prince of Peace can bring. When you ask Him for peace, He will provide that sense of peace, even if outside circumstances don’t change. He truly is the one who brings internal peace.
His birth was predicted 700 years before his coming. I find that so reassuring. God has always had us on his mind to bring us peace that will never end.
Isaiah 9:6-7
For a child is born to us,
a son is given to us.
The government will rest on his shoulders.
And he will be called:
Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
His government and its peace will never end.
He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of his ancestor David
for all eternity.
The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies
will make this happen!
Jesus as Prince of Peace has a commitment to you and I to bring peace when we turn to Him and sit awhile, leaning into His presence.
I would encourage you to sit with Him, even 10 minutes a day, during this Christmas season and be still. This goes along with last week’s challenge to find silence and solitude. It is the way to enjoy the Christmas season. Give Him all your thoughts, emotions and activities and breathe deeply as you sit still and listen for what He might want to say to you. You can ask:
What do you have for me today, Prince of Peace?
The Takeaway
Sitting still each day with the Prince of Peace to listen can bring unimaginable peace. You can make different calendar choices, you can look for abundance, but most of all you can experience Jesus, the Prince of Peace.
I pray that you take 10 minutes a day to experience and enjoy the peace of the Prince of Peace.
Merry Christmas!
Nancy Booth wants to create safe spaces for you, helping you find ways to have two-way conversations with God. She loves encouraging you to look for ways He is at work. Nancy is a spiritual director and writer. She would love to accompany you on your journey of discovery to hear and see more of the God who delights in you. Peace, hope and freedom could be yours Contact her today..