Close your eyes and picture the perfect Christmas. The smell of fresh-baked goods filling the house. The tree glistening with perfectly hung lights and a fire crackling as the kids play with new toys.
We start December with high expectations, but all too often our quest for the picture-perfect day leaves us frazzled and stressed. The Christmas season becomes flooded with anything but joy as we race to find the perfect gift and open our homes to family, in-laws, and friends.
This year can be different! Follow these two simple steps, and you can finally have the best Christmas ever.
How to Have the Best Christmas Ever
1. Make the main thing the main thing.
The best way to avoid turning into the Grinch this Christmas is to remember the point of the holiday. Christmas isn’t a task to complete or a burden to endure, it is a celebration of Jesus coming to Earth. John 3:16 says God loved us so much He sent His Son to make a way for us to have a relationship with Him.
The same way that a wedding is still a wedding with or without the pomp and circumstance, Christmas is still Christmas if we never open a gift or put lights on a tree. In both cases, the person, not the party, makes the day complete.
So don’t let the stress of making a list and checking it twice distract you from who the day is really all about. Jesus is God with us and the ultimate gift.
2. Choose peace over chaos.
In a letter to the church in Colossae, the apostle Paul wrote about what it looked like to be alive in Jesus. He instructs the Colossians to, “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts since as members of one body you were called to peace. And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15). This instruction is true for us today. We are called to live in peace, looking at our lives with thanks for what we have instead of complaining about what we don’t have.
When we remember who our heavenly Father is, we realize we have nothing to fear. The same God who made the heavens and the earth tells us to call Him, "Dad." He is a good dad who doesn't let His kids go without. "Look at the birds of the air," Jesus tells His followers. "They do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? Can any one of you by worrying add a single hour to your life?" (Matthew 6:25-34).
Real lasting peace comes from knowing whose we are. Spending time with God, remembering the sacrifice Jesus made for us, the stress of life slowly fades away. The chaos of the holidays is put into context.
So put down the cookie cutters, step away from the gift wrap, and rest in God’s peace. Your house may not smell like fresh-baked goods and your tree may not sparkle, but seeking Jesus and His peace this holiday season will ensure you to have the best Christmas ever.