Making the Holidays Truly Sweet, part 1

Do you want to make this holiday season truly sweet?

There are some things we can do to really settle in and celebrate God’s faithfulness, the gift of family and friends, and of course all the delicious things. In this episode, part one of a series on holidays, we’ll talk about three ways we can prepare our hearts for a truly sweet holiday season.

(Want to read more? Check out this post I wrote on How to Make This Your Best Thanksgiving Ever.)

Let’s talk about three things we can do right away to set our hearts up for a truly sweet and meaningful holiday season.

Drop all your expectations.

Yes, based on a question I asked on Facebook, we all feel pretty strongly about our Thanksgiving traditions and especially our menu. 🙂 That’s not a bad thing! But if our expectations get in the way of the hearts and minds we’ll serve and love, if they cause us to be irritated and attitudinous (I just made that up, I think), then our expectations need to be set aside.

Take a minute and list out some of your expectations for this holiday season. Now prayerfully offer those expectations to the Lord, telling your heart that the expectations matter less than the people… than His goodness… and let them go, figuratively.

Psalm 131:1-2 says this: “O LORD, my heart is not proud, nor my eyes haughty; Nor do I involve myself in great matters, Or in things too difficult for me. Surely I have composed and quieted my soul;
Like a weaned child rests against his mother, My soul is like a weaned child within me. “ We know the psalmist wasn’t talking about wanting a modern-day Pinterest-worthy holiday table, but the principle can help us put our hopes and our priorities in the right place.

Once you’ve set aside the expectations (I’m doing it, too), take some time to highlight the things that really do matter – even if they’re material things – in light of building relationships for the Kingdom – in light of celebrating God during the holidays. What can you streamline to avoid stress and add depth and calm and richness to your celebrating?

Raise your hopes.

Because God is gracious, He will work through relationships and traditions, even the hard places, to refine our relationship with Him and with each other. The Old Testament feasts and festivals likely ad their own challenges when it came to people and relationships, but they were also ordained by God as regular opportunities to recognized His character and His keeping of is word. So while we may need to let go of the things that might not matter eternally, we can and should look at holidays as vehicle for us to see more of His transforming work, His kindness, and His holiness. They’re also an opportunity to for us show extra grace.

Plan in advance for ways to initiate meaningful conversation.
Look for opportunities to speak blessing over those you eat, cook, and clean up with.
Anticipate in advance how you’ll navigate potential relationship “moments…” you know, the ones that require undeserved kindness (for yourself and the other person!).

Give your holiday to God.

And on that note, we can passionately pursue Him this holiday season, asking Him to change how we think and how we live, especially in relationship with those around us. 1 Chronicles 16:23-26 says: “Sing to the Lord, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day. Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples. For great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the nations are idols, but the Lord made the heavens.”

God is the giver of celebrations and feasts, and He invites us to celebrate so that we might remember who He is and what He has done throughout history and in our own personal story. He invites us to celebrate what He WILL do in the days and years and centuries to come.

A few thoughts on ways we can give our holidays to God:

Meditate on scripture before your day gets rolling. (Look at this fantastic list of scriptures to celebrate this Thanksgiving from Country Living!)
Journal before bed or just after waking – writing out what you’re thankful for helps to set your mind in a proper place to face the moments of the day (good and hard!).
Pray as you cook. A friend recently shared the best idea for praying over the people in your family as you do their laundry. What if you actually intentionally prayed for each person who would share the meal, as you prepared it? What if you prayed for each one you knew especially loved a dish, or thanked God in specific ways for the person who shared a certain recipe! If you’re not the prepare-er? Pray for those who do the cooking – that they’ll be blessed for their time and enjoy the meal as much as you will!
WORSHIP! Put on an instrumental worship station sing and dance your way through the day. If something challenging pops up in your holiday preparation or the “people-ing,” thank God that He is the God who restores all things, and ask Him to move in your situation. In this, no matter what happens, you have an opportunity to experience His work and to shine His light with those around you.