How to keep Christmas well?
You may know Christmas carol the classic story from Charles Dickens. It is about a man named Scrooge; he is like the stingiest man you could ever know. Ones when confronted by his past, present and future, his life is completely transformed. He starts to care for people, he is generous and at the end it was said that “he knew how to keep Christmas well”, and that’s what we going to look at.
It was about 7 years ago when I was diagnosed with heart health issues, and I had arrhythmia and suddenly I lost my peace. There was a lot of health anxiety, I wasn’t sure if my heart would just stop, and I was trying to listen to it all the time.
Heartbeat is vital for life, yet we take it for granted, but once you start to have problems, oh man it can change everything. But then, once I started to get better, I thought I don’t want to waste another heartbeat for complaining. And I think that’s the attitude we should have.
Life is so precious, let’s not waste it.
My life is not perfect, there are challenges, I have temptations to complain (and I have complained many times after that) but if I focus on the good things in my life, I can feel better.
If we look for it, there is always something we can be thankful for.
For example, having a roof on top of my head, having food and clothing, having a job or possibility to study. Having good friends, people to talk with. Getting a Christmas card from a relative. If your heart is beating today, you can be thankful for that.
Choosing to be thankful doesn’t mean that we ignore the difficult things in life, if we would do that problems would never get solved right?
But we choose to be thankful for what is good in our lives and not let the negativity overwhelm us. And then we continue to work to find solutions to the challenges we have.
Application
- Many people check the news or social media the first thing they wake up. The problem is most news is discouraging stuff. A whole lot better way to start your day is to have a pen and piece of paper, and when you wake up, write down two, three things that you are thankful for. Doing this simple habit, day after day can literally rewire your brain.
- Here’s another thing you can do, I learned this from Craig Groeschel.
Whenever you have a positive though about someone say it. You have a positive thought about your boyfriend, girlfriend, your fiancé or spouse, your child, your grandma. Just say it. It can really light them up.
My challenge to you
Next 4 to 5 weeks (this Christmas season) write down 2-3 things you are thankful for each morning and see how much better you will feel and then when you have a good thought about someone say it.
Being thankful can be one of the best gifts you can give to yourself, and the people you love!
Text by Micah