The holiday season is a common time to run on empty.
Between the time with extended family, holiday parties, financial stress, and just the overall busyness this time of year it is easy to wake up and find yourself burned out, worn down, and fed up. The irony of this, is that for Christians this is the time of year we remember and celebrate the birth of God's great gift to the world in Jesus.
So, before you go from loving Jesus to losing your mind, let me offer you a few suggestions as we seek Jesus above all else this holiday season:
1. Pick a time
We all have to choose HOW we will spend the time we have. My encouragement to you would be to pick a specific and consistent time to be alone with Jesus each day. Could be 15 minutes, could be an hour. The most important thing is to choose a time that you can focus and refuel each day and you devote time to pursuing Jesus.
2. Pick a place
Things like your kids running around, roommates doing God-only knows in your dorm room, or coworkers demanding your attention do not lend themselves to conducive environments for meditating on Scripture, praying, confessing sin, and repenting. Find a quite place you can get away and be ALONE with Jesus each day. This might mean getting up earlier, or staying up later, but in these quite spaces we find rest and restoration.
3. Pick a plan
What will your time look like? There are countless options, but I recommend picking a book of the Bible, spending some time reading slowly and then praying and maybe even journaling about what God is teaching you if that works for you.
As the year winds down, often times so does our energy. Let's respond to the grace of God by pursuing Him first this season.
Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vison