You may be able to relate to this. Some of you may not. Do you know what it is to approach the holidays (speaking of Thanksgiving and Christmas) and you can sense the anxiety just building within you? Sure you enjoy the holidays. Yet, you admit in your more honest moments that these months (November/December) are actually very stressful.
Maybe you feel stress because of the money involved. You wonder where you are going to get the money for Christmas. You remember the Visa disaster two years ago when you charged all of those presents on your Visa card and couldn’t pay the bill for months. Yet, if you don’t do that again, you are not sure how you will purchase presents.
Maybe you feel stress because some of the relationships involved. When you and your siblings are together, your brother in particular just goes on and on about all of the great, incredible, off the chart, things that his children have done this year. Your kids gone home feeling as if what they do really isn’t very important.
Maybe you feel stress because this time of the year always surfaces some very unpleasant emotions in you. You don’t know if it is going back home. You don’t know if it is the sentimental Christmas music. You don’t know if either one of these factors make any difference at all. Still you find yourself wrestling with some depression around this time of the year.
Some of you may read this and the description is nowhere near where you are. For you, this time of the year is one great positive experience.
Nevertheless, let me encourage you to place your confidence in God. He is the perfect one who can deal with our stresses. He promises to never leave us or forsake us (Heb. 13:5-6). He is the one who calls upon us to seek the Lord instead of worrying about this and that (Mt. 6:25-34). I do not know what will happen at your family gathering. I do know the one who is in charge of all. He is the one who is greater than any insecurity that you might have. He is the one who is greater than any biting insult that some rude person might send your way. He is the perfect friend, the perfect father, the perfect family member. Our God holds our future.