Encounter: Grab your Bible and your journal. Find a quiet place to sit, read, and listen. Start by taking a couple of deep breaths and letting go of all the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season and turn to Psalms 23. Read through it a couple of times and circle, highlight, or write down any words that settle you and bring peace to your heart.
At the conclusion of our first week of Advent, we sit in the midst of “hope.” The Christmas season has started and all of the hustle and bustle has begun for all of the holiday festivities. Our calendars are jammed packed with our normal daily errands and now we squeeze in time to shop, wrap, prepare, travel, and join with family and friends to celebrate.
If I were being truly honest with myself and you, Christmas is not my favorite season. Please don’t get me wrong. I love the reason for the season. I don’t like all of the hoopla that it has become. The stress of trying to find a time when all of the family can get together, what gifts do we splurge on and will they be received well, all of the decorations to make things beautiful and what food and how much do we prepare.
To give you a little more insight on my challenge with the Christmas season, my enneagram style is a nine, “peace and oneness,” or “peaceful person.” This means my core style prefers peace and harmony. When circumstance present themselves as chaos and discordance, my tendencies are to disconnect and I struggle to be present.
Romans 12:9-18 is a nine’s security blanket. Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone (Verses 9-10, 19).
How does someone like me with a nine enneagram style enjoy the Christmas and Advent season?
By focusing on Jesus the Messiah. “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid.” - John 14:27 NLT
I am not going to mislead you. It takes effort. It takes energy. It takes a desire to want to obey God’s commands. If I don’t want to put in the energy or the effort and follow my own will instead of God’s will, then look out Ebenezer Scrooge, Bah Humbug becomes a reality!
This Sunday, I will share with you a tool that I have recently learned that may help you to find peace in the midst of the hustle and bustle of the Christmas season, regardless of your enneagram style. After all, the best gift we can give is the gift of ourselves when we allow the hope and peace of Jesus Christ to rule in our hearts.
Reflect: As you read Psalms 23, what did you notice about your posture? What did you notice about your breathing? When our focus is on anything other than Jesus Christ, it is easy for our bodies to tense up, our breathing to become shorter and our heart to race. Jesus is the gift of peace. When the hustle and bustle begins to affect you, picture yourself with the Shepherd and let Him lead you to still waters.
Spiritual Practice: Take a moment and reflect upon a time when things were crazy and all you desired was peace. Take note of your posture, your breathing, any tension within your body and any emotions that you experienced. Sit in the discomfort for a minute and then welcome everything you experienced. After welcoming the discomfort, invite God to join you and sit with him in the midst of the discomfort. Talk with God and allow him to reveal to you the deeper reason for the discomfort. Then with God’s help, let go of all that the two of you have named and take notice of any changes your body experiences. Journal this experience and allow God to walk with you on the journey of discovery about yourself.
Gather: As you gather in your small groups, share with one another your experience. Be silent after listening to each person and allow God to comfort each one of you. The best gift you can give your group is your undivided presence, as you love one another deeply and sincerely.
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