How to Escape the Stress of Christmas

If you’d like to skip Christmas in 2020, you’re in good company. Nearly half of all Americans said the same. The stakes for personal peace and affluence are raised this time each year to unattainable heights. Add COVID-19 to the mix and the numbers go even higher.

Google “Norman Rockwell Christmas images” and you’ll get page after page of happy holiday images, supposedly what Christmas should be, but far from what it is for most of us.  Consider the following:

• • PRNewswire stated “Christmas is up there with divorce, moving houses and changing jobs as the sixth most stressful life event.”
  • In Healthline.com Michael Kerr writes, “The stress and anxiety of the holiday season, especially during the months of November and December may cause even those who are usually content to experience loneliness and a lack of fulfillment. Part of the problem is the bombardment of media during the holidays showing images of smiling families and friends.”
  • NBC News reported, “Some 45 percent of those polled said the holiday season brings so much financial pressure, they would prefer to skip it altogether.”

What about peace on earth? Wasn’t that the message of the angels on the first Christmas? Was it really that peaceful?

Author Philip Yancey helps us experience the first Christmas in his book The Jesus I Never Knew. He writes the following about Mary and her predicament as she carried the Son of God in her womb: “An unwed mother, homeless, was forced to look for shelter while traveling to meet the heavy taxation demands of a colonial government. She lived in a land recovering from violent civil wars and still in turmoil – a situation much like that in modern Bosnia, Rwanda, or Somalia. Like half of all mothers who deliver today, she gave birth in Asia, in its far western corner, the part of the world that would prove least receptive to the son she bore. That son became a refugee in Africa, the continent where most refugees can still be found.”

This authentic depiction of the inaugural Christmas is a far cry from the images that appear on most of the holiday cards you and I have sent and received this year. Our images are the Facebook versions of reality; those free of stress. I don’t believe Mary’s life was stress-free, any more than yours or mine. But she was able to experience God’s peace in the midst of a stressful season, and so can we.

If we really want to reduce our Christmas stress, we need to think about what defines real peace. Real peace cannot be found in skipping Christmas this year, or having enough money so that we don’t want to, nor can be found in having perfect families – by the way those don’t exist. Real peace is found in the words of the one Mary carried in her womb; the one who split time between BC and AD – the Refugee from Africa who died young when His career as an itinerant, homeless preacher was cut short by those who did not recognize His mission and message. That man said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid. (John 14:27).”

This world can be a messy, stressful place, but thanks be to God for the gift of His son Jesus Christ. Some 2000 years ago God crammed Himself into a human body and brought us the Good News. Grace came down to clean up the messiness and give us peace in the stressfulness. Christmas won’t give you peace, but the one whose birth we celebrate will. Choose peace this holiday season!

Play to win this week in the game that really counts!