Pastor's Corner: Holiday cheer … and holiday stress

When you think about the picture-perfect holiday season, you probably picture something like cozy layers and nights sitting next to the fire; red cups from Starbucks; holiday music in all the stores; and the family and pets gathered around watching Hallmark movies. You remember heartfelt acts of service and look forward to frosted sugar cookies and the glow of your tree.

But if you’re like most—the holidays also mean burgeoning to-do lists, a watchful eye on your bank account, and higher-than-normal stress levels. You might be looking forward to the magic of the holidays while simultaneously dreading the anxiety.

The problem is that we sometimes fall into this idea that packing our schedules with activities and filling our homes with new toys will give us the Christmas we envision. And then once the season is over—when the storm of wrapping paper is in the recycling bin and the Christmas lights have been returned to the attic—we wonder if we really experienced the kind of season we set out to create.

Children will not remember you for the material things you provided, but for the feeling that you cherished them. Give your children a holiday season filled with moments to remember, not toys they’ll forget.

So here is an alternative “Holiday Bucket List”:

• Buy Be presents.

• Wrap Gifts someone in a hug.

• Send Gifts love.

• Shop for Donate food.

• Make Cookies memories.

• See Be the Lights.

One of my favorite lines in the hymn “O Holy Night” is “a thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices”! Hope is a word we see sprinkled throughout messages of the holiday season on Christmas cards, coffee mugs, and candles. But what is hope, really? Optimism? Positive thinking? Blind faith? What if hope were something more than any of these, something not only thrilling but life-changing?

Ultimately, this season is about cultivating a sense of “thrilling hope” as we await and prepare for the Savior who will come to heal our weariness. This thrilling hope produces sudden, strong, and deep emotion and excitement because we know that our lives will be forever changed. The weary world needs to know this story! As we anticipate The Light of the World coming into the world, we embody that Light as we are present with our loved ones and generous to the weary world that is hurting. Friends, this Christmas hope is the good news that we have been waiting for our whole lives — for unto us a child is born and the spirit of hope lives in us all! May we be filled with a sense of “thrilling hope” as we rejoice in the arrival of the one who promises to be with us always until the end of the age.

The Rev. Maggie Lewis

First Presbyterian Church, Havre

Chinook Presbyterian Church