Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I love coming home after a long day and seeing the lights on my tree and around my house. Light dissipates darkness. The day can be challenging and gloomy, but when I take the time to look at those lights, things don’t seem as bad.
How can we find the light when our days are long and hard?
When our hearts ache.
When we’re grieving. Grieving the life we thought we were going to have.
When our souls are craving peace and rest.
Sometimes is about surrender and trust.
Surrender not because you understand why but because you trust the Creator, the one in charge, God. Put all your burdens at the Savior's feet.
But how do we do that? Let me tell you how I do it:
Breathe. Practice 4-7-8 breathing. Why? It sounds so obvious and simple, but one of the things we do when we are anxious is hold our breath or take really short breaths. Research has shown that deep breathing helps calm down and go back to the parasympathetic nervous system. (Reduces blood pressure and heart rate, which is responsible for rest)
Pray/ meditate. Direct your thoughts to God, to gratitude. Disconnect from this world and present thoughts about your current situation. Lift your thoughts. Choose to elevate your thoughts to a higher level. (See Philippians 4:8.) When we direct our thoughts to God and start trying to see our circumstances the way He sees them, it changes our perspective.
Imagine yourself wrapping your burdens and heartaches and placing them at Jesus' feet, fully knowing he will take care of them. I like to tell Him I've done all I could, which sometimes feels like it's not enough, but I know thou can turn mine not enough into more than enough.
May we look for light all year—the true source of light.
I hope you have a merry, merry Christmas,
Francini Estes
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