We hope the simple suggestions for managing your holiday time have been helpful. But let’s be clear: this is not a self-help blog, because if truth be told, we can’t help ourselves. Whether peacefully navigating the Christmas season—or any other season of life—we must constantly depend upon God’s help.
What does it mean to depend on God? Proverbs 3:6 answers that question: In all your ways acknowledge him.” Charles Bridges explains how this works out in everyday life:
“Take one step at a time, every step under Divine warrant and direction. Ever plan for yourself in simple dependence on God. It is nothing less than self-idolatry to conceive that we can carry on even the ordinary matters of the day without his counsel. He loves to be consulted.”
It’s the “ordinary matters of the day” that we try to accomplish on our own, is it not? When we’re faced with a big decision, Proverbs 3:6 is our go-to verse. We’re quick to acknowledge our need for God in extraordinary situations. But Christmas preparations? We think can handle them by ourselves.
But of course we can’t! Rather, we must abandon self-effort and self-idolatry and actively choose to depend on God.
So let’s humbly conceded that we can’t carry out even the most ordinary of Christmas preparations apart from God’s help. Let’s consult God, acknowledging him in all our ways, while not forgetting Mr. Bridges’s confident assertion: “He loves to be consulted!”
