3 Ways to Be Present in 2024
When Anxiety Comes
It came like a guest regretfully invited to the holiday party – loud and obnoxiously present. Though it hasn’t come around in a few years, it decided to make its appearance at the worst time.
Anxiety is a feeling that is common to this time of year. Some experience it with slight casualties of tears and hidden sobs. Others bury it in mind-numbing distractions with refusal to accept its presence at the expense of their own presence. Then there are the few who experience it in the form of stress; but nevertheless, it knocks on the door.
Anxiety sneaks in at the very time we should be most content with family around our table to remind us of all the things we should be. I scrolled Facebook to see the holiday activities I should do to make this Christmas the most magical. I watched Instagram reels of recipes to bake to bring the best treats to the parties – and if I had an entire day to bake. I saved Pinterest articles on how to decorate a fireplace mantel I don’t have and craft the best homemade presents as if I myself lived in the North Pole.
Yes, I turned to social media to release holiday anxiety only for the endless scrolling to gift me with more of its horrifying presence.
Staying Afloat in Holiday Chaos
Do you ever feel a lingering need to do more? I think it’s ever more present this time of year. Expectations create an inescapable need to measure up, wrapped in an unwavering desire to achieve. The value I bring is tied to the outcome of achievement, tying a perfect bow on holiday chaos.
I longingly look at a table loaded with my desires to perfectly please others with handmade recipes and décor tutorials. We appreciate another’s time and talents at the expense of putting down our own. With a table plated in the love, time, and the talents of others, sometimes I wonder:
What do I bring to the table?
As I think about all there is to do, my stomach tangles in knots, but not because of my people-pleasing desires or a list of to-dos. If everyone is bringing something to place on the table, I want to make sure what I bring is enough. And maybe that is why I place pressure on myself to “do.” Without décor tutorials, Pinterest recipes, and keeping up with endless traditions, I won’t have anything to bring to the table. We don’t need to have it all together, and I wrote about that in another recent post. Below are three ways we can be present over perfect this new year.
3 ways we can be present over perfect in 2024:
1. Know your value is not found in what you do.
God doesn’t require me to come to the table proving my worthiness and presenting evidence with a sirloin meal. I don’t need to bring a feast to the table to bring something of value. He invites me to His table, present over perfect.
Yes, friend, our store-bought potato chips are enough.
2. Know your value is not found in how much you are liked.
When we are tempted to feel like we are not “good” unless our set tables and plans run smoothly, know that you are enough. Jesus wants our hearts not our perfection.
I can be present over perfect when I choose to see my value in Christ.
3. Know that nothing brings true joy until Jesus Christ is the One who satisfies.
We create high hopes that the honeyed ham will settle our starved stomachs, the chips we mindlessly snack on will cure our stress-ridden cravings, the charcuterie spreads will ease our aesthetic needs when our kitchen looks far from Pinterest goals, and the traditional pecan pies will fulfill every longing for holidays past we wished this year would be. We put our time into traditions and effort into meals that we hope will heal our heart from the peace we have been long depraved of this year.
Whether you are settling down for Christmas leftovers or preparing next year’s feast, everyone is bringing something to the table. But just like mindless chip-eating and snack-stuffing, nothing quite satisfies. Only Jesus can fill your emptiness and long-awaited longings. Let your focus be on knowing nothing brings joy like Jesus Christ! Only He will satisfy.
As the Christmas season passes and a new year begins, rest in the simplicity of a silent night. We have a Savior who came to save us, not because we are worth saving but because He is worth praising. Our ultimate mission is to praise Him when life isn’t perfect but HE is perfect!
We can have a seat at the table not because we are perfect but because we are seated with Christ!
