Thanksgiving: Gather with Grace

Mixed in among all the joy can come a lot of stress and anxiety: physical stress of managing the calendar with all its activity and responsibility, emotional stress with all the highs and lows of each event and a lifetime of associated memories, relational stress of added pressure to already pressured family relationships, and spiritual stress of the “hustle and bustle” pushing out our normal time for prayer, study and reflection.

How can we change our focus in this stressful season? How can we face its given challenges from a Christian worldview? Let us suggest the answer is grace- abundant grace received from our Savior that we may apply it to ourselves and extend it out to others. A common definition of “grace” is “unmerited favor.” It’s a gift we don’t deserve, offered freely from the Grace Giver out of His unending unconditional love for us. During the holiday season, grace can become the soothing salve our souls need to hold to the “love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control” (Galatians 5: 22) we are equipped by the Spirit to live out.

Here are a few suggestions of how to gather with grace:

1. Lower expectations. High expectations bring a high likelihood of disappointment. Reflect on previous experiences and come with a realistic idea of what could go wrong. Assuming the worst usually means giving up hope, and we don’t want to do that, but put your hope in God and ask Him to show and up and surprise everyone with better-than-expected experiences.

1. Cut back the calendar. It’s a great time to scale back the family calendar to an as-needed-only strategy. If it can wait, it should. Try to look ahead and plan several weeks’ worth of activities, intentionally carving out margin for home and quiet time for everyone.

1. Focus on people. People matter more than a perfect pie and a spotless home. You will enjoy the gathering more if your focus is on the people there and your relationships with them (and they will enjoy you more than if “you are worried and upset about many things” (Luke 10:41)).

1. Extend grace. There’s always a reason people are the way they are. See beyond the frustrating behaviors to the image-bearer who has likely been wounded by this broken world. Give yourself grace and give those gathered around the grace and love that Christ “poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit” (Romans 5:5).

At the center of this busy season comes Christmas, the sacred celebration of the coming of God’s Son to save our broken world. He came bringing “grace upon grace” (John 1:17). He entered into our stress to bring peace. He willingly left His heavenly home to walk among “weird and wounded” people showing a better way. Deity put on humanity. The One who judges brought grace.

This holiday season, may we be grace givers. When we gather around a table, may we look around at each image-bearer and extend grace. May we not miss what matters most, which is what matters most in every season. Childlike dependence on a Savior who died to give us fullness and freedom. Humble service to our brothers and sisters (those in Christ and those in our families). Faithful trust in a gracious God who reigns over all.

At the Identity Project, we’re all about trusting God. We are a community of Christ followers encouraging each other to lean greater into our Creator and His rich plan for our flourishing. We trust the great Grace Giver’s good will shaping us to be more like His Son for the sake of the world. And gathered together, we experience the power of His Spirit, restoring us to the wholeness and freedom, unity and joy He brings.