Keeping Christmas from Becoming ChristMESS (Pt. 4)

I am presenting 4 main points under the topic of "Keeping Christmas from Becoming ChristMESS". These steps will help you keep your sanity and focus during what is sometimes the most stressful time of the year.

Take the time to read the first three if you have not done so already, then look at the final point which is posted below:

IV. REJOICE IN YOUR BLESSINGS
Philip. 4:4 Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!

It seems strange that a man in prison would be telling a church to rejoice. But Paul’s attitude teaches us an important lesson: our inner attitudes do not have to reflect our outward circumstances. Paul was full of joy because he knew that no matter what happened to him, Jesus Christ was with him.

Someone rightly said that “Your attitude determines your altitude” –

There are a host of things we could put down here as being able to rejoice, especially for our salvation, but another obvious thing we can be thankful and rejoice about is:

A. The Blessing of Family

Statistic: Sources of Pleasure
What do people consider the greatest source of pleasure in their lives?
According to a 1989 study conducted for Massachusetts Mutual Life Insurance Corporation, the overwhelming answer is “family,” selected by 63 percent of respondents.

Trailing far behind, receiving only a tenth of that response, were religious involvement (8 percent), work (6 percent), and friends (6 percent). Comments Dr. Lee Salk, clinical professor of psychology at Cornell, who interpreted the data: “Most Americans think of their families as the most important things in their lives.”
—Reported in USA Today, 10/10/89. “To Verify,” Leadership.

B. The Blessing of Provision

A person who is not grateful for what they have will never truly be grateful for what they may get. It might last for awhile, but we must realize that contentment comes from what we have on the inside, not what we might gain on the outside.

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor.
—Benjamin Franklin

Here’s a scripture on being content that perhaps you may have not heard:
Eccles. 4:6 Better one handful with tranquility than two handfuls with toil and chasing after the wind.

Sometimes, we can get just a bit too caught up in the latest and greatest, and getting ahead, and we might just want to step back at times and say “why”?

The Attorney and the Fisherman

A hard-driving corporate attorney saw a fisherman he knew from church one afternoon, legs dangling off the pier as he helped his two young sons catch crabs. “Why aren’t you out there fishing?” he asked.
“Because I’ve caught enough fish for today.”
“Why don’t you catch more fish than you need?”
“What would I do with them?” asked the fisherman.
“You could earn more money and buy a better boat so you could go deeper and catch more fish. Then you could buy a fleet of boats. Soon you’d be rich like me.”
“What would I do then?”
“You could sit down and enjoy life.”
“What do you think I’m doing now?”
—Ray Pritchard, quoted in Men of Integrity, Vol. 3, no. 5.