How to Find Family PEACE In A Season of Hurry

December 7, 2015 Craig Jutila

Here are five ideas that will help all of us find Family PEACE during this season of hurry.

P - Plan Ahead

Easy to say and hard to do, I understand. I don’t plan ahead well however, my wife does and there are times I ask her for help. I like what Proverbs 21:5 says from The Message, “Careful planning puts you ahead in the long run; hurry and scurry puts you further behind.” Use your calendar and communicate to everyone. Planning ahead will bring peace today and worry away.

E - Expect Less

Someone recently asked me at a parenting conference, “What;s the secret to a happy family?” The response I blurted out, “Low Expectations.” Lol. As I have had a few weeks to think about it my answer hasn’t changed that much. We have trouble in our society with being “enough.”

We mistakenly compare ourselves to others, heck, we compare our parenting and our kids to other parents and kids and then surmise, “we aren’t doing enough, we aren’t good enough, we aren’t smart enough," and we all know that list can go on and on. We need to decide on thing today, we are doing our best and we are enough!

A - Allow Space

Look at our calendars, especially this time of year. We have appointments all day then we rush home to dinner then rush to a practice or activity then rush to the mall…then…then…then.

Create some space in our calendar, allow some margin. If your calendar looks like this…

3:00:5:00pm Meeting
5:00-5:30pm Dinner
5:30-8:00pm Kids Basketball Practice

Where is the margin? What happens at 5:00pm sharp? Are dinner and the kids brought to the meeting or do you teleport home in under a minute? What about 5:30pm? Hover Craft or Time Warp to practice? If you are bumping appointments right up against practice you have no space, no margin. Creating space will give you some time to breathe.

C - Clean Up

Christmas clutter! And I don’t mean people, places and things to do. How about those catalogs! Since December 1st we have received over 40 catalogs from various vendors! Where do those catalogs end up? On the counter, right?

Well, starting today, when you return from the mailbox you will stand over the circular file (trash can) and immediately discarding the ones you will never shop from. Then, put the remaining catalogs in a cute little box that has a lid on it and looks like a Christmas decoration…I read about this idea, it’s not mine.

Here’s the bottom line. Don’t put the catalogs down, put them away.

E - Embrace Thankfulness

I know for myself that hurry and out of balance living, even if for a season, causes me anxiety accompanied by an acute lack of thankfulness. Emotionally hurried hearts have a tendency to be less thankful. Read the story of the 10 Lepers in Luke 17:11-19. According to this story hurried people that return to give thanks is about 10%. If we embrace thankfulness, if we live with a deep gratitude for all that we have, we will find peace. "Give thanks in all circumstances." 1 Thessalonians 5:18a

Questions:

Which way will you pursue PEACE this season?

Planning Ahead
Expecting Less
Allowing Space
Cleaning Up
Embracing Thankfulness

Do you have another way to pursue PEACE this season?