Gratitude & Christmas

A Season of Contrast

Christmas brings out the best and the worst in all of us.

We use this season to give to others, yet we are constantly focused on what we can get.

We declare this holiday as joyful and peaceful, yet for many, December is one of the hardest months of the year.

We make an effort to connect with friends and family, yet many of us don’t truly enjoy it.

We take time off work and school to rest and recharge, yet the refrain we hear in place of carols is “I’m so stressed.”

Why are these paradoxes so prevalent in our society? Well, life is hard. And it gets to us when we are expected to buy gifts, spend time with relatives and remember lost ones, and coordinate a million details.

Gratitude

It’s perfectly normal to experience these feelings to some extent, but when they become too extreme, a little gratitude could do everyone a lot of good. Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give, and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.” Gratitude is looking around us and acknowledging that there are things in our life that bring us joy. It is focusing on the abundance of reasons to be happy instead of the reasons to be sad.

If I’m ever having trouble thinking of things to feel grateful about, I remember that I have the privilege of living in this world full of azure skies and tangerine sunsets and sweet air. I remember that I am alive. And I challenge myself to not just exist, but to genuinely live.