I started thinking about this post about 2 months ago, but I’m just now at a place where I want to put my thoughts to the page, This season has brought both great joy and great sorrow. In the face of this busy and festive time of year, I am frequently reminded that we often face both highs and lows simultaneously.

It is a beautiful Christmas morning and everybody I love is safely tucked away somewhere in the world. That brings my heart peace and joy. Few of us are currently without some form of struggle or heartache. Yet I see everyone moving through the holiday doing their best to choose the joy. This also brings my heart some peace.

I believe the most effective way to move through hardship is with a level of faith, which means choosing grace and perhaps a few forced smiles. All, however, are exercising faith to some degree because they are holding on to hope that whatever the hardship may be, it will be endured and things will get better.

“but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.”
‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭40‬:‭31‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Life’s struggles and heartaches come in all different shapes and sizes, however that doesn’t change their impact on those moving through them. For example, in our house, we are struggling with a puppy who is working her way into adulthood and trying to establish her place in the pack. This may sound fairly benign, but for me, this is one of the most vulnerable and tender pieces of my heart.

You see, our dogs are a great source of pure joy in my life. We have two, both poodles, both absolutely precious in their own ways. Our boy dog is a few months shy of 4 years old and our girl dog is a few months shy of 2 years old. They come from the same family (his mama and her daddy are siblings) and he was with her for the first 7 weeks of her life in the home of the friend who breeds them.

She was a gift to me from my parents after the loss of our sweet Shih Tzu. We’ve stayed in close touch with her breeder, who quickly became a dear friend. About 6 months after we got the little girl, we lost our dear little Chihuahua. At that time, she had a dog she’d raised and shown, who was ready to move to his forever home, and we were blessed to have him join our little family. Thus, the poodle pack was born.

That was over a year ago now and they are a wonderful blessing to us. The little girl, however, is stretching her boundaries and has become a bit of a challenge around mealtimes. We are working on it and it’s starting to get better, but it has been an enormous challenge for me. It has been the first significant challenge we’ve faced with these gentle pups.

For me, having my safe place and my spirit calming place impacted by such unexpected disharmony has been a great test of my own faith. My ability to set aside my human fears and lean into the Lord’s peace. My Christmas gift this morning was an uneventful breakfast and a submissive little girl dog. We still have work to do, but the gift was one of progress…and that was a wonderful gift indeed.

My point is this: my way of leaning into the peace that comes through my faith in Jesus Christ is leaning into hope and knowing that eventually the struggle will pass and God will give me what I need to endure in the meantime. I take my focus off of myself and how the situation is impacting me and focusing my energy on moving forward.

The self less approach…always working to focus on myself LESS! That is how I find peace. Of course, I’m not always successful at jumping right to this place and living in a state of hunky-dory. It often takes time and consistent effort to turn my mind away from myself and my worries, feelings, emotions, or what have you. It takes work. Exercising faith takes work.

I never doubt God or the sacrifice of Christ. The only person I doubt is me. Thankfully, the good Lord always finds ways to do His work through me as I continue to do my best at staying open to His will and His work. Self LESS, Him MORE.

May we all make this our focus as we move through the celebration of the birth of Christ and into the new year. The challenges we are facing right now will one day pass and new ones will come along to take their place, as this broken world assures. But what will never change is how the presence of God and practicing faith in our lives can help us endure every new challenge that comes along.

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”
‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29‬:‭11‬ ‭NIV‬‬