Tis the Season

There's not much more of a discouraging thing than seeing people grumpy and rude around the Holiday Season. I mean isn't it the time for cheer? The time for glee and gladness? The time for strangers being friendly and united?



Or not.



Well, while we can't change the stressful shoppers, panicked parents, or dangerous drivers.... while we can't change the fact that doors will still get slammed in your face, parking spots swiped, and lines cut.... and yes this will all sting more as the first thought in your head says, "Really? But it's CHRISTMAS time!".... yet we can change one thing. One person that is, and that person is you.



So if you want to make this Christmas a little more special, a little more meaningful, and a little more real, here are 10 ideas for you. Keep in mind, while the list might seem simple, it will often require murderess actions as you must die to self and slaughter pride. For while these might seem like simple acts of kindness, the challenge is to do them not only for the like-able, attractive, and kind.... but to do them to the rough, the tough, and the ungrateful. In other words, these acts are at their greatest when they are the hardest and least natural for you to do them:



1. Let someone ahead of you in line, even if they have more things to buy than you do.

2. Make eye contact and smile to someone at the store.

3. Hold the door for a stranger.

4. Give a Christmas card to someone who's not a friend or family. Maybe just an acquaintance or someone that you've struggled with getting along with.

5. Give someone the gift of your time, which is especially rare and valuable this time of year.

6. Use your best manners to retail workers, clerks, mail workers, etc. as they are treated the worst this time of year.

7. Tell random people "Merry Christmas" with a big smile.

8. Buy the person's coffee behind you in line at Starbucks.

9. Instead of fuming over the driver who cut you off or wouldn't let you in, pray for them.

10. Give someone a gift without them knowing it was from you.

Of course, the greatest thing you could do this Christmas Season is to tell someone about the birth, life, death, and resurrection of Christ; and the ultimate gift of forgiveness from Him, a relationship with Him, and an eternity in Heaven with Him.