Lose the Negativity

By Danielle Bean

One Advent, I decided to avoid Facebook in the weeks before Christmas. Reading the posts of other people and engaging in conversation had been a distracting daily habit. I wanted to find more opportunities for quiet. Avoiding Facebook did bring me more quiet, but what I could not anticipate was the joy that skipping my daily read brought me.

Only in its absence could I see just how negative many of my interactions had become on Facebook. I found that I did not miss reading negative news stories, arguing with strangers whose minds I would never change and seeing photos and descriptions of other people’s (apparently) beautifully perfect lives that I was tempted to envy.

I was a happier person without Facebook. When we remove negativity from our lives, we make room for joy. Making room for Jesus, especially during Advent, can make our Christmas season more joyful as well.

What things bring you down daily? How can you remove or reduce them to make more room for the joy that Jesus brings?

PRAY

Jesus, we want to be joyful, but we are tempted to focus on negative things. Especially as our celebration of your birth is fast approaching, help us to see the ways in which the choices we make can hurt ourselves and others. Give us grace, we pray, to change what we can. Jesus, bring us joy.

ACT

Plan a fun family activity today. Make hot cocoa and read stories before bedtime, or go for a drive and look at Christmas lights in your neighborhood. Make a simple plan to add joy to your day.