We call them “the holidays,” but it’s really a stretch of weeks between Thanksgiving and New Years Day, with Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in between. And it all can be exhausting.

Everything shifts during the holidays: more stress, more social events, more calories (“Tis the season to be pudgy”), more responsibilities (to shop, wrap, decorate). It’s enough to tempt us to put our spiritual lives on hold.

Which is ironic, isn’t it? That the season set aside to remember and celebrate the birth of Christ becomes the reason we don’t have time to think about him.

How can we make time to be quiet with Jesus and be with one another during “the holidays”?

Sue Tell’s article “Discipleship in December” explores this question. She suggests four key strategies:

1. The practice of being, not doing.

2. The practice of listening, not reading.

3. The practice of engaging in conversation.

4. The practice of cultivating friendship.

If there ever was a time to set aside precious moments for solitude, silence, listening, and cultivating friendship, the frantic season of the holidays is that time. Don’t let the demands of the season rob you and your friends of the beauties of time alone with God and with one another.