Lights and cards and gifts and pageants. Baking and organizing and decorating and shopping. Parties to attend. Lists to follow. How do you care for yourself when holiday activities reach a fever pitch mid-December? 

The Apostle Paul recommends prayer. He said that in praying, “the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7). 

But is the most effective approach to prayer merely a pleading for respite from the frenetic pace? I have prayed that way on occasion, but was never really satisfied by such prayer. The prayer that truly rests and refreshes involves affirming, and coming to feel, the all-power and all-presence of God, divine Love, omniscient Mind, all-need-supplying Spirit. And it can make a huge difference.

One Christmas season, while caring for home and family responsibilities, I made a point of turning to God in prayer several times each day for peace, rest, direction, and especially for the quiet that would allow me to hear God’s thoughts throughout the day. A passage from Mary Baker Eddy’s Miscellaneous Writings 1883–1896 was particularly helpful during this time.

She wrote, “A little more grace, a motive made pure, a few truths tenderly told, a heart softened, a character subdued, a life consecrated, would restore the right action of the mental mechanism, and make manifest the movement of body and soul in accord with God” (p. 354).

No matter how busy I was, I tucked into my days as many opportunities as I could find to express grace, share truths with friends in need, improve my motives—in other words, to live my prayers. This eased me through the most hectic times and gave real substance to my activities.

The prayer that truly rests and refreshes involves coming to feel the all-power and all-presence of God.

One day, though, as I was preparing for a dinner party for 30, I had a moment when I was particularly frazzled. I needed to go do the grocery shopping for the dinner early in the morning before attending my daughter’s school concert. It was essential that everything go like clockwork that day, as I really didn’t have a minute to spare. I made a very intricate list of ingredients the night before. Just before heading to the store in the morning, I took a moment to clip some coupons. When I arrived at the store, I discovered I had the coupons in one hand, but no list.

There was no time to go home and retrieve the list, and the items were unusual ingredients and in different quantities from what I would normally buy. I had no idea what to look for or how much I would need without that list. I was pretty angry with myself. I had no time for this! But with my empty shopping cart in front of me, I began to pray to see what God would have me know and do.

In a few moments the answer came, “The divine Mind that enabled you to organize that list at home is with you right here at the store.” This message put a stop to all the self-condemnation and frustration clamoring for attention.

I started shopping. As I did, I pondered my motive in hosting this dinner party. It occurred to me that divine Love had impelled the activity. This dinner was to be an engagement party for my stepson and a first opportunity for the couple’s families to meet. I figured that the same divine Love, impelling the activity, was also supplying me with the intelligence, energy, skill, and time to carry it out. Realizing that Love was my motivator and was supplying all the grace I needed to follow through with the plans, lifted a burdened feeling that I had carried since I first proposed the idea of hosting the dinner.

As I shopped, I found that I knew just what I needed and how much to purchase. When I arrived home, I checked the items against the list and found that not only had I purchased every item in the exact quantities noted, but I didn’t purchase one single item beyond what was written on that list!

I wish you thoughtful, joy-filled, and quiet moments today. May the peace of God through Christ, found in prayer, keep your minds and hearts and motives and activities centered on divine, ever-present good. And may each of your December days be full of memorable expressions of God’s grace.