The holidays are right around the corner. I’m certain your schedule is already filling up with school concerts, church events, and parties at work. “The press of decorating, cooking, finding the ugliest sweater, and looking for meaningful gifts gets to all of us—even those who most strongly dislike the commercialized rush of the Christmas season,” writes TGC books editor, Andrew Spencer. How do we keep our focus on Jesus? 

Each year as December approaches, I’m reminded this is the time of year I learned how to lead my family devotionally. A pastor shared a devotional website with our family just before Thanksgiving, and then we set up a tiny one-and-a-half-foot Christmas tree from the discount store in our living room. As the devotional challenged us, we hung a laminated paper ornament for each day of Advent. By reading through the devotionals and hanging the ornaments, we developed a habit of reading the Bible together as a family. 

Though I’m not always consistent with family devotions throughout the year, the Christmas season always seems to draw our family back to time together in the Word. This year, we’ll work through one of the resources Spencer recommends. I’d encourage you to do the same. Let the structure of the Advent countdown focus you on the Savior who came to save long ago and will one day come again. 

With hope for new life,