Why Am I Dreading December Already?

Speaker A00:00:28

Hey, Ralph, why do I always feel so anxious and overwhelmed as soon as December starts? I want to enjoy the season, but every year I lose my peace before it even begins. You ever catch yourself sighing before December even begins?Like you haven't even heard the first Christmas song, but your shoulders are already starting to tense up and you feel like that to do list feels like it's mocking you. Maybe you even feel guilty for not feeling joyful, like you're supposed to be merry. But all you feel is pressure.If that's you, I'm gonna tell you right now, rest assured you're not alone in that. So many people believe that same thing. Listen to this one.A 2025 survey by the American Psychological association found this 72% adults say the holiday season is their most stressful time of year. And for many, that stress starts before December even hits. But here's the truth. Peace doesn't come from having everything done.You need to hear that right off the jump here. It comes from surrendering it all to God before the rushing begins. So let's talk about finding peace today before December even starts.That's what we're going to cover on today's show.

Speaker B00:01:32

This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence.

Speaker A00:01:43

Welcome to the show, everybody. I'm Ralph. I'm so happy you chose to join me today. I so grateful for the confidence you place in me by coming to see me every day.And my goal every day is pretty simple. It's to help you break that cycle of financial shame and truly live in confidence.If you can say, ralph, you're helping me break the cycle, then I've done my job for today. And I've helped countless people just like you plan for peace and not panic during the holidays. Listen, I've learned this personally.Peace takes preparation, just like your finances. I'm good at finances, but peace, man, that's something I'm still working on, but. But we have to prepare for it. I'll never forget this.I had a client come into me one time and she says, ralph, I always run out of peace before I run out of money. I know that that line was great. We were talking about financial stuff.She goes, ralph, I'm cool with the money side, but I always run out of peace before I run out of money. And that stuck with me. And I encourage her to do something. I said, listen, here's one of the things I'm going to encourage you to do.Why don't you start journaling your December intention. Just spend 10 minutes a day and just journal what you're feeling. Set that down in paper, because, listen, you're running out of peace.You got to figure out why that is. And I'm going to forget. She came to me a couple months later. I remember it's February and March. We were doing our taxes.She says, ralph, man, that changed everything about the holiday season. I just wrote what I was feeling every day. I put it on the paper, I closed the notebook, and then I went back to living in gratefulness.And I love what Pastor Rick Warren said. He said, you can't have the peace of God until you make peace with. With God. And it's so easy in our culture to forget about that.But I love what he says. He says, you can't have the peace of God until you make peace with God.So today on the show, let's talk about why we always feel so anxious and overwhelmed as soon as December starts. But bigger than those things, let me tell you how you can get past that. First thing I'm going to tell you to do. It all starts with planning.You got to look ahead. You got to put a schedule together. Now you're like, Ralph, that sounds pretty regimented. That sounds pretty legalistic. But.But listen, a schedule gives you room to breathe. Because here's the thing I want you to hear. Peace isn't going to happen by accident. You need to really be intentional.I'm going to call it your intentional peace plan. Kind of like, you know, at United nations, they come up with these peace plans.Well, that's what you need to do for December because you need space to grow. Think of peace as a savings account. Think about this for just a second.You put money in a savings account, but you got to deposit daily before you draw anything out during those hard days, if you're not putting contributions into that savings account, listen, and then an emergency comes up, there's nothing in the account. Well, peace works the same way. You've got to build that into your schedule. That's the first thing. Second thing. And listen, Mom's out there.I'm going to speak to you for a second. It's okay to set boundaries because every yes costs time and rests. It's okay to say no. You.You probably said, ralph, I've heard that the last few days on you. It's so important because so many people don't understand yes, you can say no in love so that you can say yes to what truly matters.Because your calendar is Like a financial budget. We talk on the show about financial budgets all the time. But if you're overspending the time, guess what happens?Like my client said, you're going to be spiritually broke. And when you're spiritually broke, everyone's going to suffer from that.But when you take your time back, when you say no to things, you've got time to honor and you've got time to consider what's truly important in the holidays. And here's another thing I'm going to encourage you to do. Simplify those expectations.There's this huge contrast between what culture and faith is telling us. I talk about this on my show all the time. I'm going to do a little plug here right quick. I do a weekly show. It's called Truth Unveiled with Ralph.And in that show, I talk about how we're constantly battling culture and faith. I'm going to encourage you to check it out. We'll put it in the show notes. But it's real simple to get to.It's truth unveiled with Ralph.com because the world says joy comes from those perfect decorations. You know, that beautiful Christmas tree and all the sparkling lights, those big moments. But God says something so completely different than that.God says joy comes from his presence, not the presence under the tree. And your family needs this. Your family needs that calm spirit more than that picture perfect holiday.We spend so much time in our life struggling for that picture perfect holiday. But God just wants us to have joy and he wants us to have peace. Well, how do you do that? You got to schedule this time.Listen again, I'm going to harp on this for a second, but set aside 10 to 15 minutes each morning. This is why I encourage you to do for the month of December, set aside 10 or 15 minutes each morning for just prayer and reflection.Maybe a slow cup of coffee. I don't drink coffee, but I do drink tea. I got my teacup right here. I start the day every day with some tea.But before the day even begins, just pray about what's going to happen today. Reflect on what God has given you. Because listen, peace is built in that stillness.And like I talked about on yesterday's show, it all starts with gratitude. It's all about being grateful. See, thankfulness can become a huge decision filter.If it doesn't bring gratitude or peace, it doesn't belong in your life. I know that's a strong thing to say, but if what you're fixing to do, my grandfather, you are fixing all the time, good Southern gentleman.But if what you're fixing to do isn't bringing you gratitude or isn't bringing you peace, it doesn't belong in that, because gratitude will shift your focus from what's missing to or what we already have. And that's what we got to focus on so many times. So I'm going to add a little something to the show today.I'm going to call this my reflective moment. So before today, anything else goes on, before you rush into the next thing, I want you to just pause a minute.I want you to ask yourself this question, maybe write this down and ask yourself this every day. What's the one thing stealing my peace right now? Think about that for a second. What's that one thing that's stealing your peace?And what would it look like to give that to God instead of trying to fix it myself? See that surrender we're talking about? What's that one thing that's stealing my peace right now?And what would it feel like to give that to God instead of trying to fix it myself? Which leads us to today's Bible verse. It comes to us from the book of Philippians, chapter 4, verses 6 to 7. It says this.And I want you to anchor you today in this. Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your request to God.And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. So let's pray together, Lord, before the rush begins. I give you my December, Lord. I just surrender it to you. I surrender my schedule.I surrender my spending. I surrender my spirit. And I just answer you. Replace my worry with worship and my chaos with calm.Help me find peace not in what I finish, but in what you've already finished for me and in who you are. And I ask this in complete confidence in the name of Jesus, Amen. Okay, here's your action item.Before December begins, I want you to schedule one peace hour this weekend. Just one peace hour. No tasks, no screens, no obligation. Just a time to rest, a time to reflect and listen.Be thankful for what God has given you because God has given you so much. And when we really focus on what God has given us, man, we will truly find the joy and the reason for the season.Now, before I wrap up today, I want to invite you to be part of something special, something we just launched. It's called the Financially Confident Christian Community. Now, this is a wonderful place where believers just like you can grow together.We can share encouragement. We can share those blessings that we're feeling. We can share those challenges that we're having.It's a way to help spread God's truth about money and about all the deeds, the things we're dealing with in our spiritual lives. And you can join it real simple. It doesn't cost you a dime.You go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join and when you go there now, there are some ways that you can support the show there. I'm not going to tell you that's not true. You can, but you don't have to. You're not just supporting the show.You're helping build a community of faith and you're building community of freedom that reaches people listen all over the world. So I want to encourage you right now, come be part of what God is doing through this mission. It's super simple to get there.That'sat financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. We'll put that in the show notes. But again, that's financiallyconfidentchristian.com/join. Why don't you consider joining that today?Listen to me as I end today. Peace doesn't just happen.If you think peace is going to be like that Buddhist fellow who just sits there and the peace just rains down on you, doesn't work that way. I'm sorry to burst your bubble. It's a choice. It's an intentional decision to live in peace.And you can't control December, but you can control your pace of December because God's peace isn't seasonal. It's steady. He's rock solid with that. So prepare your heart now and walk into it this December.Go today and be that financially confident Christian that I know you can be. You have the strength. You can do this. Stay financially savvy. God bless you. And I hope you join me again tomorrow on the show.