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Holiday Family Gathering Coming Up? Let the Beatitudes Quell Your Attitudes
John Shore - Writer, Editor, Author

Many people relish the Holiday Family Gathering. Ideally we would all relish it---but, alas, for many attending a HFG is like going to the dentist: unavoidable, uncomfortable, painful, disturbingly intrusive, and way too much about what you do and don't eat.

Mostly, of course, both visits are all about enduring it while your open nerves get poked at and jabbed.

Does thinking about an upcoming family gathering make you want to hide beneath a lead blanket and start spitting? Good ---because times of emotional stress are the times to heed Jesus.

Bearing that truth in mind, let us turn to the Beatitudes from Jesus' Sermon on the Mount, that perfect distillation of his overall message to the world. At the beginning of each beatitude, Jesus teaches us one aspect of who we should strive to become in order to more fully manifest him. So let's consider what role each beatitude might play in our attitude, in order to preclude our getting stewed, blued, in a feud (or booed!) when for the holidays we meet with our brood.

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Here's what Jesus teaches us at Matthew 5:3-12 (Online Bible), and how we can use it to this year be a blessing to ourselves and our families when we meet with them over the holidays.

Blessed are the poor in spirit. We tend to go into family gatherings pretty keyed up. We feel intense, alert, super-sensitive to everything everybody says and does; when we hear, "You're here!" our spidey senses kick fully on. But that's exactly the opposite of being "poor in spirit"; that's being too rich in spirit. At its core that's all about ego. Before stepping into your family gathering, take a minute, take a breath, and fill yourself with the Holy Spirit---which eradicates your grubby, score-keeping ego spirit, and brings in its place the spirit of Jesus. And if there's one thing Jesus showed us, it's that it's all about wanting and keeping nothing for yourself.

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