Love Breaks All the Rules
5 ideas to love people this holiday season
I nursed my daughter in the same rocking chair I always do.
I stood up, slowly and carefully, with her slumped over my shoulder, like I always do.
I bounced her as I paced a few circles around the room, like I always do.
But, on the night of her second birthday—a night I knew I would never get back, I didn’t gently place her into bed right away, like I always do.
That night, I went off script.
I held her tight. I paced a few more circles. I kissed her shoulder. I felt her tiny, sleepy body. I remembered how that same little body felt two years ago when we first arrived home from the hospital, as I sat up all night and watched her sleep, and nursed her every time she cried.
When we’re in love, we tend to disregard the rules. We push boundaries. We sacrifice things we normally cling to. We cease to care about what’s normal or common. We set aside convenience and routine and reputation and self-gratification.
Love doesn’t always fit within our normal routines. It forces us outside our walls and boxes and schedules.
Love breaks all the rules.
My example of rocking my toddler was small and mundane, but can’t you relate to the way that falling and being in love makes you a little reckless?
Kind of like how a certain King bent all of time and space, literally breaking all the laws of the universe, to love us.
We’ll become less and less human as we lose sight of what the first Christmas was all about: someone who was so crazy in love that he took unprecedented action to be with the ones He loved. (John 3:16)
This way of living sounds ideal and beautiful, but also kinda intangible. What does that even mean?
How do we translate this kind of love into each of our real lives, on our particular streets and with the specific people we see daily?
Funny you should ask, because I happen to have a few ideas for us.
5 ideas for loving people this season (and in any season):
Invite someone outside of your “inner circle” to Christmas dinner/to celebrate Christmas with you. Do you have any friends or acquaintances who’d love an invitation this Christmas? Even if you feel weird, just ask. And don’t sweat it if they say no. At least they know they were wanted and that they don’t have to be alone. Our friends invited us into their family traditions last year when we didn’t have any family in Seattle, and we felt so loved. It was a sacrifice for them, but we appreciated it more than they probably even knew.
Give someone a gift when you know they can’t or won’t reciprocate. Even an encouraging little homemade Christmas card might be enough to turn someone’s day around.
Forgive something you can’t forget. Be the first to initiate healing in a broken relationship. Genuinely apologize, or ask God for strength to heal a grudge you’ve been holding for way too long.
Pay a little extra to support a small business owner. It’s a sacrifice to shop small, and it’s not always possible, but if you can, try and support one or two hardworking business owners this season by buying a couple gifts from them.
Whatever you have in excess, give it away. Here are some examples:
If you have time, offer it up. Volunteer with a church or organization that’s helping people. Take extra time to make special homemade gifts or cards for your grandparents. Offer to babysit for a friend who could use some “me” time. Sit and have coffee with your grandparent who’s usually alone.
If you have money, pay for a family’s Christmas dinner, buy their children gifts, or just grab your friend a coffee on your way to their house. Give to a charity or church whose mission you support. Give an extra special gift to someone you know has had a rough year.
Donate your talent or professional skills to help someone in need. Cook your roommates a meal, make bouquets for your parents’ Christmas table, design free graphics for a small shop’s Christmas sale, or offer to do a couple people’s hair for free (preferably only if you’re a hairdresser—not a cook or florist or graphic designer😉).
Loving people like crazy can start with small, mundane, seemingly trivial gestures. Some of these gestures might make us temporarily uncomfortable or feel stretching, but connecting with another human and showing them love is always worth the sacrifice.
What other ideas would you add to this list?
Book Progress
At last! I hung up my giant Post-It notes so I can try and organize my 100 pages of content (and counting) into digestible chapters! Woohoo!
Gotta celebrate the small victories when you’re working toward a task this big, ya know?
I also finally got all of my notes and quotes from other sources onto one doc and started doing a super rough outline of the main topics/chapters. My organization-inclined friend and I are gonna have a virtual girls’ night tonight to start actually using those giant Post-It notes.
This phase has felt more like work and less like fun, but I’s still so excited and just can’t believe I’m actually doing it.
(If you’re a new subscriber, hi! Welcome. I’m currently writing my first book that I plan to self-publish. It’s been a lifelong dream, and I’m sharing my weekly progress here! I’ll also occasionally ask for feedback as I go along. Thanks for being part of the wild, fun, terrifying journey!)
Five Faves
Jackbox Games. I know most people have already played these, but I figured you could use the reminder like I did. I forgot how fun these games are to play with a group! We played with our friends after Thanksgiving dinner, and it was hysterical. Perfect for holiday gatherings coming up!
These non-toxic, handmade candles. One of my mentors in college, Sarah Heinss, started a candle business! I just placed my first order, and I can’t wait to smell them!! Go support a small business owner and grab some Christmas gifts!
Dehydrated orange slices as Christmas decor! I made these for the first time for my Thanksgiving table decor, and they were SO fun and beautiful! You can use them for place settings, string them into garland, and even put them in cocktails and apple cider! There are lots of recipes out there that are slightly different, but they all basically involve baking orange slices for multiple hours, haha.
Junior Mints. A blast from the past, but don’t sleep on this one. I had forgotten they were dairy-free, but Jos brought them home for me for our movie night the other night. Now I’m hooked again.
Another blast from the past: sibling Mario Kart tournaments. Why is Mario Kart so fun, and why does it lead to more bonding and inside jokes than any other activity?? Something about doing what you loved to do as kids is very healing as an adult, haha.
Hope you had a great Thanksgiving and that you find a few ways to show somebody love this week. Thanks as always for reading these little letters. ❤️
‘Til next week,
Sarah
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