The "Straight Shot to Christmas" Picks Up Steam
Last time we talked about autumn in New York at work. With the beauty, freshness and energy that come with the season, though, you may also be confronted with that rather daunting "end-of-year" push we find in so many businesses.
What we previously described as the "straight shot to Christmas" really picks up steam just around the time of the end-of-year push, as fall unfolds. The sequence basically starts with fall, proceeds through Advent, and winds up at Our Lord's manger on Christmas Eve.
First, we'll skip over the mad dash you find in retail businesses. After all, we all know about the Christmas shopping season. For many retail businesses, the last two months of the year account for the majority of their annual sales. You can understand management pushing their employees this time of year. In some cases, survival depends on sales in November and December. If you're in retail, all of this should be second nature, just a part of what you do. So if you're in retail and the end-of-year push isn't already in your blood, you're in the wrong business.
Besides retail, though, most businesses take stock as the year winds down and, depending on how close they've come to achieving sales and revenue goals, the "push" may range from a gentle prod intended to keep employees focused on business through the distractions of the "holiday season" to a sledgehammer pounding on the collective heads of anyone and everyone who could possibly bring in a few more nickels before the inevitable slowdown that arrives with Christmas. Having been through many end of year pushes, and far too many of the sledgehammer type, I can attest to the fact that, if left unchecked, you'll easily wind up huffing and puffing and sweating straight through Advent, and arrive at Christmas like an out-of-breath cross-country runner madly dashing for and eventually collapsing at, the finish line. Not a pleasant experience.
When I say "left unchecked," I'm referring to allowing all this to swamp or overwhelm you to the point that you basically "miss" autumn, the holy season of Advent, and - if you're not careful - Christmas itself. You "miss" them because you're mind and body can wind up being so concentrated on business, that everything takes second place, starting with God. And let's not forget your family, who most likely will suffer neglect and unpleasantness if the pressure to meet business goals becomes too great, putting you in a bad frame of mind.
This is precisely where a strong interior life developed through love of God, spiritual discipline and regular pious practices can - if you allow them - step up and fend off the negative effects of end-of-year pushes. If you've developed a strong prayer life, spend some time each day reading Scripture, spiritual works, study your Holy Faith to deepen your knowledge and understanding, and most of all "talk" to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit daily, you'll get to that finish line at the end of the year without foregoing your enjoyment of autumn, Advent and Christmas.
Look at it this way. Our Father in Heaven, loving us as He does, provides an overwhelmingly beautiful palette of natural colors in autumn to catch your attention, with a major stop at the grace-filled feasts of All Saints and All Souls, through Thanksgiving, then plunges us deep into the penance and preparations of Advent. Then His Infinite Love expresses itself in His sending His Only Begotten Son to us at Christmas. And through it all, He gives us the wisdom and inspiration of His Holy Spirit - that mysterious, all-powerful expression of love between the Father and the Son - to fill our hearts and enkindle in us the fire of His love, a love we can return to Him, especially when we share it with our family and friends in a myriad of special ways during the Christmas Season.
The very anticipation of what's coming thrills us in a way only we Christians can possibly understand. But not if you let the end-of-year push shove all of it to the side as you doggedly pursue your sales and revenue goals to the exclusion of all else. So don't let that happen.
Not saying it's easy, of course. But if anything's worth a supreme effort, this must be it. Yes?
What we previously described as the "straight shot to Christmas" really picks up steam just around the time of the end-of-year push, as fall unfolds. The sequence basically starts with fall, proceeds through Advent, and winds up at Our Lord's manger on Christmas Eve.
First, we'll skip over the mad dash you find in retail businesses. After all, we all know about the Christmas shopping season. For many retail businesses, the last two months of the year account for the majority of their annual sales. You can understand management pushing their employees this time of year. In some cases, survival depends on sales in November and December. If you're in retail, all of this should be second nature, just a part of what you do. So if you're in retail and the end-of-year push isn't already in your blood, you're in the wrong business.
Besides retail, though, most businesses take stock as the year winds down and, depending on how close they've come to achieving sales and revenue goals, the "push" may range from a gentle prod intended to keep employees focused on business through the distractions of the "holiday season" to a sledgehammer pounding on the collective heads of anyone and everyone who could possibly bring in a few more nickels before the inevitable slowdown that arrives with Christmas. Having been through many end of year pushes, and far too many of the sledgehammer type, I can attest to the fact that, if left unchecked, you'll easily wind up huffing and puffing and sweating straight through Advent, and arrive at Christmas like an out-of-breath cross-country runner madly dashing for and eventually collapsing at, the finish line. Not a pleasant experience.
When I say "left unchecked," I'm referring to allowing all this to swamp or overwhelm you to the point that you basically "miss" autumn, the holy season of Advent, and - if you're not careful - Christmas itself. You "miss" them because you're mind and body can wind up being so concentrated on business, that everything takes second place, starting with God. And let's not forget your family, who most likely will suffer neglect and unpleasantness if the pressure to meet business goals becomes too great, putting you in a bad frame of mind.
This is precisely where a strong interior life developed through love of God, spiritual discipline and regular pious practices can - if you allow them - step up and fend off the negative effects of end-of-year pushes. If you've developed a strong prayer life, spend some time each day reading Scripture, spiritual works, study your Holy Faith to deepen your knowledge and understanding, and most of all "talk" to God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit daily, you'll get to that finish line at the end of the year without foregoing your enjoyment of autumn, Advent and Christmas.
Look at it this way. Our Father in Heaven, loving us as He does, provides an overwhelmingly beautiful palette of natural colors in autumn to catch your attention, with a major stop at the grace-filled feasts of All Saints and All Souls, through Thanksgiving, then plunges us deep into the penance and preparations of Advent. Then His Infinite Love expresses itself in His sending His Only Begotten Son to us at Christmas. And through it all, He gives us the wisdom and inspiration of His Holy Spirit - that mysterious, all-powerful expression of love between the Father and the Son - to fill our hearts and enkindle in us the fire of His love, a love we can return to Him, especially when we share it with our family and friends in a myriad of special ways during the Christmas Season.
The very anticipation of what's coming thrills us in a way only we Christians can possibly understand. But not if you let the end-of-year push shove all of it to the side as you doggedly pursue your sales and revenue goals to the exclusion of all else. So don't let that happen.
Not saying it's easy, of course. But if anything's worth a supreme effort, this must be it. Yes?
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