{"id":1160,"date":"2017-12-11T05:00:43","date_gmt":"2017-12-11T11:00:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/?p=1160"},"modified":"2017-10-10T18:25:28","modified_gmt":"2017-10-10T23:25:28","slug":"learning-relax-season","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html","title":{"rendered":"Learning to relax into the season"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2015\/12\/IMG_1075.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-378 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/388\/2015\/12\/IMG_1075-300x225.jpg\" alt=\"IMG_1075\" width=\"300\" height=\"225\" \/><\/a>It is one of the busiest seasons of the year. The list for Santa Claus can be miles long, as well as the lines at the toy store.<\/p>\n<p>There are parties to plan and activities to attend.<\/p>\n<p>Yet it is a time that is supposed to be quiet and reflective. As Christians we await the birth of Jesus. We need to stop and breathe, drink in the beauty that surrounds us.<\/p>\n<p>Poinsettias have been described as being in the shape of the Star of Bethlehem. Looking at the various flowers can help us find focus on the important things during this Christmas season.<\/p>\n<p>Do you have a favorite symbol that keeps you focused during this time?<\/p>\n<p>Share it in the comments.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>It is one of the busiest seasons of the year. The list for Santa Claus can be miles long, as well as the lines at the toy store. There are parties to plan and activities to attend. Yet it is a time that is supposed to be quiet and reflective. As Christians we await the&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":591,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Learning to relax into the season - Through the Lens of Faith<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Learning to relax into the season - Through the Lens of Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It is one of the busiest seasons of the year. The list for Santa Claus can be miles long, as well as the lines at the toy store. There are parties to plan and activities to attend. Yet it is a time that is supposed to be quiet and reflective. As Christians we await the&hellip;\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Through the Lens of Faith\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2017-12-11T11:00:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2017-10-10T23:25:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2015\/12\/IMG_1075-300x225.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"eelliott\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Learning to relax into the season - Through the Lens of Faith","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Learning to relax into the season - Through the Lens of Faith","og_description":"It is one of the busiest seasons of the year. The list for Santa Claus can be miles long, as well as the lines at the toy store. There are parties to plan and activities to attend. Yet it is a time that is supposed to be quiet and reflective. As Christians we await the&hellip;","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html","og_site_name":"Through the Lens of Faith","article_published_time":"2017-12-11T11:00:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2017-10-10T23:25:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2015\/12\/IMG_1075-300x225.jpg"}],"author":"eelliott","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html","name":"Learning to relax into the season - Through the Lens of Faith","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2015\/12\/IMG_1075-300x225.jpg","datePublished":"2017-12-11T11:00:43+00:00","dateModified":"2017-10-10T23:25:28+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/#\/schema\/person\/3a91f7335d342e05f30c3f30934c63b2"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2015\/12\/IMG_1075-300x225.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/files\/2015\/12\/IMG_1075-300x225.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/2017\/12\/learning-relax-season.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Learning to relax into the season"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/","name":"Through the Lens of Faith","description":"Beliefnet Voices - Elizabeth Elliott","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/throughthelensoffaith\/#\/schema\/person\/3a91f7335d342e05f30c3f30934c63b2","name":"eelliott","description":"Elizabeth Elliott is a staff writer at the Arlington Catholic Herald and a freelance writer. 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