Beating the Holiday Blues

Christmas used to be fun. As a child/young adult, I would count down the days until Christmas and carefully make out my lists and dream of all the possibilities that the day would bring. Now, holidays are just like any other day and something I would rather avoid. Why did they become like that? I think there are a number of reasons: holidays are now devoid of meaning because our old traditions and reunions are impossible with the loss of a loved one, financial limitations, loneliness, separation from friends, the reasons go on. Holiday blues set in and rob us of the joy of the season.

How do we overcome the holiday blues? There are practical things such as eating well, getting enough sleep, exercising, surrounding yourself with support and avoiding those who annoy us, scheduling downtime, sticking to a budget, make new traditions, do something or watch something that makes you laugh, and look for opportunities to do something for others.

Our faith also comes into play. We have to believe that God blesses the faithful.

Max Lucado writes this, "Just when the womb gets too old for babies, Sarai gets pregnant. Just when the failure is too great for grace, David is pardoned. And just when the road is too dark for Mary and Mary, the angel glows, and the Savior shows, and the two women will never be the same. The lesson? Three words. Don't give up. Is the trail dark? Don't sit. Is the road long? Don't stop. Is the night black? Don't quit.... God is watching. For all you know, right at this moment he may be telling the angel to move the stone. The check may be in the mail. The apology may be in the making. The job contract may be on the desk. Don't quit. For if you do, you may miss the answer to your prayers. God still sends angels. And God still moves stones."

Always Winter, But Never Christmas

In the winter following Aaron and Grace’s death, I would look out my window and see the barren trees and think to myself how my life mirrored them. My feelings are echoed in C.S. Lewis’s Chronicles of Narnia, that when the White Witch cast her spell she trapped everything into an “always winter but never Christmas world”. Lewis’s illustration of snow melting is a good one, I think, to suggest how a person’s long coldness of heart may be changed, bit by bit, into a warmer, living heart for God. Like the tree in the summer, my life was once lush, beautiful, rich, full of color, and fragrant. Then fall set in, and the bright green summer leaves fell away and left the tree ugly, barren, dark, and empty. Now, I look out at the trees and know that even in the midst of winter, the trees’ roots and foundations aren’t injured at all. It is making way for new leaves in the spring. Our lives are like that too. The disappointments and pain in life make room for new and different blessings. We will bloom again someday.

"All around them, though out of sight, there were streams chattering, bubbling, splashing and even (in the distance) roaring. And his heart gave a great leap (though he hardly knew why) when he realised that the frost was over." C.S. Lewis