Keeping Perspective
"Why are you cast down, O my soul
and why are you disquieted within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my help and my God."
--A song of God’s people
We begin another week where festivity and celebration are the primary theme. One challenge we can face is that the season calls us to merriment and the realities of life can take us to places where folks are not feeling merry at all.
One of the Bereavement Support groups met for their Christmas gathering. We laughed and we spent time in silence. One of the grievers in the group did a spin-off on the David Letterman theme of “10 Reasons…” She titled it “Top 10 Reasons Christmas Sucks” and I share it with you to keep things in perspective:
10. Family get-togethers just make it more obvious that someone is missing.
9. Every time you go shopping, you see things your loved one would like.
8. Every ornament and decoration you get out has a memory connected to it.
7. There is one less stocking to be hung.
6. Everywhere you go, you hear the song, “I’ll be home for Christmas.”
5. Your cheeks get chapped when you cry in cold weather.
4. The arrival of Christmas means another New Year is one week away.
3. No matter how good you are, Santa won’t bring you what you really want.
2. None of those “holly jolly” people can understand how you are feeling.
1. Every new holiday is a reminder that life goes on, even if you don’t want it to!
The author of this is a really wonderful person of faith, dealing with the realities of her 21-year-old son’s death in an auto accident on a Thanksgiving Day several years ago.
May God be with you as you experience the joys and the tensions this week.
Ben Keckler
12.22.08
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