Daily Devotion - Monday, December 14

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, a week where festivity and celebration are the primary theme. The season calls us to merriment and the realities of our work take us to places where folks are not feeling merry at all. At the hospital we have Bereavement Support groups. A few years ago at one of our Bereavement Support group meetings, we were having a routine holiday discussion filled with laughing and appropriate times of silence. One of the grievers in the group did a spin-off on the David Letterman theme of “10 Reasons…” She titles 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.

And the #1 reason Christmas sucks is:
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. While hopeful about her future, a significant loss has left a lasting impression upon her! May God be with you this week.

--Ben Keckler
12.14.09