December 14: WHAT ARE YOU SIGNALING?

Well, it started right after Halloween this year, that is, the playing of happy, holiday music. A spirit of happiness, real or manufactured, fills the air. Joyfulness and merriment are everywhere you look.
But, all is not well in Mudville. Several helping agencies have raised a cry for assistance. There is not much food in the food banks for the needy. The toy pick-ups for needy children are not fulfilling expectation. Houses being foreclosed and the mortgage crisis is creating an unexpected development for many families, something they have never experienced before. Try explaining to your kids that there won’t be many Christmas gifts this year. Several helping agencies have announced the forming of new support groups for people this Christmas. Many support groups will be available if you are suffering from seasonal depression or the “blues” this year.
So we have a divided community. Some people are laughing and some are crying. Merry Christmas! That depends on who you are talking to at the given moment. This becomes a particularly difficult problem if you are the only person in the house feeling sad when everyone else feels glad.
Can you help it? No, not if its clinical depression or rooted in a physical problem. (That makes Depression Screening important.) Both the depressed and the non-depressed need to be sensitive to one another.
A key truth for everyone, feeling up or down, is what the angel said in announcing the birth of Jesus. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news of great joy that will be for all people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord.” (Luke 2:10-11 NIV) If Christmas is going to be a bummer, it will be hard to get excited about the New Year.
Let’s try not to send out mixed signals How about if all the people who are feeling great were sensitively aware of those feeling “down” and tried to show some personal concern about their emotions? How about if all the people who feel “down” just told people straight out how they feel so their companion would know they didn’t cause the depression? “Be kind and compassionate to one another.” (Ephesians 4:32 NIV)

“Father, it is so easy for us to become self-centered during a holiday time
and forget about others and forget about You. Stop us, please! Amen”