Another holiday season has come to an abrupt end, leaving us back where we began, and maybe worse. At least before the annual rush to prepare for extra meals, extra guests, extra parties, we were enjoying decent weather. Now it's the gray, cold days of winter. Bummer!
Well, if that's a bit of your feelings, you're apparently in a large group, and there are many web sites and experts waiting to tell you how to deal with "post-holiday blues." And some of it will affect people just because of the physical and psychological effects of going quickly from a period of celebrations and festive atmosphere to the normal, stripped down world of everyday business and household chores. That alone is enough to bring down our emotions.
But there's a lot more to the holidays than festivities. The expectation of pleasant times with friends and loved ones raises the emotions of most people who associate these days with the kind of happiness that isn't consistently available from the day-to-day routine of life. After a higher-than-normal diet of such gaiety, the relative drabness of January stands in stark contrast.
While this yearly adjustment is to some extent necessary for us all, how fortunate are those whose joy is a result of the presence of God within, rather than the excitement of external events and special days. Those who know the Savior as a daily Friend and Master are not dependent on extraordinary things for the uplift of their souls and emotions. Those who obey the Bible's instruction to "rejoice always" are able to live on a steady plane of personal peace and contentment, regardless of what page their calendar is turned to.
The start of a new year is, for many people, the end of happiness until the next holiday, though the stores are already full of suggestions for Valentines Day, to tide us over until mid-February. Instead, those who walk with the Lord of time and eternity can make every day a celebration of His grace and goodness, His gift of life, and that more abundantly.
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