Someone asked if I found the holidays depressing. No, not at all. What I found discouraging was the end of the holidays. On December 26 the stores are tearing out all the Christmas decorations. On January 2 people are back to work and soon after the kids are back to school. On January 6 even us liturgical church calendar types have to admit Christmas is over. By the 8th everything is pretty much back to normal.

What’s worse, I think, is than nothing much has changed. Advent season had been a time of expectation and hope. The Savior was coming. Christmas celebrated his birth and then . . . well, it’s as if nothing had happened. What ever peace and good will fades away as folks get back top arguing about parking spaces and fussing at people they don’t like and generally complaining and griping.

We can’t fix the world, but we can do something. I believe we start with ourselves. Each day we should remind ourself that the Savior came into the world for my sake. How can we do that? We could pray, read scripture, meditate (turn an idea over in our minds), write in a journal. The second thing is to remember that the Savior came for everyone. We can’t touch everyone’s lives, but we can touch some. What if we set out each day to do something that makes one other person’s life better?  Could I show kindness by listening to someone, help someone with a chore, encourage someone.

Christmas comes to an end, but not the significance of it.

Read Philippians 4:5 and remember: God loves YOU unconditionally.

Wayne