Holiday Blues (By Natasha G.)

Truth be told, Easter is my favorite holiday. (That’s a bad way to start, let me try again.)

I like Thanksgiving. I like Christmas. I like New Years. But I don’t like the Holiday Season. What’s the difference you ask? Well these three days commemorate moments in history that impact humanity. You have the meeting (clashing…depending on your take) of two cultures at Thanksgiving. Then you have the Christmas birth of the promised One, Jesus “Savior-King-of-Kings-Lord-of-Lords-Lion-of-Judah-Lamb-of-God-Author-of-Life” Christ (not my fault He has a lot of names). And then you have the day marking when a new year or new century begins. The Holiday Season on the other hand is made up. But as fictitious as it is, it has real impact on a lot of people…and often not for the better. And I am particularly distressed at the effect I’ve seen it have on women. It’s called the Holiday Blues (maybe is should be called Black and Blue because it’s beating people down).

Often over the years, between November and January, I have watched many women (including me) spin and spiral with plaguing thoughts and feelings of loneliness, depression, and insufficiency. They may feel lonely because they are not married, depressed because they are disappointed that they didn’t make their weight loss goal this year, and feeling insufficient because they just can’t seem to satisfy friends and family. Then the “Holiday Season” floods them with messages that exacerbate everything. Haven’t you noticed during this time the in flux of jewelry commercials depicting romantic snowy proposal scenes or the parade of romantic movies showing “true love” coming into a woman’s life just in time for Christmas. Isn’t it uncanny that during the Holiday Season there is an onslaught of “make me skinny” products, program, gadgets, and pills flooding the market, giving the hope (or more like command) to lose 20 pounds by New Year’s Eve. And no Holiday Season would be complete without the endless list of “must have” things you need to give and do for your family and friends; pressure to give everyone gifts (perhaps even if you can’t afford it) and meeting everyone’s desires for feasts and festivities, all planned and coordinated by you.

And what comes of it all? Stress. Disappointment. Bitterness. Regret. Hurt. Emptiness.

To the women who can relate to this, to those who are sick of going into the new year feeling led astray and run amuck, to those who cannot bear the idea of another holiday dream romance turning into a nightmare by mid-January, to those who are tired of trying and failing to be the “new you in the new year” that all the commercials and talk shows talk about; here is my message…

The Creator of the universe, the Author of life, God Almighty loves you. Not the you after you lose 20 pounds, not the you after you are engaged, not the you after you successfully meet goals on your holiday or new year’s checklist. He loves who you are today, right now, and His love is not some temporary holiday romance. His love is complete, steadfast, eternal, and has nothing to do with what you do or do not this new year.

The love God has for you is not a concept. It is a proven fact and written in Christ’s blood across the expanse of all eternity. What’s our response?

Accept His love and adore Him as Lord.

What would 2015 be like if we really lived this way?