Surviving the Season

By Jerry D. Ousley

"Peace I leave with
you, My peace I
give to you; not
as the world gives
do I give to you.
Let not your heart
be troubled, neither
let it be afraid.”
John 14:29

ook at the trees,” I said to my wife. Practically overnight it seemed that they had been painted in reds, oranges, and yellows. While admiring nature’s artistic work, I wondered where the time had gone for it seemed only days since the trees were rich with soft, dark green leaves.

“We need to set aside some time to visit the State Park,” she responded. This time of year the multi-colored leaves become the spectacular event that draws a huge audience of spectators each fall to forests of vivid beauty.

Fall colors indicate the beginning of more festive times for many. With all its controversy, Halloween sported costume-clad children and even occasional adults looking for a good time bobbing for apples or trick-or-treating for snacks of all kinds.

Fast on its heels is Thanksgiving; the time to celebrate the feast uniting Native Americans with those who had come from the other side of the “Big Pond.” Most of us rarely think of more than turkey, dressing, or a chance to stretch out on the sofa justifying gluttony and football.

Each year, leftovers are barely gone before it’s time to spend more money than one can afford; lavishing friends and family with gifts in celebration of Christmas. This holiday is supposed to be all about the birth of Jesus Christ, but with each progressing year it seems that the true theme of the holiday is honored less, with more emphasis on political correctness and greater attention given to gifts, dinners, parades, family get-togethers and, yes, more football.

While I pretended to love that time of year from colored leaves to Christmas snow, beneath the surface, depression would set in and I dug deeply to understand why. Those feelings could be blamed on over-spending. It took most of the coming year to pay for all the extras required for feasting, gifts and parties before starting all over again.

But that wasn’t really it. While my façade displayed happiness and joy, if I had shared my real feelings with anyone it would have been enough to make Santa Claus check his list more than twice and think about giving a lump of coal beneath the Christmas tree.

As the New Year drew near I began to think it might offer some hope. We all get a chance to re-evaluate the outcome of the past twelve months and are quick to make resolutions to start off the upcoming ones. With each passing year I found that more and more changes were added to my list, but I could only pick one or two because, well, too much change is just overwhelming.

On the surface, a resolution is something like getting more exercise while secretly resolving to make more serious under-the-surface alterations. I started out like gang-busters walking a mile each day, riding the exercise bike and doing pushups, for at least the first week, but the cold of winter slowed my enthusiasm and added fuel to the excuse that it would be better to wait until it got warmer outside and the resolution was lost.

Losing the obvious exterior resolution, I was justified with the loss of the more serious interior one. Then I was ashamed and disillusioned.

The winter months brought gray skies and gloomier days. The first falling snow was always pretty unless you were trying desperately to get to work. But over the next few months it piled higher and higher, coating the ground with white powder and ice.

I wondered if and when it would end. The crunching sound of the hardened snow became irritating as one tried to make their way through it, each step leaving ugly dirty scars in the otherwise white surface. The gray and cold permeated the very core of my soul and I found myself longing for those warm days of summer, growing grass and even mowing the lawn.

Why did I feel this way when the rest of the world seemed so happy about holidays, snow sledding and other winter activities? Why did I fake it so as to fit in, when really all I wanted to do was hide under the covers until it was all over? Perhaps bears had the right idea by hibernating.

But that practice is not acceptable amongst humans and is considered a sickness rather than the norm. So I had no choice except to try to fit in and make the best of it.

That was before. Today is a new day. I found out that it isn’t all the things we are expected to do that make the holidays special, but rather doing what brings meaning to us and gives us peace with God in the process.

Holiday depression can stem from many things including over-doing, under-doing, personal loss, or the inability to understand what the seasonal hype is all about. We can blame it on the season or on most anything really.

But unless we look deep inside, we may never discover the truth and our depression can bleed us dry all year long. It will draw the line between existence and real life.

The solution begins by getting to know our Creator; the One who made it all happen; the great eternal force of the universe who seems so mysterious – God who made all life and all things, who takes time out to individually love us.

When we realize that He loves us and made us so that we can get to know Him personally by reading the Bible – His word that reveals His character and His plan - then we can begin to find answers.

It is coming to know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that we aren’t here because of some cataclysmic cosmic accident, or because our ancient ancestors fought so mightily to be the fittest to survive, adapt and evolve. It’s coming to know that we are here because He wants us here. We have purpose. Just knowing that can begin to dispel depression and pave the road to recovery.

God gave us seasons, not only in nature, but also in life. They are characteristic of the cycle of living. Many things could be said about seasons, but peace comes in simply knowing that God has them under control. The gloom of winter will come to an end giving way to spring and new life.

The prosperity of summer will be followed by the harvest of fall, which ushers in the well-deserved rest of another winter. “To everything there is a season, A time for every purpose under heaven . . .” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 NKJV). That variety restores life, especially when we can chase away our worries knowing that we are in God’s hands.

While searching we will discover the answer to some of our questions while some will remain concealed. That doesn’t mean that God is hiding things from us. It only means that maybe we don’t need to know. What He allows us to find out during our life journey will be enough.

Those discoveries will lead us out of that depression, restoring our joy in knowing who we serve and being satisfied that ultimately He has our future under control. We can be like sheep that graze, unconcerned, knowing that the shepherd has their backs

As we follow God in faith, He will lead us beside still waters that bring peace, even when storms are raging all around. He becomes that quiet place where we can escape the demands that life brings. He restores our joy by allowing us to, once again, look forward to colored leaves, feasting with friends and celebrating the happiness of life and the events that make it so.

“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:29 NKJV).

God through His Son, Jesus Christ brings everything back into focus – at least those things we are allowed to see. When our focus is correct ,we move from aimless existence into the certain reality of “extraordinary living.”

Jerry D. Ousley is the author of “Soul Challenge”, “Soul Journey”, “Ordeal” and “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional. Email us to receive your copy today! He can be heard Monday through Friday on Internet Radio. Log on to spiritbread.com to find out more. Email: jousley@spiritbread.com NOTE: “The Spirit Bread Daily Devotional” and “Ordeal” are now available at Amazon.com for the Kindle