Bah-Humbug!

Have you ever just felt lousy? Maybe you have a little cough, a stuffy nose which amount to the onset of a cold... Maybe you are swamped with so many decisions to make that you have reached overload and find yourself grinding to a halt... Maybe the you've come to the end of a project and you don't feel the joy that you thought you would... Maybe you looked in your checkbook recently and your expendable income isn't as expendable as you thought it would be... and all of sudden it hits you that it is the season of Christmas, which just makes these maladies all the more acute. All of these symptoms confirm a condition I like to call the "Bah-Humbugs!" And I have a moderate case of them at the moment.

The "Bah-humbugs" are an interesting malady that prevent us from engaging and enjoying life as we should or even could. They are the disease of self-interest. In other words, the "Bah-humbugs" are so focused on our own personal condition that they prevent us from seeing and experiencing what is going on around us. Indeed, they cause us to become envious and bitter of the joy that others are experiencing. The obvious signs of the "Bah-humbugs" are a sour demeanor, terse if not angry responses to even the kindest of questions and the pathetic need to be alone or the demand for the absolute attention of everyone!

Whether a person will affirm it or not, no one really wants the "Bah-humbugs"... we want to be on the same track as everyone else this holiday season. We want to experience the joy and love of Christmas. The solution or cure to the 'humbugs' however is not found in extra attention or better banking balances or the absence of the sniffles and cough. The cure is to focus on "enhancing the good of the other"...

The "other" is someone other than yourself. What I means is simply this: find another person who needs something you have and give it to them. Maybe its a helping hand; maybe its a small gift; maybe it is just a smile; maybe you can just text them a :-). Make a connection and give the gift. Although your sniffles might not go away immediately and the pile of decisions will not have diminished, your attitude will have changed significantly and you will be able to face the problems with resolve, instead of resignation. You see, we were created to give ourselves away. That's love.

“For even the Son of Man did not come to be served,

but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”

Mark 10:45

Although only Christ came to give His life for all, He sets the example for us. The "Bah-humbugs" run counter to God's design for us and can be debilitating. Don't let them get you down this holiday season. As you can see, I'm already starting to come out of mine!

lux lucis eternus fulsi in vestri vita is dies

[May the light eternal shine into your life this day!]