Lesson Learned

posted for Frank Creed

There is nothing we can do with suffering except to suffer it. —C.S. Lewis

I'd always heard the holes in peoples' lives ring emptiest during the holidays. The world around me is having a party. All these lights, and trees, and presents. The manger has gone Hollywood and I don't have the energy to care.

What must it be like for those who feel this way every Christmas? Those who are alone, or grieve the passing of a loved one, or are out of work? Some of us just want the holidays to be over.

My odometer reads a little over 40k, and I've had some heavy issues crash down hard in recent days. The little bout of depression I'm battling could be nothing like what these holiday blues folks go through. When I compared my little issues to those of the brokenhearted, the homeless, and Christians in the Sudan, I realize my problem is that I'm not thankful enough for what God's given me. How can the cue-ball of health and job have all my life's spheres smackin' around, when I consider a city like Bombay, or the world's orphans living in garbage dumps?

I've been running so hard in this hamster-wheel, I've missed Indiana's autumn leaves turning in recent years. I love to watch the leaves turn. That's sold-out-to-the-rat-race. When God rattled my billiards, it was His subtle way of saying you need more patience.

Well, can't I please please please learn that lesson faster?

Still waiting to hear back on that one.

Whatever's got you down, let Him forge you in the fire. I learned I had to slow down and enjoy His gifts. I've got to look around me and be very thankful for what I do have.

What's He teaching you this season?

Now you go out and pay-that-forward this holiday. Then, during the winter, next spring, next summer, etc.

This is no chain letter, this is real life.

Don't miss it.