New Series – Hope for the Holidaze
Definition – Holidaze: an odd emotional mixture of confusion and excitement surrounding the Thanksgiving and Christmas seasons.
Have your feelings of “Holidaze” started yet? Are you already in full-blown Holidaze mode? Or are you in Holidaze denial?
It’s actually easy to figure out. Do you exhibit any of the following symptoms?
Shortness of breath when you see Christmas decorations.
Intentionally avoiding the toy sections of your “big box” stores.
Immediately turning off your screen when holiday-themed images or music come across.
Clicking “unsubscribe” on any email or text related to the holidays.
Start vibrating from sugar withdraw at the mere sight of Christmas cookies or candies.
Feelings of anxiety when you see deflated Airblown® Yard Inflatables (1) laying limp and lifeless on the ground.
Opening your secret stash of Christmas items that you bought after last-years Christmas celebration.
This is only a partial list of the Holidaze documented symptoms. Yours may be gentle or it might be very severe and debilitating.
If you answered yes to any of these, then you’re at least infected with Holidaze. Left alone, it will grow and develop into a full-blown, life-altering way of thinking and living.
Holidaze can ruin your Thanksgiving and Christmas celebration. It can take your joy, throw it on the ground, and squish it into the dirt. It can disrupt your holiday traditions and transform them from the sweet refreshment they were meant to be and crush them into an inconvenient chore.
Someone a lot smarter than me once wrote:
You lived in this world without God and without hope (2)
We live in the world, so it’s impossible to miss all this. But we do have at least two choices.
First – without God. Have we turned from God, removing him from our life? Decisions? Questions? Cries for relief?
Second – without hope. Are all our hope reserves drained, like an empty reservoir? If yes, it leaves us with a dry, lifeless existence.
This is the first in a new series.
So, for answers – stay tuned.
(1) Airblown® is a Registered Trademark of Gemmy Industries.
(2) Ephesians 2:12 NLT