Can We Find Joy Over The Holidays?
Although Thanksgiving will be celebrated this week across the nation, everything around us is pointing towards Christmas already. In some cases, retailers have been advertising their sales since before Halloween and certainly their stores have been decorated with Christmas trees and such for several weeks now. Advertisements on television, radio and social media proclaim the joyous news of Christmas’ sales! It is difficult not to have anxiety this time of year if you’re a parent or grandparent trying to figure out how Santa will ever be able to fill children’s stockings this year.
Many of us have suffered the loss of a beloved family member or friend and both Thanksgiving and Christmas look more like dreaded milestones to be endured and not joyous celebrations to anticipate. There are those who are terminally ill and those who are caring for them. Even brave faces and wonderful plans to make these holidays extra special cannot take away the fear and anxiety of these precious moments of life. There are those among us who have lost jobs or for various reasons will spend these holidays by ourselves. All of these circumstances and others I’m sure can rob us of the fleeting happiness these days are supposed to produce. Even the biggest smile or hardiest laugh may not represent the sadness or anxiety we feel. That is exactly what happiness, sadness and anxiety are: emotions - feelings. They are momentary and are produced by the circumstances of daily living.
Joy on the other hand is a Christian virtue. St Paul tells us that joy is a gift of the Holy Spirit given to all believers. And St James tells us that joy is the conviction that Christ is with us even in our suffering. Joy is the peace of mind and heart that comes from doing God’s will and knowing and believing God cares for us in every circumstance of our lives.
Since joy is a free gift from God, we can choose to use it or not. We use joy when we choose to unite ourselves to Christ without denying our feelings of anxiety or sadness. Joy is exercised when we keep our eyes fixed on Jesus and not on ourselves and the passing feelings of this day or that.
We may not necessarily find happiness this season because of our anxiety, fear, or sadness. But as Christians we can be filled with inner joy and peace as we endure these feelings and unite our suffering to that of Christ for the sake of others.
Although I wish us all to experience happiness over these holidays, it is my fervent prayer that we choose to live the joy of following in the footsteps of Jesus, our Savior.
