I have always maintained that depression lives in the space that separates what we wish were true and what actually is..

Our job

Our marriage

Our kids

Our home..

Christmas…

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There’s the fantasy:

and the reality..

and our bitterness grows in the delta between them.

The problem with Christmas is that we are sold the Norman Rockwell vision..

You know the one, all is calm

all is bright..

no one drinks too much

we don’t eat too much

spend too much..

Auntie Sue doesn’t bring up the election.

The food is amazing,

we all get the perfect gift..

The pressure for perfection is on..

and we take it personally when our reality falls “short..”

short of I dunno,

something that looks like this?

What I didn’t realize is that Rockwell also painted this:

So the guy wasn’t completely lost in fantasy..

I had a problem bubble up today..

literally.

Hang with me now, this is going to make me look real bad..

but I’m being honest.

Our grown kids were all flying home to Florida for the holidays

and the heater to our jacuzzi suddenly broke.

I know..I know..

but I had a vision of everyone sitting in the warm water, sharing stories and a beer, looking up at the stars..

and I was annoyed, really ticked off, that the stupid heater thingy was broken.

I was starting to get agitated

started feeling bad for myself and mad about the let-down others will feel..

until..

until, I put the whole thing into instant perspective.

There’s Aleppo and the Berlin terror attack and the families of those soccer players who literally fell out of the sky only weeks ago..

their loss keeps my frustration in check..

their pain shreds my self centered thinking,

crushes my toothpick tower of self-pity.

Because hey..

We are alive,

we are together,

we are healthy.

.

.

I got nuthin’

NUTHIN’

to complain about this Christmas..

because really,  I have everything.

(click here vimeo.com/194989301?ref=… for a fun reminder)

I have so much..

so much to be thankful for.

And that’s what I’m going to focus on this Christmas-

our blessings..

my blessings..

and the hope for all humanity that rested in a baby.

Merry, Merry Christmas!

Isaiah 9:6- For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

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photocredit:Fraser Point Church,Daily Mail,Dallas Morning News,Dallas Morning News,Pinterest,www.familysteps.com,Daily Mail,www.pinterest.com,Norman Rockwell,Always Never Me

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