I can't deny that my Christmas has been nothing short of an elaborate list of to-dos. Yet in the midst of Christmas, I am reminded of the goodness of life, as I emailed an email to a friend of mine.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts with me. I deeply appreciate it. In fact, I felt a little down this morning after waking up. I took an extra long shower, and just emptied my mind. Yet, I still felt a little gloomy. I dried myself, put on fresh clothes, and walked out, telling myself that I'm not going to feel this way. I'm glad that I did just that. And then, just as I was about to check your apple pie recipe again, I opened my inbox to find your email, only to subsequently read it with tender care.
XXX, I'm not going to say that I know how or what you're feeling, or any that sort of nonsense. What I do know is that feelings tend to go up and down -- it's like a roller coaster. What I will also say is that these feelings are normal. In fact, at least for me, the shrills of going up, and then, descending down, is what makes life really exciting. If life is all about just the ups, I really wonder, could I truly appreaciate goodness in life? Perhaps, I might even end up a spoiled, complacent brat. So, without the gloominess of life, I don't think I would appreciate the good in life. Also, perhaps, I believe that if we can appreciate the good things in life here, it will definitely help us to appreacite them even more during the eternity to come!
Although the downs have been hurtful for me, still I try to thank God for each and every of these afflictions in my life. I believe that these pains in my life, although at times causes me to doubt in God, has made me grown as a person. I don't believe that God merely allow this things to happen in order that we might be disciplined, like a father disciplines his children (Hebrews 12), or that our faith is tested (i.e. Abraham). I also believe that He wants us to have a better picture of life, which is not lopsided. From what I can see in my own life, God has showed me that life is not one constantly filled with rainclouds, nor is it only filled with sunshiny blue skies.
However, it is always so easy to get carried away whenever we're faced with times of disappointment and negativity, in whole. Whenever that happens to me, I always thank God for friends, who are willing to give up themselves to drag me out of the murk. You've done that a couple of times -- and for that I thank God for you. In the end, when we've snapped out of it, we realize that our sadness, moodiness, and/or gloominess is really just temporary. It comes, and it goes. Sometimes, right after I snap out of my so-called "depression," I often realize that I've been selfish for feeling so. There's a million or so people out in the world who 'deserves' to feel this way, who yearns to feel this way, and yet they have to place these feelings aside to do, move, and work dictated by reality's cruelty, only to perhaps shed a single tear in the morning.
Anyway, I don't want to lecture you, XXX. As much as this is my thought to you, it is also my own thoughts to myself. I also trying to remind myself how good God has been to me. Well, before I end this, I'd like to share with you John 16:33: I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. I this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.
Well, I don't have much else to say. May we remember the goodness of the life God has given to us as we remember the birth of the Savior.
