Well today's the last day of January and tomorrow, consequently, is the first day of February. Thus, right now we are in the middle of the winter blues.
win-ter: blues: the feeling of blech, blah and all around yuck in the winter months following the New Year, those being January, February, and sometimes, March
Anybody else feel the lethargic feeling? The blah attitude? The lack of motivation? The sleepiness? The all-around blech and yuck of these cold, grim winter months? If you do, you are most certainly not alone. It seems a lot of us are dealing with this, even the most effervescent and cheerful ones.
Maybe it's because we're coming down from the high of Christmas. Maybe it's because it's the New Year, and we think we're gonna start out right, but we don't. And maybe it's because Satan has chosen this particular time of year to target lots Christians with a depressed feeling. Maybe it's even a combination of all three, but if you're a Christian, lost in the winter blues and feeling your faith going cold, then there is certainly something to do with the third option.
But there's hope! Do not despair! As terrible and icky as the feel of the winter blues are, there is a solution, a weapon to fight back at this feeling. And that is to choose joy.
choo-sing: joy - the conscious act of making the decision to embrace joy in the midst of life; not to be confused with accepting the world's cheap form of happiness, but to willingly choose biblical joy, a joy that is found in the Lord and results in peace and thanksgiving
Choosing joy is not easy. Not in the best of times, and certainly not during the winter blues. But is choking down Buckley's easy? Of course not. But when you're feeling better and are content, was it worth it? You bet! And so though it won't be easy to choose joy, it is necessary and will bring your focus away from the winter blues to joy in the Lord.
So here are a few practical ways to choose joy during the winter blues:
- Pray. It sounds trite, I know, and you've probably heard it a thousand times, but think about it. I'm not saying you have to sit down and spend an hour in prayer every day. Start with just one prayer. Thank God that at this moment you are alive and breathing. Send up a prayer for strength. Pray for joy. Prayer is one of the most difficult obstacles to get over in choosing joy. When you are wrestling with the winter blues, you don't feel like praying, but you must! To choose joy is to choose prayer and communion with your Father in heaven.
- Read the Psalms. Every word of the Bible is just as important, but many people find especial comfort in the book of Psalms. These are songs of praise, songs to inspire praise, to inspire thankfulness, to inspire peace, to inspire repentance, to inspire joy. Start reading through them today. Choose just one even. My mom's favourite is Psalm 91. A few other encouraging ones are Psalm 139, Psalm 103, Psalm 93, Psalm 69, Psalm 34, Psalm 23, Psalm 8 and Psalm 71.
- Think of what you're thankful for. There's so many things we have to thank God for! We can thank Him for getting us out of bed this morning. We can thank Him for giving us a bed! We can thank Him for jobs, school, friends, family, His Word, His grace, His sovereignty and His justice, food, good books, good movies, breath to live another day. Everything that's good in our life is all because of Him, so we can thank Him for that.
- Talk to your brothers and sisters in Christ. Get others to commit to pray for you, to encourage you, to love you. Get them to share Scriptures with you. Hang out together. Spend time in prayer together.
- Reject Satan's lies. The opposite of joy is sorrow and depression. When you're in the midst of sorrow and depression, you are being drawn away from the joy of the Lord. So Satan is happy when you're depressed! He feeds you lies to make you depressed. To choose joy is to reject these lies. Whatever he says to make you feel sorrowful (God is not good, nobody loves you, Scripture won't help, prayer is hopeless, etc.), reject! And counter these lies with truth. God is good. Your friends and family love you. Scripture will help you. Prayer will give you hope. Reject the lies and embrace the truth.
So I hope these practical ways to choose joy have helped you - they've definitely helped me! Let's commit to reject the lure of the dastardly winter blues and choose joy.