…yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior                                                         Habakkuk 3:18

Yesterday, our pastor, Rev. Dennis Miller, gave a sermon about joy. In explaining the familiar Christmas Carol, Joy to the World, he said that the writer, Isaac Watts, broke from the worship song norms of the time when he wrote about expressing pure joy. He used natural concepts around him rather than just relying on the Psalms as the sole source of lyrics.  

The pastor’s best point however was stating that “Joy is waiting just outside the door for us to let it in”. I really like that idea. What a great behavioral counseling technique! We have the decision to allow joy to be part of our life. We are not just passive recipients of attitudes and moods. We can decide to let joy reign in our lives.

Yes, I know, people face many devastating setbacks and pain in life. Some of those are our making, and some are not. However, we do have a choice about how we receive the things we face in life. We can adopt an attitude of joy in all things. We can decide that joy is possible, and then allow for ways to see it.

We often set ourselves up for certain moods. We have an internal narrative that disposes us to sift information in a certain way. For example, confirmation bias is well known in scientific circles whereby we end up validating long-held beliefs when interpreting data with a sometimes-unknown bias. We get the results that we expect.

So, this beautiful Christmas season, learn to be accepting of joy!

Prayer: Lord, help us to see the joy around us, and to then freely let it in, Amen

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Acts 2:42

I am not a neurobiologist, but I do understand that serotonin is a “feel good chemical” produced by our brain. There are several things that help us to produce serotonin, including diet, exercise, sunlight, food, and medications. The typical prescription antidepressant medications do not necessarily produce serotonin as much as they just help keep it around in our brain.

Carbohydrates, for example, are precursors for serotonin. In the Fall and Winter, we tend to eat more carbohydrates to replace the amount of serotonin that is being lost with the decreasing amount of sunlight available in the northern hemisphere. Hence the emphasis at Thanksgiving and Christmas on the heavy load of carbs, and tryptophan-producing turkey- another serotonin precursor. Those foods help us to replenish decreasing serotonin levels lost during our journey away from longer periods of sunlight during those months.

In the northern hemisphere, we are now in the month of December, where sunlight hours are continuing to decrease. What a mental health challenge that is! So, for the next several months, we are being deprived of our free serotonin stimulants!

Exercising in the sunlight is absolutely the best serotonin therapy you can find, and you don’t even need to eat a bunch of carbohydrates to achieve it. But this time of year, we tend to make up for that decreased serotonin by eating more carbs.

So, for my fellow northern hemisphere friends, be careful about the serotonin boost you can get by eating those carbohydrates. Yes, enjoy the seasonal goodies, the fellowship and the joy of the season, but balance it with attention to exercise. The social connection with others is also a source of serotonin. So…

Enjoy!

Prayer: Lord, you have given us all the means to have a full and joyous life, just in the nature of your creation. Thank you for that plan, Amen

Judah had Perez, the mother was Tamar Salmon had Boaz, his mother was Rahab Boaz had Obed, his mother was Ruth David had Solomon, Uriah’s wife (Bathsheba) was his mother

                                                                                                                                                               From Matthew 1 (The Message) and the genealogy of Jesus

Tamar came from Hebrew origins

Rahab came from Jericho (Palestine)

Uriah’s wife, was a Hittite, from (Phoenicia) Lebanon

Ruth came from Moab (Jordan)

I like to share this genealogy around Christmas, because it shows the true ethnic and geographic diversity of the lineage of Jesus. The women noted in this lineage of Jesus provided in Matthew’s genealogy were included for a reason. Matthew’s gospel explains the lineage to the nascent Hebrew Christian group who were looking for the royal line of Jesus and the connection with the kingly presence Jesus would represent.

The irony is that in that “royal bloodline” we see a diverse group of women from other cultures and religions. I am convinced that God loves the diversity he created, and he wants us to see that the savior he sent, his son Jesus, was indeed of royal lineage, but not from the kind that people had come to expect.

Throughout history, many countries relied upon “royal bloodlines” for their king’s (or perhaps the queen’s) succession. If one did not have such pure royal blood, they could not ascend to the throne. Now we are aware, of course, of the genetic in-breeding this caused, making those royal lines often somewhat less healthy than lines of people from more diverse stock.

Once again, an example of the paradox of human planning going against what is actually most helpful for us- a more diverse gene pool.

Jesus came from a line of women whose backgrounds were, to be kind, at least questionable. Their tribal origins were not pure Hebrew religion and culture. These women represented diverse world origins, as well as religious and cultural differences that were significant.

So, in this season of celebrating the birth of Jesus, let us also celebrate that he is the savior for the whole world- Jew, Gentile, heathen, believer, non-believer.

 He came to save us all.

Prayer: Your plans are higher than our plans, and you delight in the diversity of your creation. Help us to do that better as well, Amen

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!                                                                                                             Philippians 2:5-8

Incarnation. That is what Christmas is about. The word is from the Latin word carne, meaning flesh. Literally, it means “in the flesh”. Christmas, of course, is the celebration of when Jesus came in the flesh. He became an “in flesh” visitor to the earth.

He came to earth in order to save humankind from sin, and he did that by his own sacrifice. He also came in order to show humans how to live a life pleasing to God. His example was his mission. He visited earth to show how we can make the earth a better place too.

He was intentional in his visit. It was well planned over many centuries of human existence. So too we should plan our visits with other people. Our visits with others should be with the intention of kindness and an uplift of the human spirit.

Yet, we fail at that with some regularity.

However, you notice that even in the most mundane, trivial, and casual occurrences of kindness to others, the spirit of the other person is lifted for just a little while. I noted that today when at a local store I held the door for a delivery man who was pushing a dolly loaded with products. He was very thankful for just a little gesture of kindness and thought. That gesture cost me nothing, yet it made his work today just a little easier. He had been acknowledged and cared for in the smallest way, but it lifted him up.

So, we can be the incarnation of the virtue of kindness to others. Kindness is an abstract value, but it comes to life when we exercise it. We can become the incarnation of it.   

Prayer: Lord, remind us of the power of little gestures that can have large impact, Amen.

“Each person deserves a day away in which no problems are confronted, no solutions searched for.” Maya Angelou

Whoever wants to embrace life and see the day fill up with good, here’s what you do: Say nothing evil or hurtful; Snub evil and cultivate good; run after peace for all you’re worth. God looks on all this with approval, listening and responding well to what he’s asked…                                                                                              I Peter 3:9-10 (The Message)

So today, let’s just have fun! I’m thinking about going back to favorite things that soothed us when we were kids. It is essential that we find ways to soothe ourselves when we experience stress. We learn this very early in life, and it is important that we learn to “self-soothe” as opposed to relying upon others give us that sense of peace and stress relief. Stress is ubiquitous, so it is important to learn the skill of finding a place, or an action, which gives us a sense of calm and security.

I was the youngest of four children, and I was the youngest by six years. Yes, I was the surprise at the end of the train for my parents- my dad was over forty, and my mom thirty-nine years old when I was born. So, I had a lot of time alone as my older siblings had friends, and school and other activities to occupy them while I was very young.  

I found that TV became a place of entertainment and companionship. Shows like “Uncle Al”, and cartoon shows like The Bugs Bunny Hour, The Flintstones, and family shows like Andy Griffith and the Beverly Hillbillies became sources of soothing for me. Later, thankfully, I found reading to be a great friend to me, and it still sustains me as a warm, soothing companion.

I find it interesting that some of the shows I loved as a kid have found an enduring place in the culture. Shows like Andy Griffith, Gilligan’s Island, The Flintstones, The Twilight Zone (and I could go on forever) are cultural icons which even young members of today’s society typically recognize readily.

My question to you is, what is it from the past that gives you that familiar soothing feeling? Think about that, and maybe share it with your kids (or grandkids). Maybe they will have a great laugh at your expense!

Prayer: Father, thank you for those little things that give us respite from stress, Amen.

So it is with faith: if it is alone and includes no actions, then it is dead. But someone will say, “One person has faith, another has actions.” My answer is, “Show me how anyone can have faith without actions. I will show you my faith by my actions.”                                                                                                     James 2:17-18 (Good News)

I have a love of science, and I am fascinated by physics and chemistry. However, I am a complete amateur at these subjects, and my fascination with them does not mean that I understand those topics well. In high school, I was just glad to pass Physics, the final exam in my senior year. I tossed the Physics book into the trash can as I was leaving the building, glad to be finished with that course! As I got older, I was drawn to the subject, and now I love to read about it- now that there is no grade attached!

I think that Physics principles are true in every area of life, including mental and emotional health. There is a certain beauty and truth about the idea in the law that states

 … the total energy of an isolated system is constant; energy can be transformed from one form to another, but can be neither created nor destroyed.

Isn’t that cool? The Bible says that there is nothing new under the sun, and indeed, that is true. Energy and matter can be transformed one into another, but we are not going to create energy. That has already been done. We are living off the sun’s energy, created long ago, in this “closed system” of our universe.

One of Newton’s Laws of Motion states-

…an object either remains at rest or continues to move at a constant velocity, unless acted upon by a force

This law is true of human behavior as well. The principle of inertia says that unless I do something, add a force, supply some energy, I will stay at rest. Unless I make some decision to act, and then do it, I will stay at rest. In order to feel better, to lift my mood, I must add energy- act on my decisions. I must act to improve my mood and situation. It seems obvious, but how often do we wait for “some one” or “some thing” else to change so that we can feel better? Yeah, we all do that sometimes.

So, the principle is true in physics and human behavior. Do, then feel. It works, it’s a Law of Physics! J

Prayer: Thank you for the beauty and genius of creation. Your ways are indeed higher than ours, and I am amazed every day the exquisite plans of yours, Amen

The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.                                                          John 1:5

Maybe it is no coincidence that we traditionally celebrate Christmas in the darkest (literally) time of the year. The Winter solstice occurs on December 21^st, and, of course, Christmas is celebrated on December 25^th. The Northern Hemisphere is having the shortest days of the year around that time. Perhaps symbolically we see that when we are at our darkest points, the light from above is sent to guide and encourage us. Many people in the world need that right now.

The people in Ukraine are suffering at the hands of evil. People in Gaza and Israel suffer long standing political violence. People in the United States are reeling from multiple mass shootings this past year. Violent, senseless, political rhetoric separates people.  

We need the light.

God in his mercy and wisdom did send Jesus, the Redeemer, to give us hope and a way to live. He sent his son into a dark world to show us that love can conquer the worst we have to offer- and we have a lot of “worst” to offer.

But take heart my friends. God does not leave us in that darkness without a remedy. This Christmas season, let’s remember that hope.

Prayer: Lord, we anticipate the renewal of Christmas as we celebrate the birth of Jesus, Amen

I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified                                                                                                            I Corinthians 9:27

I hear those statistics about how long it takes for some practices to become habits. You know, “continue to do this thing for three weeks and it becomes a habit”. I have no idea about that because we are all different. I do know that habits are not automatic. We have decisions everyday about how we are going to behave that day.

I do know that the discipline of exercise has now become a habit for me. That is, the thing I used to force myself to do became the thing that I miss if I do not do it. It started several years ago when I really realized that I was not in top physical condition. Yes, my health was good, thank God, but I was not in shape. I was overweight, and my stamina was not what it should have been.

So, I decided to practice the discipline of walking at least 30 minutes per day. That discipline grew as I heard that really, 10,000 steps per day was a goal that we ought to have. I do not know the science of that, if any, but the idea seems right. We Americans simply do not move enough. We are sedentary, and that, by any measure, is not healthy.

I bought a Fitbit, (then an Apple Watch), and I became addicted to those 10,000 steps/day. That was about 5 years ago. Now, if I don’t get at least 13,000 steps per day, I am not happy with myself. The point here is that the discipline that I started several years ago grew into a habit. Good disciplines make good habits.

All of the literature on depression indicates that physical exercise is equally effective as medication in mitigating mild to moderate depression. I always advise my clients to add exercise into their lives because it is good in every way for us, physically, spiritually, and emotionally. Just to be clear, I am not advocating that people simply stop taking antidepressant medication- it is effective, and sometimes necessary in treatment of depression and anxiety. However, if my clients are physically able to exercise, I always make that part of the homework.

Keeping the promises that we make to ourselves is the basis of healthy self-esteem. I know that regular exercise for me is important, and I plan to continue. That discipline has become a healthy habit.

Prayer: Thank you father for the gift of our bodies- precious gifts that we must nurture and protect, Amen.

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.                                                                                                                        James 1:17

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. We set aside this particular day to collectively show gratitude for the many blessings that have been bestowed upon our country. Of course, every day should be Thanksgiving Day given that we have so very much to be thankful for. Every good gift, our very life itself, is a gift from God the Creator.   

An “attitude of gratitude” as many people in the recovery community say, is the way to stay clean and sober. I would say that such an attitude is proper and even necessary for our well-being and success in life. No matter what we have, or what we have done, none of it is possible without the gracious hand of God who provides what we need.

So let us rededicate ourselves to that attitude of gratitude every day. In that way we can keep proper perspective, humility, and grace which are qualities that all of us need every single day.

Prayer: Thank you Lord for who you are and for what you provide, Amen.

Today is November 22. For those of us of a certain age, that date will forever be connected with the assassination of President John F. Kennedy. That day marked the end of an age of innocence, both for those in my generation as well as the United States in general. If you were old enough to have experienced that tragic event, you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when you heard the news. There are just a few certain events in life that burn such indelible memories into our brain.

Who knows what course the nation may have taken had Kennedy lived, and possibly won a second presidential term. Our course as a country would certainly be different. Perhaps the course of events of the world would be different as well. Would the Vietnam War have taken the same course? Would Richard Nixon have won in 1968? Would the distrust of government which has grown since the Warren Report, and then accelerated after the Nixon debacle, have gotten such traction?

All questions that will never be answered.

I do know that I had such a sense of sadness after November 22, 1963, that it helped to shape my adolescence. My generation got a shocking awakening at a vulnerable period in our life. I think it also gave rise to the turbulent 1960’s which changed the course and attitude of the nation.

I do not know how my readers around the world were affected by this event. They probably have their own signal events that were “game-changers” for them. I also believe that the assassination helped shape world events also, so in a sense, everyone felt the disruption of that tragic day.

So, as we remember that 59^th anniversary of the assassination, pause to consider how one event can literally change your world, and the world around you.