There’s no doubt that holidays – especially Christmas – see an increase in reports of depression. Whether it be memories of a deceased loved one, a recent divorce or separation, job loss, or family turmoil, depression seems to intensify during holiday seasons. While there seems to be an unfoinded myth that suicides increase at those times, that doesn’t mean the amount of mental anguish isn’t substantial.

It is also a time when the power of a strong faith can make all the difference.

Although most of our posts have addressed the conflict between faith and logic, this is one case where the two concepts work best when working together – faith as the resource, – logic as the path.

When we consider faith as a “resource,” we need to take that definition to heart. Even if we feel our faith is weak, we need to, at the very least, embrace the possibility that there is power in faith. We need to reflect on the stories that others have submitted describing the results of faith in their lives.

Then, we need to apply logic to the probability that the same faith that has served others can serve any individual in need. Now we need to apply another layer of logic to realize that the power of faith lies in the act of believing.

If all this sounds like some type of multi-layered puzzle, it is because it is exactly that. Each element depends on the successful application of the other. Add to that, another layer – the reality that the emotion of despair has a head start. The whole state-of-mind we define as depression has built up momentum before we even begin to address it.

The sad fact is that neither faith, nor logic alone can soothe the wounds of despair. We need to start with whichever element is strongest for us. We need to recognize the basis of our despair and recognize that the conditions that has led us to that state are always temporary.

Then we must be willing to heal.

Then we must embrace faith as the salve that can soothe our emotional wounds.

We must believe in a loving Creator that nourishes our development by allowing us to experience enough pain in life that we are eventually overwhelmed by the love and joy of our ultimate destination. In short, we need to accept that our holiday blues are a small price to pay to purchase a seat at heaven’s banquet table.

As I write this, the day is passed. Thanksgiving in America. We’ve had our family get-togethers, our football games or our special movies. We’ve had too much to eat, maybe too much to drink.

For most of us, we’ve done everything except acknowledge the theme of this special day. In all the commotion of this “celebration,” we’ve forgotten to embrace and understand the concept of giving thanks. Oh, maybe we said a token prayer at the diner table, but was it accurate? Was it sincere?

Thanks – giving.

Thanks to who, for what?

The answer to both questions is simple.

We all know the story of what is described as the first Thanksgiving feast shared between Native Americans and European settlers. While the accuracy of the story might be in dispute, it was essentially a gathering and celebration of friendship between the two peoples.

Over the course of years, Thanksgiving became a tradition, an annual moment of recognition of the blessings in life. Beginning with President Lincoln, Thanksgiving became an annually “proclaimed” holiday until President Roosevelt issued an official proclamation in 1942 designating the fourth Thursday in November as “Thanksgiving.”

Strangely enough, Roosevelt’s action was more of an economic stimulus act than a religious or spiritual acknowledgment.

So, what about those questions?

Perhaps the day after “Thanksgiving” is when we truly need to reflect on its meaning.

We might start with appreciation for being alive another day. Even those of us with limited resources can appreciate that. Perhaps we can appreciate the food on our table and the comradery of family and friends and the opportunity to gather together.

Most of us, if we take the time and make the effort, can expand on this list exponentially.

And the second question? To whom do we express our thanks?

Most of us, regardless of the level or the label of our spiritual beliefs, can find only one answer. If we are to acknowledge one universal source of our existence and blessings, it must be that universal and all-powerful force we call God.

Perhaps our appreciation for all we have is best expressed in a line from the Bible – 2 Cor. 13:14)  “Praise God from whom all blessings flow.”

If today is the day we fully understand and act accordingly, perhaps we could call it Thanksgiving2. 

One of the mysteries of Christianity is the concept that Jesus will return one day to pass judgment. That has, predictably, led to hundreds of years of human speculation on the when and where – particularly the “when.” In particular, this concept is tied to the “end times” predicted in the book of Revelations.

So, if there is a scheduled “end time,” how will we know of its arrival? What signs will we see?

Unfortunately, the question of the end times is contaminated by a potpourri of human superstitions and misinterpretations. But at the root of the question is the element of time. Does God have a specific time reserved for this cataclysmic event? Is there a particular season or year that will serve as the host for Jesus’ return?

As with many of the biblical events, the time or timing of significant activities is contingent upon the definition of time in human terms.

One of the handicaps we suffer as humans is the need to keep score and track the timing of events on a scale that we can identify based on human experiences. Our definition of a “day” is the time it takes for our planet to make one full revolution on its axis. A year is the time it takes for our planet to make one full orbit around the sun. In both cases, we are dealing with a man-made scale that requires a tweek on occasion to make up for human errors in interpretation. The most famous of these is “leap year.” Finally, we are faced with the knowledge that different cultures and different eras have contributed alternate definitions of time, even alternate calendars.

When it comes to God’s schedule of events, we are hopelessly out of our element. How can a human, handicapped by our human-defined standards, hope to second guess a Creator who has eternity at His disposal?

The Bible itself contributes to the confusion in its very first passages. The book of Genisis describes the first six days of the creation of our world. Judging by the evidence that science provides about the formation of the earth, we immediately find ourselves facing the question – “what is the length of God’s day?”

As the books of the Bible were written by human hands, those writers were handicapped by the same general limitations of human knowledge, plus the additional limitations of human experiences accumulated to that date.

Ultimately, we have to face the fact that, if there is an “end times” on God’s calendar, we have no way of predicting when that might occur. Those end times might surface thousands of years in the future, or it might happen thirty seconds after you read that last sentence.

Either way, our only hope of continuing our existence beyond this moment is to embrace our faith and forge a loving link with our Creator. Then, our ability to understand God’s calendar is inconsequential.

His will be done.

The human spirit is continually seeking answers. At times, we seek answers to questions that seem to have no answers. In that respect, the worlds of science and faith are equally mysterious.

The topic of faith seems to be even more incomprehensible than any element of science.

Science is continually expanding our knowledge of the world around us, and beyond. But, the one thing that science seems to be incapable of is the endpoint. No matter how deeply we dive into the elements of our existence, we can never seem to find that final solution. The answers seem to be just out of reach, but we believe, without evidence, that there must be an answer.

Our struggle to understand the final definition of our faith is even more frustrating.

In both cases, we are handicapped by the limitations of our vocabulary and our vision.

While one extreme of science peers deeper and deeper into the building blocks of matter, another extreme strives to grasp the limits of an infinite universe. Few of us will ever begin to fully understand the building blocks of the atom or the concept of distance that is measured in light years rather than miles.

In both cases we are faced with the concept of “what lies beyond the beyond?”

When we attempt to understand the principles of our faith, we are even more handicapped. With science, at least we have the tool of mathematics to help us visualize what our senses cannot detect. There is no counterpart to mathematics when it comes to analyzing the concepts of our faith. We have to… well… take it on faith.

At some point, handicapped by the limits of our experiences, we have no choice but to accept as truth, the tenets of our faith.

Just as the concept of infinity seems to be in conflict with all reason in science, the idea that God has no beginning and no end is equally difficult to grasp when held up to the standards of our life experiences. After all, every experience of our lifetime has a beginning and an end, even if we don’t witness it ourselves.

Perhaps the clearest answer comes from the Bible.

• I am the Bread of Life (John 6:35)
• I am the Light of the World (John 8:12)
• I am the Door (John 10:9)
• I am the Good Shepherd (John 10:11,14)
• I am the Resurrection and the Life (John 11:25)
• I am the Way and the Truth and the Life (John 14:6)
• I am the Vine (John 15:1,5)

There simply is no “beyond” beyond. There is only “I am.”

It’s a journey many of us will take several times in our lifetime as we escort our loved ones to their final destination. Watching a loved one live out their final moments of life is a painful exercise. Even when the end is inevitable, the stress of anticipation is greater than the stress of mourning.

Strangely, it can be even more painful when it is one of our beloved pets, for it is the loss of innocent creatures that have become part of our family. It is the loss of unconditional love that only a devoted pet can offer.

And so, it happens that my wife and I are forced to travel that long, lonely road once again as we have several times before.

His name is Charlie, and he has been one of our canine companions for more than 15 years. But more than that, he has been our furry child that has shared so many of life’s adventures with us. When he came to us, he was promised that our home was his home for the rest of his life.

Now it was time to honor that commitment by accepting the pain of releasing his loving spirit from his frail and failing body. It is time to lovingly escort him to that rainbow bridge and allow him to cross over to await us on the other side.

We envision that he will be joyfully greeted by our other pets who have passed before him. We envision that he will once again be able to run and frolic with his canine siblings, a pleasure that has been denied him for far too long.

But the pain remains heavy on our hearts, especially since we are making the choice to determine the time when we will end his suffering. And we pray that somehow, he knows how much he is loved.

As we try to comfort him in his final hours, we are comforted only by our faith in a loving God who will welcome the spirit of one of His creations and grant us the peace our spirit requires to tolerate the pain we must bare.

Knowing that there is an afterlife, and that the prevailing culture of that afterlife is love, we must trust that our loving God allows us to experience this pain, so that we can more fully appreciate the joy of that afterlife, unencumbered by sorrow.

With that in mind, we bid our dear Charlie adieu until we meet again in that heavenly landscape where joy prevails and tears are unknown,