This is the season of joy not because there will be something that I have always wanted under the tree as if I were an anxious pre-teen expecting his or her first cell phone. There is some speculation as to whether even I made the good list; eating so much ice cream may have put me back on the bubble. It will be a season of joy because this year I have been able to recognize that I have been blessed in so many unimaginable ways.

This year, like so many others, my wife Lisa asked me to write a Christmas letter, something I had done in the past but more recently shied away from. Every year for the past half a dozen or so, she would ask, every year for the past half a dozen or so her request would fall on deaf ears. Had I lost the perspective or the sense of joy from which to write? In retrospect, my lack of motivation was driven by what I was feeling at the time and not based on what I knew to be true. We had much to share with family and friends and much to be grateful for. I had just lost sight of all that was given, the abundance, and turned my focus on what had been taken away.

The truth of the matter is that I did write a Christmas letter last year, it just didn’t see the light of day. It was well written, but was written from a place of cynicism and not one of hope. To share something that was dark and cynical, a feeling, could in no way advance a message of hope and joy, the truth. I had allowed my health to define my being and allowed it to rob me of a sense of joy. This had to change, I had to change.

This year is so different. I see a future that is bright for my family and me. We will have our challenges but no longer do I approach the challenges that we face with an attitude of despair. To have challenges means that I am breathing and a part of the human race. I can choose defeat or victory, brokenness or wholeness. It’s a choice, not an involuntary thoughtless response to a feeling.

But that is the message of Christmas; there is One who came so many years ago that brings hope, who heals and who makes beautiful things out of dust. Christmas is just 21 days away and for the first time in quite a few years, I am looking forward to enjoying the Christmas season. I may even escape to the solitude of my office, dust off CD’s of my favorite music and write a Christmas letter that is long overdue.  Nothing ushers in the spirit of Christmas better than listening to Trans-Siberian Orchestra’s rendition of O’ Come All Ye Faithful played really, really loud.

Sorry Ivy. If you want some peace and quiet, we may need to move your crate out of my office for a while.

Thanks for reading, liking and sharing

Al Van Dyk, and his faithful sidekick, Ivy the wonder pup.