The Christian life is full of ups and downs. We can be going through the most difficult of circumstances, but yet be closer to God than ever because He is all we have. Or we can be experiencing His amazing joy in our life and we can do nothing but praise Him and feel Him in every area of our lives.
But what about all the other times?
What other times? Well, those times when you are not going through any significant struggle and not really experiencing any great highs in your Christian life. I’m talking about the moments when you are in the middle and not really feeling anything. It is kind of “blah.” In other words, you are in the middle of the “winter blues.”
During this time, you really don’t know what is going on, but you realize that you don’t feel quite yourself. Nothing is rocking your world, but you don’t really have anything to excite you or cause you to celebrate either. When we get into this state of mind, we often push people away and settle for a life that is okay or good rather than a life filled with the joy and excitement of Christ.
The hard part of this state is that we often don’t desire to do anything — that includes pursuing our relationship with God. We don’t necessarily turn our back on Him, but we don’t seek Him out either. We throw ourselves into a pit of sadness, and can’t figure out how to climb out. And… it seems to drag on forever. We start comparing ourselves and our lives to the lives of others, which we see on social media. (Which by the way is only a “happy glimpse” into someone’s life. People only post the highlights of life to make others believe that they have it all together while in truth they go through just as many struggles as you.)
Before this “blah” or “winter blues” time takes full affect, we need to squash it out of our lives. How? That can be different for everyone. Sometimes it is simply spending some time in prayer, talking it out with God and then letting Him take control of what is going on in your life. Others may need to call someone that they trust and explain everything that they are feeling, so that they can be encouraged out of the pit before fully falling in. It times, it could be us simply taking extra time in our daily devotions really concentrating on what our focus is because at times our focus comes off God and is on something material or superficial. Whatever you need to do to get yourself back on track, do it before it is too late and you find yourself in the “winter blues”.
Once you are out, then you can once again enjoy the true beauties of winter with new eyes.