After the Star Disappears

I’ve been reflecting about the overcast gloom of the last few days that tend to come with January. Like lots of other people, I’m fairly certain that I have SAD - seasonal affective disorder. January has been becoming harder the last few years for me.

This week, post-Epiphany, I packed up the Christmas decorations and tree and its ornaments. Even though I don’t put a string of lights on, there are many shiny things that reflect light and bring warmth and energy to my space. The busyness of preparing for and then getting through Christmas and all the gatherings makes December easier than January. Now, just like the Wise Men turning around to return home to routine, I’m back to “normal”, and somehow it seems more grey than stunning black with brilliant stars lighting the sky.

It’s no accident that the annual Bell Let’s Talk campaign for mental health is in January, the time of year with the highest suicide rate. Lots of us struggle when the joy and excitement of the holidays fades in the rear-view mirror and family have returned home and we’re facing the humdrum of our existence including those credit card bills and the aftermath of overeating and overindulging.

It all makes me wonder how we can hang on to the flashes of joy that Christmas brought us. It makes me wonder how the Wise Men felt after their encounter with baby (more likely toddler) Jesus. How quickly on their long journey home did they return to the matters of ordinary life? How soon did they allow Jesus to drop out of the conversation? Did they consider making plans to track His progress in life or was this a one-off and they never heard about Him again? Did they talk at length about how His coming would change that region of the world and how seeing Him impacted them? Or did they pack Him away like a precious ornament to be stored in their memories among all sorts of other benign things?

For those of us who struggle right now because we’re missing the restorative power of sunlight, there are lots of practical things we can do - being intentional about connecting with friends and family, getting back on the exercise bandwagon to boost our mood, eating as healthy as we can instead of being bogged down in fried foods and heavy carbs, and perhaps even buying a SAD light to sit in front of for part of the day.

I would also suggest that we don’t rush past the end of the holiday season. We can put away most of our decorations, but leaving a few key pieces out will help us to be reminded of the joy of the season and the care of God for us in sending Jesus. We can journal or reflect about the gifts we received this Christmas, perhaps even acknowledging those things that were hard and how God walked with us through them. We can think about the very human Jesus who from His birth encountered trials that many of us can only imagine and who can relate to all our pain and struggles.

We have a tendency to want to move on quickly and box up our experiences and put them away, always moving on to the next thing on the calendar. The star that guided the magi may no longer be brilliantly in the sky, but the light of Christ has never been put out. The light can still be found around us if we open our eyes to see it and celebrate it coming among us.

Let’s continue to find time to sit in the light of Christ and to be reminded of the blessings that His birth has brought us, even as we move past Christmas and towards Lent. Let’s care for ourselves as carefully as Mary and Joseph protected Jesus. Let’s journey in community, as the Wise Men did, so that we don’t feel overwhelmed and alone. And let’s trust that God is still with us, even if we can’t see that bright star in the sky.