In the bleak midwinter
Frosty wind made moan
Earth stood hard as iron
Water like a stone
Snow had fallen
Snow on snow on snow
In the bleak midwinter
Long, long ago
- In the Bleak Midwinter, Christina Georgina Rossetti, 1872
As a mental health professional, I’m all too aware of the complexity of emotions that Christmas can bring about for people.
Many of us can feel our sorrows and difficulties acutely during this time…with so many losses piling up one after another - like snow on snow on snow.
For many of us the bleakness of the hymn isn’t something that happened long, long ago, but is something we are all too aware of today; our suffering is a present reality, not something sentimental and in the past.
If this is you, you do not have to deck the halls, or don your gay apparel, or strike the harp and join the chorus as the song says…
Maybe the task for this season, as for all seasons; this moment, as for all moments, isn’t to fake it til we make it…
Maybe the task is to allow ourselves to more deeply feel and be with the complexity of what we are experiencing. To simply allow it to be, discovering in the process more deeply, what it means to be human in the world.
Thank you so much for reading along over the past few months, and for all your thoughts, comments, support, and recommendations.
I’ll end with this prayer from the ‘Blue Christmas’ service used at The Cathedral Church of Saint Andrew, Honolulu Hawaii:
Another day will come, O God.
I know not what it may bring forth, but make me ready, God, for whatever it may be.
If I am to stand up, help me to stand bravely.
If I am to sit still, help me to sit quietly.
If I am to lie low, help me to do it patiently.
And if I am to do nothing, help me do it gallantly.
Make these words more than words, and give me the Spirit of thy Peace. Amen.
Sometimes, perhaps the most gallant thing we can do is to do nothing. To make space to sit, breathe deeply, and simply feel what we need to feel…without judging, critiquing, or pressuring ourselves to do or be anything other than what we are in this moment.
Wishing you time and space to sit, feel, and attend to the complexity of the human experience, no matter what that looks like for you.
See you in 2023, and Thanks for Reading!
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About the Author
Travis Jeffords is a National Certified Counselor and Licensed Clinical Mental Health Counselor Associate in North Carolina. He holds a Master of Science degree in Clinical Mental Health Counseling from the University of North Carolina Greensboro, and a Master of Divinity from Christian Theological Seminary. Travis writes on the intersection of faith, spirituality, the church, and mental health.