{"id":1777,"date":"2017-12-04T06:42:00","date_gmt":"2017-12-04T06:42:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freshhope.us\/?p=1777"},"modified":"2020-06-24T12:54:13","modified_gmt":"2020-06-24T17:54:13","slug":"christmas-lessons-depressed-christmas","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/christmas-lessons-depressed-christmas\/","title":{"rendered":"Christmas Lessons When We Are Depressed At Christmas"},"content":{"rendered":"

Good News\u2026you don\u2019t have to have a perfect Christmas. Christmas lights burn out. Your cat attacks the tree. The turkey doesn\u2019t thaw in time or you forget to turn the oven on. Oops,\u00a0 you forgot where you hid the kids\u2019 presents.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Good News when we are depressed is that Christmas isn\u2019t perfect.<\/span><\/p>\n

The first Christmas wasn\u2019t perfect. Joseph and Mary couldn\u2019t find a place to stay in Bethlehem and Mary ended up delivering Jesus in a stable. They stayed in a stable with animals. A manger from which animals eat.<\/span><\/p>\n

In an imperfect world God took all the limitations of being a human being. He experienced all the problems of living in a broken world.<\/span><\/p>\n

When we suffer from depression or bipolar we experience the effects of a broken world. <\/span><\/p>\n

Depressed at Christmas? It is ok. Manic during yuletide? It is ok. We are vulnerable in an imperfect world. <\/span><\/p>\n

The lessons from that first Christmas have a lot to teach us about coping when we are depressed during the Christmas season.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mary teaches us acceptance. Imagine how Mary felt when an angel announced that she, an unmarried virgin, was going to have a baby? How could her fianc\u00e9 Joseph understand? Would he refuse to marry her? What would Mary\u2019s family say? Would her friends abandoned her?<\/span><\/p>\n

When we are diagnosed as having bipolar we have questions. How is this possible? Will our family understand? Will our friends abandon us in our need?<\/span><\/p>\n

How did Mary respond to the angel\u2019s message? \u201cI am the Lord\u2019s servant. Let it happen as\u00a0 <\/span>you have said.\u201d She accepted her condition.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like Mary, we need to come to acceptance with having bipolar. The longer acceptance takes, the longer it will take us to manage our disease. <\/span><\/p>\n

Does acceptance mean giving up? Does it mean be passive? NO! Acceptance is acknowledging reality and learning all we can to manage our disease, get treatment, and work toward remission. There are treatments. There is hope.<\/span><\/p>\n

Acceptance is a kind of faith. A faith present in the first Christmas.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s world was not perfect either. He simply could not understand how Mary could be pregnant. Joseph was heart broken. Very quietly he decided to divorce Mary. The pain of feeling betrayed must have angered this humble gentle man.<\/span><\/p>\n

But in a dream God revealed Joseph should continue with the marriage plans. And so he did. He practiced obedience to God when he felt betrayed. Instead of striking out in anger Joseph responded in love.<\/span><\/p>\n

I get angry at having bipolar. Sometimes I am furious. It makes no sense. There were more things I could have accomplished. My plans for the future were twisted out of the shape. Sometimes I am so angry I lash out at people in my life though they are not responsible. With foolish anger I cut my medicine. I fail to exercise. I feel betrayed by God.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph teaches me that regardless of how I feel my response needs to be one of obedience. Striking out at the people I love hurts all of us and accomplishes nothing. Cutting my medicine and not working my plan toward remission is only self defeating.<\/span><\/p>\n

Obedience is doing what has to be done even when you don\u2019t understand. So when I am at my best I use my anger to energize my fight against my disease. <\/span><\/p>\n

Not working my plan only hurts me. I need to follow my plan toward remission even when nothing makes sense.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph teaches me obedience. <\/span><\/p>\n

The first Christmas was not perfect. But what the angel told Joseph is still true, \u201cThe virgin will be with child and give birth to a son and they will call him Immanuel\u2014which means \u2018God is with us\u2019\u201d.<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Good News\u2026you don\u2019t have to have a perfect Christmas. Christmas lights burn out. Your cat attacks the tree. The turkey doesn\u2019t thaw in time or…<\/p>","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[24],"class_list":["post-1777","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hope-and-encouragement","tag-bipolar"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFresh Hope for Mental Health - Christmas Lessons When We Are Depressed At Christmas<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/freshhope.us\/es\/christmas-lessons-depressed-christmas\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"es_MX\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christmas Lessons When We Are Depressed At Christmas\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Good News\u2026you don\u2019t have to have a perfect Christmas. 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