Suicide has touched my world several times this year.
I also have learned of families I know that are falling apart.
Friends have told me how hopeful they had been about a fulfilling aspect of their work, only to see their employers mess it up by treating people like pawns, or by politicizing the work.
And finally, I had a front-row seat to the end of a big corporate “change initiative.” It is my second time going through the killing of a program.
All this makes me think about Advent.
Advent was traditionally a season of fasting leading up to Christmas. In it, we remember Christ coming at his birth and anticipate Christ coming again.
As I see it, I can endure fasting if I know it will end in the fulfillment of Christmas. And I can endure this world if there is something greater than it at the end.
As C.S. Lewis said:
If we find ourselves with a desire that nothing in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world.
Perhaps you, too, are reflecting on the disappointment and dissatisfaction that the world brings. It was a rough year for many. So:
I’ve saved this one for the end of the year. I don’t care if the horns are synthesized. It’s just what some of us need to hear.
(From one of the most underrated bands of the ’90s, the Sundays. A band so level-headed they retired from the business at the top of their game to raise their kids.)
Lyrics follow the video. I hope this encourages you to take action and find fulfillment as we end the year.
Lying awake dead of night and eyes that never close
Flowers decay – a still life calls for a change
I can’t wait, forever
I can’t wait, forever
Miles away dead of night and it’s quiet as the grave
When there’s more in your head than you find in your life
Calls for a change
I can’t wait, forever
And the days and the hours and the years
Keep turning in my mind
I’ve been waiting forever