Hey snap out of the rut!
Rise and shine
‘tis a season to be merry!
Yes, the day was such a mess
All your dreams were such a waste
Yet, snap of the rut!
Rise and shine
‘tis a season to be merry!
Because many here this time last year
Are no more, it could have been you
It could have been worse
So snap of the rut!
Rise and shine
‘tis a season to be merry!

December is here again. I dare to take a break and take stock. It has been quite a year! A year that brought joy and laughter to some while it stole that of others. A year of consolation for some while others registered heartbreaking beatings. It has been a year of ups and downs, of good and bad, of landmark achievements and irreconcilable losses. And the majority of these occurrences are irreversible. May be our thoughts, words, and deeds contributed to some, but there are many that we will never understand why we had to be the recipients of such blows and such blessings. Yet they happened.

If we are sincere, last year was the same. It came with its ups and downs and highs and lows. It brought its gains and losses too, like the years before it, and like the years ahead. Like a merry go round, so it goes, from one year to the other. Some make it, some don’t but time goes on. It was about this season last year that I learned of the death of a colleague whose life was cut short by blood cancer. He had it all or so it appeared. He had all you could ever dream going for him; he was young and smart, blessed with a beautiful wife and lovely sons, had a great job with remarkable prospects, he was rich and he looked good. And he was alive and well one minute until one medical test turned his world around and with that, despite all hope, life headed south.

He had a chance to face his last days, even though in hope, knowing they could be his very last. He may have had the opportunity to get his house in order before the last journey. There have been many who had no idea they were living their last days, their final minutes. There were those who didn’t have a chance to leave behind a plan, a word. Some despite all they had, died in loneliness without loved ones around. They were swept away in suddenness, deprived of the chance to face death with hope or crave life in death. One minute they were here, the next minute gone like the wind. And all that was left behind were corpses that are far from the ones who once indwelt those bodies. Such is life: it has happened, it is happening, it will continue to happen.

Why am I digging up these sad facts of life for such a jolly title? It is definitely not to make you sadder than you already are. Instead, my goal is to spur you to look beyond all that is holding you down and dragging you about right now. I want to ginger you to snap out of rut – life is the greatest gains of all. If you are alive, there is hope and where there is hope, there will be change.

To the dead life is history: to the living life is adventure. In this season, I encourage you to look out and see that no matter how tight your corner is, you have a place among the living – that is something to be grateful for. Look up and see the shifting clouds, the rising sun, the glowing stars, and in them find hope whenever the sun sets. Be thankful that you are alive, be merry just as you are, life is too brief and too precious to waste brooding over what we don’t or can’t have. What do you have right now? Enjoy it the best you can: this is your best time.

Glory!