Even when we’re discouraged, we can still give someone joy

Dear friend,
I have a Christmas story for you.

Christmas can be a hard time.

This one may be especially hard
after our tough November.

We are being hit with daily blows
of seriously bad news
and we may be feeling discouraged.

We all get discouraged sometimes.
If anyone tells you they don’t,
they are either manic or lying.

Sometimes the things we are trying to do
are not going well.

Someone we want to be with
doesn’t want to be with us.

We aren’t looking so hot–
thought we’re so smart but we’re not–
and when it comes to cash—we ain’t got.

So,
what do we DO
when we are feeling discouraged?

My Daddy’s jokes

I was blessed to have a father
with a never-ending supply of jokes.

He’s been gone since 1972
but he’s still with me
and I still remember all his jokes.

They were usually very brief.
Perfect for me
when I was four years old.

I would giggle my head off
every time he told them,
and they never got old
even as I grew up.

The world may find them corny
but they still kill me.

A few days ago I was feeling discouraged.

Suddenly there was my Daddy
declaring earnestly:

“Horse goes into a bar.

Bartender asks:
Why the long face?”

I burst out laughing,
same as when I was four.

How could I continue to feel discouraged?

Someone needs us

A beloved joke
can break the spell of our discouragement.

But what else can we do?

I believe the best thing of all
is to remember that even when we are discouraged,
someone needs us.

Someone who is in a far worse situation
than we are.

And if we open our eyes and look around,
we just might see them!

A joyful reunion

A few years ago
my husband and I are driving around town.

It’s getting close to Christmas
and there is lots of traffic.

Suddenly I see a little dog
peering out through the bushes
by the side of the busy street!

I exclaim: “O please pull over!
There’s a little dog right by the road!
He’s going to get hit if he comes another step!”

My husband pulls off the road into a parking lot.

I go into the bushes and find the dog.
He is real scared!

But I talk softly to him
and gently take hold of his collar

then slowly coax him to our car
and he jumps in.

We see that his collar
has a tag number on it.

We drive him back to our place
across town.

On the way, that dear little dog
(turns out it’s a “she”)
snuggles into my arms.

She must have been lost for a while,
because she is so exhausted she falls asleep.

When we get home
our next door neighbors give us
some of their dog’s food for her.

Our other neighbors take down and lend us
the leash that they had hung on the wall
that had belonged to their dear departed dog.

We feed her and take her for a brief walk.

We call the organization named on her collar
and are given the phone number of the owner.

Another neighbor volunteers to make the call
and to drive the little dog
all the way back home later that evening.

It turns out she belongs to a young man
who had a stroke and is in the hospital.

He had left his dog with a friend
who had had to tell him
that she got lost.

But now that she was found,
when the young man
got home from the hospital
just before Christmas
his precious little dog
was right there waiting for him.

Can you even imagine
the joy of their reunion?

So…let’s keep our eyes open

Especially when we are discouraged.

We never know what we will see.

We never know in what way
we may be needed.

Was I discouraged the day
I spied that little dog in the bushes?

Not that I remember.

But if I had been,
making sure
with the help of all our neighbors
that she got home to that young man for Christmas

would have revived me.

Blessings,

Dr. Hall