Meeting God in the holiday blues:

  Been counseling some this week, as people often get bluesy and even depressed, around Christmas. I’ve found, i can’t really help anyone if i don’t get into a prayer stream for them, sort of overhear Jesus’s specific prayers, and their tone. Tone matters, so you get the heart. Turns out Jesus is praying for everyone. Often, it’s mostly about tuning into that prayer, and joining in it for the other person.

  Yesterday, a fellow was suffering holiday depression having recently found out he had cancer. He hadn’t even told his wife yet, and he didn’t want to overwhelm her. I mostly just sat there with him and listened. Then I felt real comfort soak down over the table, and he just cried for a while.

  He is a musical composer, so he started humming all this old late baroque music—it was so soothing (like overhearing God’s comfort music, or healing soundtrack, for someone; and, it was so specifically catered to this man; the tone of his particular comforting!), like David playing music for Saul in the bible—first music therapist!

  Anyway, the ministry of presence always blesses, especially around holidays. Life is meaningful even in suffering. Afterwards, i was once again impressed by God’s specific, not just generalized, care for each of us. I guess that’s how counseling brings you closer to God.

 Counseling like anything else, has to become part of your spirituality for it to be very  useful to others or yourself.