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PROGRAM D-8258
It’s the day after Christmas. We focus on the day before Christmas and Christmas day—all of which is good, fun, and wonderful. But what about the day after Christmas? Somebody should write a poem about the day after Christmas. I’d call it “Letdown Day.” Is that how you’re feeling today? All that work, all that money, all that energy—and now it’s over?!
Life is full of letdown days, is it not? I thought it would be good to take these three days after Christmas and talk about how to deal with letdown days. Remember the story of Elijah in the Bible? He was a prophet who pulled off an amazing spectacle when he confronted all the prophets of Baal. (You’ll find the story in 1 Kings 17 and 18.)
Elijah boldly challenged those prophets to see who the real God was. He called down fire from heaven and the prophets of Baal were totally stumped—couldn’t get their false god to do a thing! Then all those false prophets were killed, and the Israelites began once again to trust in and recognize God’s sovereignty.
Talk about a good day—that was a spectacular day! But the next day was a letdown day for Elijah. He was frightened of one woman who threatened to kill him, and he ran for his life. In fact, he wanted to die! It was a huge letdown. And Elijah wasn’t the only servant of God to experience major letdowns: David did; Jonah did; Moses did. This is because letdown days are normal.
The question becomes how do we deal with these letdown days? You certainly don’t want to stay there very long—they’re no fun. You don’t have time to waste for letdown days, but what do you do about it? As a Christ-follower what is the right thing for you to do?
First, get a dose of reality. Letdown days are normal reactions to the flow of chemicals in your body, like endorphins. Special occasions, good events, and enjoyable experiences release those endorphins and give us an emotional “high,” if you please. This makes things look better than they would look otherwise. Unfortunately, the high wears off, the endorphins stop, and the good feelings give way to a letdown—and it’s usually both a psychological and physical letdown.
So remember this: Letdown days are normal. They’re not your fault—and probably not anyone else’s fault, either. The good news is that these kinds of reactions—these letdown feelings—will pass.
