First Baptist Church of Herndon

The Hibernation Theory

Linda Soller | Dec 30, 2013

This week is a difficult week for writing a blog. The build up to Christmas provides plenty of topics and while I can certainly move on to the beginning of the New Year, part of me hates to let go of the Christmas season. It all goes by so fast. This year was one of the few times I could actually sit back and enjoy the last few days before Christmas without a long list of unfinished tasks to tackle. But for me, the week between Christmas and New Years is hard to figure out. I don’t know if I should just relax, or put the house back in order, or set things up for the New Year, or all of the above. It’s like being in limbo.

Right before Christmas I saw a news piece on the young boy in Mississippi who started decorating a dead looking bush along the road. He’s a fan of a “Charlie Brown’s Christmas” and the sad bush reminded him of the sad little tree that Charlie Brown rescued. True to the story others began to add decorations to the little bush. No one was taking credit, or was seen doing it, but day by day more ornaments, garlands, and ribbons were added. The young boy is thrilled and his dad said, “I think there is good in everyone, but for some reason we just wait for someone else to take that first step.” Now the little tree/bush is a sight to see. Beautiful may be a stretch, but no one will argue that it’s a festive sight for those passing by.

There seems to be an abundance of such stories at Christmas. I can’t figure out if it’s because there are more good stories to tell or maybe because the media feels it’s okay to focus a little more on the good stories. Either way, our hearts are warmed and we find ourselves smiling when we hear them. Then after Christmas passes those nice stories seem to be few and far between. The stress and strains of our everyday lives come back in to focus.  How quickly we forget.

With New Year celebrations and resolutions we seem to turn our attention to ourselves. I want to lose weight. I want to exercise more. I want to travel. I want to do… and so our personal list continues. The bills for our Christmas gifts arrive and the weather seems to grow unusually cold. The die-hard shoppers journey out to use their gift cards and take advantage of the sales. If you have a New Year’s Eve social function you may find yourself taking a nap so you’ll be able to stay up until midnight.  Maybe it’s me, but it just seems like such a strange time.

With all that in mind, I decided to make a plan. I gave myself Christmas night to rest and recover from all the good food, abundance of company, and I decided to plan the next day. The next day came and I went to work, so I thought I’d plan at night. Days and nights passed and there was still no plan, because life happened. Now here we are, just two days before the start of a new year, and I’m still in limbo. It occurs to me that perhaps this is my time of hibernation. Perhaps I need this limbo to help offset the frenzy that’s my life. There’s a distinct chance I’m just lazy, but I prefer the hibernation theory.  So content with the concept of hibernation and renewal, I’ll ponder what will be and what might be. I’ll consider the possibilities and those things I know I have to deal with. I’ll consider being productive, but then again I may chose not to be productive. After all, I always have next year!

Happy New Year !   :o)    Linda