My subscribed or following readers have mostly stopped reading. Occasionally I’ll see a spike in views because, most likely, someone new has come across this site and got curious. There are no likes, no comments. I don’t know if they’re enjoying this place or if they’re just confused.

That’s a pity, because I feel like I’m not doing any good. Except for “The Insanity Syndrome,” my attempts at fiction have been dismal. My posts on politics have made me more furious and inarticulate. My life events haunt me. I only wanted to help people, the survivors like myself. I wonder if any of it even made a dent in the despair and dysfunction faced every day by the survivors of childhood trauma.

They have to go on living in a country where they were always laughed at or fed bags of drugs that were expensive but never helped. Family members don’t want to be seen in public with them and the public hates and fears anything it doesn’t understand.

Meanwhile, politics, every bit as corrupt as the devil himself, tore this country apart and the destruction continues. The economy is so bad that people are starving.

The rich get richer, and they have no compassion.

War is happening right now in different places. More of it looms on the horizon.

These are dark times and if you let them break your spirit and steal your joy, they will.

What we need is a bit of pre-holiday cheer.

I can never forget the classic cartoon about how Christmas without gifts or food could not steal the spirit of the holidays in Dr. Seuss’s Whoville.

That’s how we all need to be.

This time of year many religions have celebrations, but Christmas is the one I observe, and usually it gave me great joy until my children passed away. Suddenly, I had only grief, emptiness and a broken heart.

But I knew that my friends had my back, and they were more than helpful. They showed me that a little sympathy and love can become huge. That love is medicine for the soul and the heart. And that perhaps before I faced my last day, I might find some peace.

It’s a lesson I needed and one I must never forget. Their words may have faded in my memory, but the love is always there. I return it with everything I have.

In Hebrews chapter 13, there appears God’s promise never to leave or forsake us. I have believed that, except for in my weakest moments, for a very long time. Yet miracles–which is all I can call them–kept me alive perhaps hundreds of times when I should have died.

We have, each of us, a usefulness to the Lord if we are willing to have even an ounce of faith. And faith is trusting, believing in something when everyone else tells you that you’re a fool, a magical dreamer.

Yet faith is sustaining and powerful. It keeps us going through things that make us cry, make us want to lie down and surrender to death. I know. I’ve been there.

Something in me, something deep, refused to give up, no matter how much I cried, how alone I felt, how sick I was.

I could feel it. I was never alone.

What I mean to say is this:

Right now a neighbor across the street and three houses down is putting up a mammoth light display. It’s going to be beautiful.

That’s the spirit we all need. We have to fight for it, pray for it and then have faith. Slowly, we will feel better. We get back what evil has worked so hard to strip from us.

When we can feel peace, joy and love, we are stronger than any enemy we can face. Once we have it back, we’re aware that we must guard it jealously. And we will.

Christmas lights before thanksgiving? I never used to see that. Now I think it’s a worthy, perhaps even crucial thing to do. The stores want your money. The decorations are up, the candy canes are stocked, the music playing on their PA. I say, enjoy it. Be thrifty, sure, but enjoy the atmosphere while you can. Then, keep it past the holidays as something that can be remembered later as you look back. You’ll know how you got your family through it all.

Weather forecasters are not sure about snow, but say it could be one of the coldest winters in decades. You need to be prepared. I recommend keeping tabs on YouTube channels Ryan Hall, Y’all and Max Velocity. Buy extra blankets and winter clothes. Stock up canned goods.

And let nothing break your happiness. Or your faith. Look at the lights. They’re prettier than any fireworks; and you can gaze at them for as long as you like.

Don’t forget to say a prayer of thanks. I assure you, it will be heard.