Yesterday, a long letter arrived from a discouraged woman.  Like many during this festive feasting season, she??™s been losing the battle of the bulge; and this after a year of successful weight loss.  Using a faith-based lifestyle of discipline and activity, she had shed forty-eight pounds, but has now quickly added thirteen.  

What caused this gain of unwanted pounds and her feeling of failure?  She says it all started with eating one or two M&Ms. 

How do you comfort a person whose discipline has been decimated by such a tiny transgression?  I chose to contact her immediately, complimenting her on her successes.

She is still thirty five pounds lighter than a year ago.  Why not focus on her achievements instead of her recent lapse of control?

This morning an e-mail assured me that this one whose confidence had been crushed by two small pieces of candy is already back on track.  She??™s now planning to talk to her pastor about starting a group in her church for others who need to learn that God cares about every part of our lives and will enable us to achieve what is best for us.   

Clashes of faith and doubt, positives and negatives, confront us continually. This was brought to my attention recently in an article titled ???Where is Peace? written by our son, Timothy, who, along with many other responsibilities, edits a newspaper.  See if you can identify with his story of a late night journey from perplexity to peace:

???This old world we call home seems at times to be little more than a ???ball of confusion,??™ spinning evermore out of control day by day.  War, famine, drought and disease monopolize the international news while our domestic headlines decry a culture of violent crime, greed, hedonism and family dysfunction and dissolution.

???A few weeks back, I stood out in the paddock praying and unwinding with my horse as he enjoyed a late dinner of Equine Senior and a few carrots.  My thoughts were on the turbulent situation in the Middle East ??“ Arafat lay dying, bin Laden was thumbing his nose at us, the war raged in Iraq and I lamented with Jeremiah, ???Peace, peace,??™ they say, ???but there is no peace.??™

???And then on the northern horizon I saw in all their splendor, Aurora Borealis ??“ the Northern Lights - something of a rarity at our latitude.  To the east, a meteorite streaked the night sky and I was overcome with the peace of knowing the ???Lord of Heaven and Earth.??™???

Henry W. Longfellow faced a similar quandary over the ???peace on earth??? of the Christmas message and the reality of a violent and unjust world.  In his enduring carol, ???I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day,??? he describes his inner conflict over the apparent contradiction and his ultimate satisfying conclusion:

 ???And in despair, I bowed my head: There is no peace on earth,??? I said,

For hate is strong, and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.???

???Then pealed the bells more loud and deep: ???God is not dead: nor doth He sleep,

The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, good will to men.??? 

From weight problems to world political crises, we need never despair.  Christmas says God loves us, every one.  And the miracle of the nativity negates negativism; promising personal peace through faith, and, finally, good will to men.

?© 2004 Roger Campbell