Two thousand years ago today, there was a woman who went into labor in a province of the Roman empire. She couldn’t find shelter. She was young and she was scared. 150 years ago, soldiers fighting to preserve the Union and to free their fellow man found a way to celebrate Christmas in the forts and trenches that divided a sundered nation. Almost a century ago, in the worst part of the Great Depression, parents around the world did what they could to cobble together gifts and a dinner for their hungry and exhausted families. Over 50 years ago, behind the Iron Curtain, huddled groups of East Berliners secretly commemorated the birth of their Savior as Soviet forces patrolled the city, threatening them with arrest, or worse. This year, millions of people are spending Christmas away from their families, wrestling with a global pandemic that is just one source of adversity in what has been a true annus horribilis. 

Is there some magical insight that can make this all go away? That can make everything better?

No, of course not. That’s never been what Stoicism is about. As it happens, in the very same year as Jesus, in another far-flung province of Rome, another boy was born. Seneca, who would go on to be an equally great and influential philosopher, would say that just as fire tests gold, misfortune tries brave men. 

It’s worth taking a minute, this Christmas morning, to compare all the ways that Jesus and Seneca’s teaching’s overlap:

“You have passed through life without an opponent—no one can ever know what you are capable of, not even you.” Seneca

“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial because, having stood the test, that person will receive the crown of life.” Jesus

“Constant misfortune brings this one blessing: to whom it always assails, it eventually fortifies.” Seneca

“We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials, for we know that they help us develop endurance. And endurance develops strength of character.” Jesus

“Two elements must therefore be rooted out once for all, – the fear of future suffering, and the recollection of past suffering; since the latter no longer concerns me, and the former concerns me not yet.” Seneca

“Therefore do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble.” Jesus

Now Seneca was obviously just a man—a flawed and contradictory man at that—while Jesus—depending on your beliefs—was both a man and God. But it is fascinating to think that they were both born in the same year, in the same empire, and died bravely facing evil. Both would be immensely popular in their own time, and long after. Both would run afoul of the powerful interests of their time. Both would be forced, in their final moments, to live their teachings—Jesus, on the cross, asking for forgiveness for the people who had wronged him. Seneca as he comforted his friends and family when Nero’s goons came to demand his suicide. Tacitus, who also tells us about the life of “Christus,” would note how Seneca had made plans for such an ordeal, writing that “even in the height of his wealth and power he was thinking of his life’s close.” So too, the Bible tells us, had Jesus. 

Their words and example lives on. 

Especially here as we bring 2020 to a close, wondering how we’ll get through this, how we’ll survive. We’ll make it by clinging to these timeless principles. We’ll get by on love, on wisdom, on courage, and self-discipline. We’ll find beauty in the ordinary. We’ll be of service to others. We’ll zoom out and look at the big picture. We’ll zoom in at what’s immediately in front of us. We’ll find something to be grateful for—because there is always something to be grateful for. 

Life is short, Seneca said. It was short for Jesus. What matters is what you do while you’re here. What matters is what you do with the year (and the days) you’ve been given. What matters is the example you leave behind you for others to follow. 

Enjoy today. Don’t be afraid. Do what’s right. 

Follow in their footsteps. They’ve shown us the way.

P.S. This was originally sent on December 25, 2020. Sign up today for the Daily Stoic’s email and get our popular free 7-day course on Stoicism.