Sometimes, Christmas just hurts.
Maybe it's the expectations that you already know your Christmas won't rise to this year.
Maybe it's the memories of Christmas Past that outshine Christmas Present.
Maybe it's the shadow of Christmas Future, where your loved one won't be, beginning this year.
If you are walking any road dealing with loss of any kind, you know that the month of December has enough triggers for the whole year.
Family.
Togetherness.
Memories.
Children.
Pregnancy.
Love.
Miracles.
Familiar songs.
Hallmark movies.
Maybe it's the expectations that you already know your Christmas won't rise to this year.
Maybe it's the memories of Christmas Past that outshine Christmas Present.
Maybe it's the shadow of Christmas Future, where your loved one won't be, beginning this year.
If you are walking any road dealing with loss of any kind, you know that the month of December has enough triggers for the whole year.
Family.
Togetherness.
Memories.
Children.
Pregnancy.
Love.
Miracles.
Familiar songs.
Hallmark movies.
Christmas is "supposed to be" joyful, the most wonderful time of the year.
But what if this year is hard? What if this year, you didn't get the miracle you were praying for? What if this year is the first of a lifetime without someone who means the world to you?
But what if this year is hard? What if this year, you didn't get the miracle you were praying for? What if this year is the first of a lifetime without someone who means the world to you?
How do you celebrate Christmas when your world has fallen apart and your heart just hurts with the unfairness of it?
By focusing not on the festivity or the fanfare or the fun that our culture says Christmas is "all about", but on the three most important words connected to the Christmas story.
God with us.
Immanuel. The name the angel gave to Joseph when he told him what would lie ahead. Mary would give birth to a baby who was God in the flesh. The divine plan of all the ages to rescue us from ourselves and bring us back into a right standing with God would begin with God himself putting on the wrinkled skin of a newborn and making his home on Earth.
With us.
God with us.
God, who made the universe. God, who is all powerful and complete in Himself. God, who is holy and perfect. That God decided in eternity past that the best expression of His grace and mercy would be to take on the form of His creation in order to make a way for us to be with Him. And so He did.
God with us.
Not above us, although He is. Not just leading us, although His does. Not just saving us, although He did. With us. Walking with us. Weeping with us. Rejoicing with us. Holding us. Sustaining us. Giving us hope. Loving us.
God with us.
Me. You. Us, in spite of our sin, in spite of our doubts, in spite of our mess. Because God is love, and the proof of that started in a manger, culminated in the cross, showed itself victorious in the empty tomb, and was fulfilled in the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. (Imagine Mary's joy when the disciples, including her, were filled with the Holy Spirit and she experienced the fullness of what she was promised as a teenager - God with us!)
Maybe this year, Christmas hurts. Maybe you are not on speaking terms with God. Or maybe you are, but you aren't real sure who He is and what He wants from you.
Tomorrow, in the midst of the mayhem that is often called "Christmas", take time to be alone with the God who came to be with you and to focus on the promises behind those three words, and ask Him to show you what they mean in your life. He will, I promise. Because He is Immanuel.
God with us.
Blessed, peaceful Christmas to you!
By focusing not on the festivity or the fanfare or the fun that our culture says Christmas is "all about", but on the three most important words connected to the Christmas story.
God with us.
Immanuel. The name the angel gave to Joseph when he told him what would lie ahead. Mary would give birth to a baby who was God in the flesh. The divine plan of all the ages to rescue us from ourselves and bring us back into a right standing with God would begin with God himself putting on the wrinkled skin of a newborn and making his home on Earth.
With us.
God with us.
God, who made the universe. God, who is all powerful and complete in Himself. God, who is holy and perfect. That God decided in eternity past that the best expression of His grace and mercy would be to take on the form of His creation in order to make a way for us to be with Him. And so He did.
God with us.
Not above us, although He is. Not just leading us, although His does. Not just saving us, although He did. With us. Walking with us. Weeping with us. Rejoicing with us. Holding us. Sustaining us. Giving us hope. Loving us.
God with us.
Me. You. Us, in spite of our sin, in spite of our doubts, in spite of our mess. Because God is love, and the proof of that started in a manger, culminated in the cross, showed itself victorious in the empty tomb, and was fulfilled in the coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost. (Imagine Mary's joy when the disciples, including her, were filled with the Holy Spirit and she experienced the fullness of what she was promised as a teenager - God with us!)
Maybe this year, Christmas hurts. Maybe you are not on speaking terms with God. Or maybe you are, but you aren't real sure who He is and what He wants from you.
Tomorrow, in the midst of the mayhem that is often called "Christmas", take time to be alone with the God who came to be with you and to focus on the promises behind those three words, and ask Him to show you what they mean in your life. He will, I promise. Because He is Immanuel.
God with us.
Blessed, peaceful Christmas to you!
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