I am having trouble finding my Christmas cheer this year. There are probably several reasons for this. I did not attend worship all four weeks of Advent. (The organ is too loud and makes my TBI symptoms worse). Other members of my family decided there would be zero presents. (It is not so much about the actual gifts as it is the life -long Christmas traditions that will be broken.) I didn’t send Christmas cards this year because I cannot afford the postage. I am trying so hard to find joy and meaning this Christmas, but it is escaping me.
I wonder how many people can relate to a lack of Christmas cheer? Each person’s reasons are probably different – too little time or money, too many relatives or things to do. Special people missing from our lives. It all amounts to feeling overwhelmed.
We are now at the part of the blog where I write about resilience – how to find the good in whatever situation we find ourselves. I will be honest. I am struggling right now.
After a rather long time of reflective silence, these are the words that came to me:
What I know – what I believe is that regardless of how we feel, this is the time of year when we prepared for a miracle. A miracle that happened over 2000 years ago as well as a miracle that is yet to be. Those preparations give me comfort. It is a tangible reminder that Jesus was born, lived and died in a world of suffering and heartbreak. It was a world of broken expectations and traditions. A world where there was too little time, money, and kindness. A world where there was too much grief, longing and disappointment.
No one was ready for the birth of Jesus. No one was prepared for how Jesus entered the world. The expectations for a Messiah were shattered when the Son of God was born as a baby in a stable to parents who had no special characteristics other than a linage that traced itself back to King David.
No one is really prepared for how Jesus touches our lives today either. Maybe this season is not so much about feeling prepared or even joyous. Perhaps it is simply about being open to God’s presence and movement in each and every one of our lives. God is at work despite (or maybe because of) the pain, loneliness and brokenness of the world in which we live.
For me, this kind of amazing love that shatters my expectations and grants miracles in forms that I could not even imagine. It brings a kind of peace as well as its own kind of Christmas cheer!
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