Christmas Joy?

A young girl grew up surrounded by friends and family. She grew up knowing that she was loved. She had a circle of support, and it was held together not be the design of the circle, but by the designer, by God. God was above the circle, below the circle and in the center of the circle. It was not an idyllic childhood or adolescence but it was a loving environment.

As a young adult she soaked up all the time with her 2 grand mothers. She just loved spending time with them, especially at Christmas. Christmas was always a special time for our heroine. She loved the traditions her family celebrated and she especially loved getting to worship the baby in the manger because He was the King of Kings, and He took such good care of her.

Then, one summer as she was in her mid 20's one of her beloved Grandmothers was taken up into Heaven to be reunited with her husband and more importantly to be at the feet of Jesus. The girl was excited for her grandma, who wouldn't be!?! Grandma was up in Heaven! Grandma's suffering was over, Grandma's loneliness for her husband was over. Yet, death meant that Grandma wasn't here anymore. Nevermore would she be able to call Grandma up and share the good news, or call her up for sympathy and a listening ear. Summer days sitting in the back yard listening to the creek or winter evenings watching Jeopardy together were over.

More importantly Christmas would change. Grandma would get to sing Happy Birthday to Jesus as she knelt  before Him, but her place down here was empty. That first Christmas was rough. It was still Christmas, the lights on the houses and the trees were still beautiful, the presents were still fun to give and Jesus' birthday cake was yummy, but Christmas was not the same.

Nothing is ever the same when someone we love dies. Death changes everything. Death leaves a void, a hole in our hearts that no surgeon will ever be able to fix, no words will ever totally soothe. Death hurts because death is the last thing God wanted for His special creation. Death makes Christmas twice as hard because Christmas is a celebration of birth, of life, of our Savior.

This year, so many of us are struggling to have a joyous Christmas. Joy to the World just seems ironic when the joy in our hearts is hard to find. Yet, God does want us to have joy. God does want us to celebrate because God loves us. God offers us hope through the pain.

God offers us a little baby. A smiling, cooing, kicking, pooping little baby. God offers us Himself. We need to keep the memory of those we love alive. We need to honor them, but we also need to let ourselves find that joy that is tucked away in our hearts behind the pain. We need to let God take the teeny tiny, itsy bitsy little fleck of joy and turn it into something that warms our hearts.

God gave us that little Baby knowing that after the angels sang, the shepherds rejoiced and the wise men worshiped, the people would mock and eventually kill. Yet, God still celebrated that night. God knew what was to come and I bet a part of Him hurt for what Christ would have to experience, yet still God celebrated.

So, even if it is just for a couple minutes in the midst of heartache, fear, worry, stress, pain, let yourself celebrate, let yourself feel the joy of the season.

May we all find it in ourselves to have a merry Christmas season and to partake of the Christmas joy of Christ.

-JP-