This is not what I had planned. I got ahead on all my errands, hoping to spend this week enjoying Christmas activities with my children. Instead, we’ve been homebound. As I write, my sons are in bed with the flu. My daughter hasn’t caught it yet, but she’s drowsy and sluggish, still adjusting to her new anti-seizure medication.
So much for Christmas fun.
While disappointing, I know my circumstances will pass soon. Meanwhile, many of you are facing much bleaker situations.
There’s no way to hit “pause” on the hard things that inhabit our lives. And so Christmas, “the best time of the year,” doesn’t always feel like it.
Loved ones are lost. Marriages crumble. Children rebel. Depression persists. Medical conditions worsen. Loneliness gets louder.
This is, indeed, a weary world. One marked by suffering and sin and struggle.
But in this darkness, we have a thrilling hope.
Jesus, Immanuel, chose to walk our broken earth with us. He spared himself no pain and became intimately acquainted with grief, sympathizing with our sorrows.
Because of his suffering, ours will end.
That is why, no matter how difficult we find this holiday season, we can still rejoice. Because even as we grieve lost loved ones, we rejoice that someday death will be no more. Even as we mourn broken relationships, we rejoice that Jesus reconciled us to God. Even as we cry in loneliness, we rejoice that our loving Father will wipe every tear from our eyes. Even as our bodies and brains ache with brokenness, we rejoice that someday we’ll be made new.
Embrace hope this holiday season—Jesus is among us.