This photo really struck me when I saw it on Facebook. “Hope for the Broken-Hearted” is
Christian author Debbie Kay’s ministry on Facebook and also at
https://www.hopeforthebrokenhearted.com for people who are hurt or grieving.
The message for this particular picture is from pastor Greg Laurie.
The older I get, the more I have come to realize that nearly every single person struggles with something. In the grand scheme of things, your heartache may not compare with another’s, but it is still real to you. You may have depression or anxiety, or maybe you just heard that you or a loved one has a devastating disease or perhaps there is an empty place in your home and your heart this year.
And all those things get more intense at Christmas. Why is that? Why do we put so many hopes into what is mostly (for many, at least) a man made holiday? Be honest - if you are reading this, you probably know the true meaning of Christmas - that Jesus is the reason for the season, and yet, if you are like me, you still enjoy all those man made extras - the lights and trees and decorations and all the traditions that mean “Christmas” to you.
Some people dread Christmas for that exact reason, that there are so many expectations about it, but it fails to measure up. There are many holiday movies about “recovering your Christmas spirit.” That, somehow, this holiday will make a change in your heart, and you will love all those traditions again, and Christmas will once again be filled with meaning
When I was little, Christmas was about opening presents. And when all was unwrapped, and I had my little pile next to me, there was the inevitable sense of “is this all there is?” All this excitement that builds up, so that you can’t even sleep, and you run downstairs with your brothers and sisters to just look at the tree until you’re finally allowed to wake your parents, and then, just like that, it’s over. Even as a young child, I knew there was something wrong with that thinking. I was missing something. Even as I grew up and finally became a real Christian (I called myself a Christian for my whole life, but I wasn’t, really), I felt like I was still missing something when it came to Christmas.
My husband and I created traditions for our young daughters, like going for Christmas light rides and “decorating day” and “cookie factory.” I created traditions for myself, like making biscotti and an annual ornament. I was always very, very busy at Christmas, but tried hard to keep it in perspective. And yet, even sitting in the Christmas Eve service, hearing again about God becoming a man at Christmas, setting aside His glory and being laid, a helpless baby in a cattle feed bin, somehow, I was missing something. Some part of me was not getting it. Still, I loved coming home from the service and having hors d’oeuvres by the fire, and then Christmas morning and watching my girls open their presents. I didn’t need to get a single thing - watching them was enough. I loved getting up early and making monkey bread for them, and having one of them be Santa (usually my youngest) and handing out presents, one by one. We all watched each other open each one, so we could savor it. But then, again, it was over, just like when I was a child. And something was missing.
Last year, we went through the motions, but my husband was dying all through that time. We still had the tree, the decorations, the presents, but none of them meant anything. In many ways, it was horrible, and yet, the one thing needful, was actually there for me. It was probably the most holy Christmas of my life because it had been stripped of everything man made. And what was left, was Jesus. Not the baby-in-the-manger Jesus, but the Jesus who lived the perfect life and then died for me, one of the most imperfect people on the planet. The Jesus who somehow, held on to me all through that most terrible time. The Jesus who proclaimed through His word, that even as I kissed my husband good-bye, one last time, that it wasn’t really good-bye.
THAT Jesus is what and who we really want when every year, we put out the trappings of Christmas. We can’t look to the tree or wreaths or flowers or traditions to fill that longing in our hearts. We can’t even look to family to do that. We need Jesus. The rest is still fun, and part of God’s blessings for us to enjoy, but even if you strip all that away, Jesus is the one who will make you feel whole.
This Christmas, if you are having trouble summoning up any joy for the season, then stop looking for it in the season. If it all seems meaningless, then don’t look for your meaning there. The meaning is in Jesus, who was born of a young girl in a stable on that long ago night, but who lived and then died and rose again, for you. That Jesus is right there when you cry out in the night or when you feel alone or when anxiety threatens. He’s there, right now, calling to your heart to be fulfilled in Him. The signs are all around us that He’s coming soon, physically, with the sound of the trumpet, to call us to His side. And then we will always be with Him, and with those who have gone before us.
If you can enjoy the “stuff” of Christmas, then do. Enjoy it all, but just remember, like Greg Laurie said in the picture above, we don’t really want merriment. We want Messiah. We don’t really want presents; we want His presence in our lives. And one day, maybe soon, we will finally see Him, face to face. And all the troubles of this fallen world will fall away as we enter into what He has prepared for those who love Him. If you’re not ready for that, or don’t know the Jesus who makes you whole, even when your world is crashing around you, then please write to me, and I’ll do my best to introduce you to Him.
But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship. Because you are his sons, God sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, the Spirit who calls out, “Abba, Father.” So you are no longer a slave, but God’s child; and since you are his child, God has made you also an heir..
Galatians 4:4-7
