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It's Still Christmas

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It is Christmas.  A time for quiet reflection, to ponder the gift God gave us in sending Christ over 2000 years ago, to free us from all that binds us as a result of the fall in the garden of Eden.  A time for community, enjoying the laughter and the comforts good friends and family can bring, reflective of the sense of belonging and the sense of home that is ours as children of God.  

 

Christmas brings joy.  It is the one time of year I can write a poem about the greatest thing that has ever happened to me, or to any of us, and people take time to read it.  How I pray that someone who reads it comes to know Jesus, or know Him better this Christmas.  

 

Christmas brings sorrow.  This year is a year of sorrow for me.  Having a wonderful father brings me joy, but my father having stage four pancreatic cancer brings me sadness.  They say there is no place like home for the holidays. Perhaps, but for those who do not have parents or have never had a home, Christmas must be more than just a place.  I harken as we sing Hark the Herald Angels Sing, to the verse that reads “Born to raise the sons of earth, born to give them second birth.” The joy of Christmas is that the Christ child came to do just that.  Knowing that my dad knows His Savior, I know that this will not be the last year He celebrates that. 

 

I can get discouraged that in this season when we celebrate Jesus’ birthday, the party does not always go how I picture it should.  Sometimes all I want to do is talk about the gift, and what strikes a chord with me from Hark the Herald Angels sing, but at the moment, others are more interested in the gift exchange.  Sometimes, others want to talk, right about the time I am hoping for a Silent Night. We share in our celebration, but we differ in how we celebrate at any given time. In my loneliness the Spirit reminded me that there is One person who is always willing to celebrate in the way my heart is longing to celebrate, and that is the Saviour Himself.  When no one else appears to be interested in reflecting on the words of my favorite Christmas hymn, He is. When I want the silly games of the Christmas celebration to somehow point others to the eternal joy He came to bring, He can make that happen. I want this Christmas to be real, to mean it when I sing Joy to the World, because Jesus is joy, even in the midst of things like pancreatic cancer.  Life is hard, joy is not found in rising to the challenges of this life, it is found in rising to new life in Jesus.  

 

Sometimes we find ourselves between a rock and a hard place.   The hard place can be a very hard place, but we can lean on the Rock of Ages.  This Christmas, and this year for that matter, let us hide find security in the Rock of Ages, and with the angels sing His glory. 

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For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will lift me high upon a rock."  Psalm 27:5 (ESV)

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