Editors note: I originally wrote this post three years ago around Christmas time. Yesterday a very good friend of mine received devastating news about the health of a family member and I had to remind myself of the truth of these words below. Life is hard all year round, but the pain of hardships can intensify at Christmas. But hallelujah, Christmas is a wondrous miracle all year round as well. If you are grieving this Christmas, I am praying for you.
I am a girl who loves Christmas. I love the day, I love the season, I love reveling in the wonder that God’s Son came to earth to save us as a tiny baby. My third child was born on December 17, and when I cuddled him as a newborn, it made Christmas extra-special. I tried to imagine Mary cuddling and nursing her newborn child and trying to wrap her mind around the fact that this tiny baby whose life for nine months had totally depended on her would now be saving her. And all of us. The Messiah as a swaddled babe! Incredible.
I myself have never had a Christmas season that was not filled with joy. But I know, as life twists and turns, that one day there may come a December when I don’t feel like celebrating. Where life will be hard. Where I will be in such turmoil that Christmas lights and tinsel might seem like an assault to my very being.
I’ve never celebrated such a Christmas. But I know someone who has.
Ten years ago, my sister-in-law’s father was diagnosed with leukemia on December 5. It was a “do-not-pass-go, head directly to the hospital to start chemotherapy” deal. By the time Christmas came along, he had been close to death several times. His family had said their goodbyes once even … but he hung on. For our whole extended family, it was hard to feel exultant joy that Christmas. My niece who was nine at the time, wrote “Please, Jesus Please” on the chalkboard in my parents’ home. My mother left it there for years, that sweet plea of a child to her Savior. It was a Christmas of intercession more than anything else.
Christmas evening that year, I arrived home weary after our multiple family Christmas celebrations. We had a wonderful day, but we were all “Christmased out.” Then I sat down at the computer and read these words from my sister-in-law’s mother. They are words I will never, ever forget.
She wrote:
“Our family Christmases have always been filled with traditions. That is not a bad thing. It helps bind families together.
This year all the traditions that were so important have been set aside. Nothing is the same. And yet, Christmas came. Quoting from Dr. Seuss, How the Grinch Stole Christmas, “It came without ribbons. It came without tags! It came without packages, boxes or bags! He hadn’t stopped Christmas from coming. It came! Somehow or other it came just the same.”
