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Posted in Church God Faith
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(rerunning from last year with an update at the end) Do you feel a little letdown after Christmas? Not disappointed, exactly, just a little.. bereft of something? (bereft: Lacking something needed, wanted or expected.) I think maybe we ask too much of "Christmas." For one day a year, please let everything be perfect. Let our relatives be at peace; let our homes be filled with joy and free from discord; let our hearts be pure; let our lives be whatever they are not the rest of the year. Sadly, it doesn't work that way. The relatives are just as they are the other days of the year. Our homes are filled with the anxiety of expectations. Our hearts are filled with the realization that a day on the calendar cannot make us pure. Our lives are left unchanged. This season has been the saddest for me of any I can remember-- not on a personal level, but from a ministry standpoint. We have found ourselves surrounded by broken hearts, broken homes and broken lives. Abuse, suicide, drugs, infidelity, broken engagements, broken vows, broken people. A world full of hurting people. And yet... We grieve, but not as those who are without hope. For while one day on the calendar cannot magically transform our lives, the Baby in the manger can. Because of Him and His life, death and resurrection, we have the power to change. We have the same power available to us that raised Him from the dead. The same power that enabled Him to live a sinless life. The same power that healed the sick and and the lame and the blind and the deaf. The same power that conquered sin and death and the grave. He has given us everything we need for life and Godliness. We, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord. He has the power to transform us, to make us something new and different and better. To make us like Him. And in despair I bowed my head Then pealed the bells more loud and deep:
UPDATE 2008: This year has had it's own sadness. My friend lost twin babies 2 weeks before Christmas. My mom had to spend part of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day at the doctor getting IV antibiotics. I see poverty and neglect and pain and betrayal in the eyes of the children I work with at church. But I cling to the hope that the God who saw me drowning in my own pool of unrighteousness and filth sees the ones I love. I know Him as Healer and Lover and Redeemer and Savior and I pray that those around me will know Him too. I pray that if you are reading this because you did a Google search for After Christmas Blues, you will come to know Him as I do.  Subscribe in a reader
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