As the holiday season has begun and the joy that surrounds the festivities seems to ring out from the red and green and bows and bells, my heart is torn. Filled with richness and satisfaction for the ways in which He has given me so many good gifts … and yet also filled with holes and memories of those who will not celebrate with us here.
Yes, Mr. Jack and Granny Strickland and Mrs. Cowan experience the joy in a fullness I do not know … but I will miss sharing a Christmas Eve tradition with them. Yes, my incredible father-in-law, David, is whole and healed … but I will miss him again this year, as I have for the past nine years, knowing how much he loved this holiday. Yes, Nana Jo is dwelling in the presence of Emmanuel … but as I pulled out the Christmas plates and mugs she gave me, my heart longed for one more conversation.
Holidays are for celebrating … family, friends … and forever! A Savior who has come – wrapped in flesh, born of a virgin into a manger – to be “God with us.”
But holidays are also for remembering … loved ones gone Home. And the Coming King who will one day return and take us all Home.
Today, contentment must come through the loss, the heartache, the memories … as Job has said, “The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the Name of the Lord.” (Job 1:21):
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- Little girls having picnics with their dolls
- Singing in the car, especially when we don’t remember the words
- Breakfast table conversations
- Grandmothers’ hugs
- Brothers laughing their way through Black Friday shopping
- Abundance
- Four generations of family gathered together
- Empty spaces at the table – family members gone Home
- Telling the family stories again and again
- Football games
- “The Cottage“
- Good books
- Leaf Rolling
- Pumpkin pie
- Sleeping in the car
- GPS detour from the holiday traffic
- Watching a nephew love his uncle
Shelli @ Hopefully Devoted says
I know the loss of which you speak. We lost our nephew three years ago. It was the day after Thanksgiving and he had just turned 21 three days prior. Christmas was surreal that year, a mixture of joy and overwhelming sorrow. Praying for you, friend.