The Most Painful Time of Year

I must confess the holiday blues nearly crushed my Christmas spirit. I was ready to toss my wreath into the street and take the tree to the trash. What caused such antichristmas fervor? Was it commercialism? Was it some Puritan notion? Honestly it might have been a touch of both, but ultimately it was family. More than any holiday, Xmas is a time when you want to be with family and if yours is dysfunctional or abusive, Christmas can quickly shift from the “Most Wonderful Time of Year” to the Most Miserable Time of Year!

For those with estranged family members or lost loved ones this time of year is painful. The very Nativity Scene shows our Lord Jesus with his earthly family, which can be painful to look at if your home is broken. It is easier to see Emmanuel on the cross for Good Friday or exiting the Tomb on Easter, because the emphasis is God Incarnate’s Sacrifice and Triumph over death.

I for one was facing the prospect of family members remaining distant for the holidays. For the first time, our family would despite preserving in other years, not unite for O Holy Night. For me it wasn’t just the loss of seeing loved ones, but the death of tradition and constancy. We as human beings prefer things to not change, that there are things in life we can count on like Xmas dinner or picking out a tree. I believe this desire for constancy is good and it comes from our Creator Christ who is always the same, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” (Hebrews 13:8).

I am blessed that my Xmas will retain some constancy, but it makes me think about all our other brothers and sisters in Christ who will not have cool and familiar Christmas. What of our Syrian Christian brethren who are fighting and fleeing for their lives?! Their only constancy is the Savior Jesus Christ who never changes. May we pray for those who are having The Most Painful Time of Year. Amen.

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