Dealing with Holidays

It is hard at times to not feel bad during the holidays.

This year I had a friend die a week before Christmas. He had been sick for a long time. But I had gotten use to the idea that he was sick and that he was still there. I did not visit or write him as often as I should have. I felt bad as I said goodbye to him this week. I should have been a better friend. His death made me recognize my failure to express my love for him.

I know that my friend's family will have a sad Christmas. There will be an empty chair at the table. That is always hard.

Yet, my friend had given us a wonderful Christmas gift. It was the gift of a life of faith. He left a legacy which spoke of his faith in Jesus the Messiah as his Savior and Lord. He left a testimony of love for people and for sharing the gospel. There is no doubt my friend is fully filled with Jesus' joy. By the grace of God his sins are forgiven and he has total peace. The gospel brings joy even into sad times.

The complexity of life makes it hard at times to enter into a time of celebration. The holidays sometimes make us face what we have loss. Some of the emptiness of life is pushed before us.

Yet, if we allow ourselves to hear it; there is also the wonderful story of Christmas. The story of God's unending love. The reality of God's embrace in the person of Messiah Jesus. The hope of forgiveness and eternal life in the joy of God. The hope of the gospel.

This Christmas I am feeling many different things. But the comfort of my heart comes from the good news that God so loved the world that He gave His only Son....