The Christmas season can be difficult for lots of reasons. For those who are struggling, I share “A Christmas Prayer,” by Dorothy Hsu:
“It’s Christmas, Lord, the Season to be jolly and all that. But some of us are not so jolly. It’s time for families to be together, time to sing ‘I’ll be home for Christmas.’ But, Lord, some of our loved ones won’t be coming home this year – or ever. Some of us find our minds so occupied with a desperately ill loved one, or a tired worn-out body, that we can’t cope with crowds or carols. It’s temptation, Lord, to just skip it all. And, it takes tremendous strength for some of us to say, ‘Merry Christmas’ this year – more than some of us even possess. AND THAT’S EXACTLY WHY YOU CAME! ISN’T IT, LORD?
In John 1:5 we read, “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” At Christmas, we remember that God loved us enough to enter into our suffering with us. The light shined in an unexpected place, in an unexpected way, and the world was forever changed. May the light of Christ also shine in your life, now and always.