Un-Merry Christmas

For the past couple of weeks, I've been reminded almost daily that although the world is shouting Happy Holidays and the radio sings “It’s the most wonderful time of the year,” for many of us, Christmas time does not mean a merry time. For some, in fact, quite the opposite rings true.

For in this period, it seems natural and automatic even to expect life to be awesome. Plans to go perfectly. Storms to wait until the spring. And loneliness to disappear.

But. It. Doesn't.

Rather- plans explode. Storms crash. Loneliness rages. Life hurts.

What do we do now? Although some days I seriously want the option of painting my face green and hanging a sign above my door “Just call me Grinch,” or curling into a fetal position and pulling a blanket over my head until January 5^th, neither of those possibilities are actually feasible. 

There’s a Christmas song in which the lyrics struck me deeply last week as I was seeking answers.

“Light your world, let the love of God shine through
In the little things you do, light your world
And though your light may be
Reaching only two or three, light your world…”

By the grace of God, (truly) I was able to witness this first-hand this past week.  It’s been a tough week. A lot of ups and downs of all different sizes and varieties, but this week, my husband decided that his “light” would reach my world. And as he went above and beyond to extend the love and the grace of Jesus to me, living out Matthew 5:16*, I then found that my light began to grow stronger. I glorified the Father because of my husband.

*Matthew 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Towards the end of the week, God gave me the grace to extend my light to a sweet elderly widow who lives in the midst of a very difficult time herself. She lives alone, in a small apartment where her visitors are rare. She used to cook and laugh with a sparkle and spunk, but the heartache of being forgotten has dulled the sparkle and halted the spunk.

Her happiness from my visit paled, however, in comparison to my gratefulness that God let me be the one who was able to bring her such joy. And a realization dawned- my difficulties hadn’t lessened. The hardships and trials were still staring me down, but for the first time that week, I chose not to stare back. Instead, I looked around them to find ways to help this widow laugh. 

It’s amazing how much joy your own heart discovers when you’re 

on the hunt to find joy for someone else.

As I drove away, I listened to that Christmas song again and thought “No wonder we are called to let our light shine! In helping someone else, she was encouraged, I was blessed, and God was glorified."  

Sometimes I don't have the strength to light the world. But this week I learned that I can light a world. And that was enough.

And though your light may be… Reaching only two or three, light your world…

John 8:12  Then spoke Jesus again to them, saying, 

I am the light of the world: he that follows me shall not walk in darkness,
but shall have the light of life.