December 9th, 2020
By Tina Yerkes
Christmas brings so many feelings to the surface. Love, friendship & kindness are the ones for which we aim. However, some of the feelings we experience are more like loneliness, sadness & stress. How can a season, which is all about the most amazing gift ever given to our world create such a diverse set of emotions?
Love came to earth to a young girl, who received a visit from an angel. What an absolutely amazing moment. But if Mary was anything like me, stress would soon set in as I realized where the birth would happen, who was trying to hurt my son & worry for the husband who could have left at any time.
Love came to earth to a group of shepherds, who were just doing their job minding some sheep. Can you imagine that moment when many angels appeared in the darkness and chose this group to spread great joy to the region?! Did they still feel that joy when the questions began to creep in later as people probably laughed at their story and called them crazy?
Love came to earth to some very wise men who were sent on a mission to seek information for an angry king. They were so overcome with the knowledge & amazement of who they found that they abandoned that mission. Stress & fear was present as they made their way back to their homes in a very long & roundabout way.
We have expectations as to what we think Christmas should look like and be about. And sometimes, our expectations are not what is best for us or for the people around us. We expect that our holiday meal should look like it belongs on the Food Network. We expect our decorations should land us on the cover of HGTV Magazine. We expect our family gatherings to be similar to the storylines on each and every Hallmark movie.
Mary received a miracle child in a feeding dish for sheep and cows. The shepherds still had a difficult & stinky job to do. The wise men’s lives were in danger by not sharing their knowledge. Not exactly what they all expected but these miraculous moments happened, lives were changed and the world was changed.
When those feelings of sadness, loneliness and stress come, we need to check our expectations. Am I asking too much of myself or someone else? Should I be handling this differently or answering someone differently? All these feelings are real but feelings can quickly change with a shift in how we look at it.
Love came to earth for you. Christmas is personal. Christmas is relational. Good relationships are filled with all kinds of emotions, even the ones we don’t like. But it is very much a part of who God created us to be – loving, kind, giving and sometimes frustrated, stressed & lonely. Love through all of those feelings this Christmas. Miracles can still happen even if life isn’t how we expected it.
Christmas brings so many feelings to the surface. Love, friendship & kindness are the ones for which we aim. However, some of the feelings we experience are more like loneliness, sadness & stress. How can a season, which is all about the most amazing gift ever given to our world create such a diverse set of emotions?
Love came to earth to a young girl, who received a visit from an angel. What an absolutely amazing moment. But if Mary was anything like me, stress would soon set in as I realized where the birth would happen, who was trying to hurt my son & worry for the husband who could have left at any time.
Love came to earth to a group of shepherds, who were just doing their job minding some sheep. Can you imagine that moment when many angels appeared in the darkness and chose this group to spread great joy to the region?! Did they still feel that joy when the questions began to creep in later as people probably laughed at their story and called them crazy?
Love came to earth to some very wise men who were sent on a mission to seek information for an angry king. They were so overcome with the knowledge & amazement of who they found that they abandoned that mission. Stress & fear was present as they made their way back to their homes in a very long & roundabout way.
We have expectations as to what we think Christmas should look like and be about. And sometimes, our expectations are not what is best for us or for the people around us. We expect that our holiday meal should look like it belongs on the Food Network. We expect our decorations should land us on the cover of HGTV Magazine. We expect our family gatherings to be similar to the storylines on each and every Hallmark movie.
Mary received a miracle child in a feeding dish for sheep and cows. The shepherds still had a difficult & stinky job to do. The wise men’s lives were in danger by not sharing their knowledge. Not exactly what they all expected but these miraculous moments happened, lives were changed and the world was changed.
When those feelings of sadness, loneliness and stress come, we need to check our expectations. Am I asking too much of myself or someone else? Should I be handling this differently or answering someone differently? All these feelings are real but feelings can quickly change with a shift in how we look at it.
Love came to earth for you. Christmas is personal. Christmas is relational. Good relationships are filled with all kinds of emotions, even the ones we don’t like. But it is very much a part of who God created us to be – loving, kind, giving and sometimes frustrated, stressed & lonely. Love through all of those feelings this Christmas. Miracles can still happen even if life isn’t how we expected it.
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