To the masses, Christmas is known to be a joyous season. It’s a season where merriness is so common that it becomes expected.
After all, why would you be sad when you get to spend time with friends and family, take breaks from work and study, and enjoy all the festivities? Isn’t that just being a killjoy? Seemingly, in this time of celebration, the happy just seem to get happier and happier. Those who have more, get more.
But what about those who aren’t happy? What about those with few close friends, or a deep darkness within their family? What if there is no brightness found within the “festivities” and “celebrations” but rather, all they seem to do is cast darker shadows within the soul?
In a season of bright lights, warm food, and the comfort of intimacy, those without such gifts find themselves colder, emptier, and lonelier than ever. To them, when all the rest of the world is “getting” and “having,” it can feel like even the little that they do have is being taken away.
Every Good Gift Comes from Above
What hope or joy is there for such people, then? Can they simply conclude that God has given them less, loves them less, and that is just how it is?
No. That isn’t true.
What I believe is that there is a special gift reserved for those who suffer.
For those who find themselves in the dark, distant from twinkling Christmas lights;
Or lonely, absent from intimate familial love;
Or giftless, separated from friends who have a busy schedule;
The first and most loving Father, the Designer, and Creator of families, the source of true light, and hope of Christmas day — He Himself draws near to offer His gift.
Psalm 34:18 — The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
The Greatest Gift of All
One great lesson that I’ve learned through suffering, depression, and even lonely holiday nights is this: there is no greater opportunity to draw closer and go deeper with God than in these discouragements.
Isaiah 41:10 — Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
Psalm 27:10 — For my father and my mother have forsaken me, but the Lord will take me in.
Sadness, sorrow, and loss pave the way for our travels along the straight and narrow road. They make us go faster than all else in the walk of faith, towards He who called us in the first place. One step towards Christ along this toll-ridden highway means a thousand taken in more comfortable and softer grounds.
1 Peter 1:7–9 — That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ
So don’t be fooled. God has not left you. He hasn’t forgotten to save you a gift, even if your one-man/woman family is absent of a Christmas tree. Instead, He offers the greatest gift to you; Himself.
Romans 8:28 — And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Rather than enjoying the gift of friends, family, and material presents — you get to enjoy the main character of Christmas without distraction. You get to see Him clearer in the dark, as He shines alone with no other lights in the night sky — the Giver behind every good gift.
2 Corinthians 12:9 — But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.”
For those who have no one else to spend Christmas with, God has prepared this special time to spend with Him — just for you.
Psalm 126:5–6 — Those who sow with tears will reap with songs of joy. Those who go out weeping, carrying seed to sow, will return with songs of joy,
