Normal
The song trills, “It’s the most wonderful time of the year …”
Well, it is. And it isn’t.
With “normal” Christmases, the parties, carols, shopping, meals, church are all wonderful for some. For others, they are alone. Perhaps there is a reason NOT to celebrate Christmas.
This year, 2020, is the year when anything goes, and anything pretty much does. We’ve all shrugged our shoulders and joked, “Well, it’s 2020, what can you expect?”
All of us have seen life change before our eyes. And that means just about everything. What we considered solid ground no longer seems to be firm enough to stand on. The rules have changed and somehow, I don’t see 12:01 AM, January 1, 2021, as a magical fixer to going back to normal.
Hope
After a significant life change (like a pandemic!), we’ve referred to the “new normal” that will be our lives. Maybe that term can apply. Things will certainly be different than what we’ve known up to now.
Life and death are among us. Because of Covid, many will be missing loved ones this year, even if our families could gather around a Christmas tree. And it seems that many more are battling life-ending diseases and families are coping.
And it’s Christmas again. The lights glow in the dark and their cheerful color speak of hope, faith, and beauty to me. Faith that is the substance of things not seen, but hoped for, the Scriptures tell us. Hope is a thing of beauty. Hope buoys us up. Hope gives us confidence that faith will deliver.
We can’t see the angels singing in the skies, but we know they do. We know about one night, many eons ago, when the angels showed themselves to announce Immanuel. GOD WITH US. In that one song we were assured for all eternity that we will never be left alone.
And that applies to 2020, to life and death and everything in between.
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