Christmas.
Love. Joy. Hope.
The heart of Christmas is giving. It beats in a rhythm that begs to be heard. The call for compassion, to prepare an offering for the hurting, is answered by hearts who desire to fill the cracks of the broken.
Despair. Sadness. Exhaustion.
The brokenhearted are blinded by despair. It comes with the territory when traveling through difficult trials. They cannot see the shining star on the top of the tree and wander lost. Sugar plums no longer dance in their dreams for nightmares do not share a stage. A family hurts.
Hands hold an exhausted head. Provider. The title slipped through his fingers. Fingers that ache from the struggle to hang on one more day. Feet blister from pacing a room to find a solution that never comes. Some how it doesn’t seem right that Christmas is coming. Yet, it does. It persists. He has yet to see how it will come like the light at the end of the tunnel.
Blessing. Gratitude. Relief.
Four children tear through shiny wrapping paper revealing gifts they dared not dream would sit under a tree. Smiles bring a rush of relief to faces too long stagnant with sorrow. Blessing, like a wave of warmth to ice cold fingers, fills the cracks of the brokenhearted. They were not forgotten. A year of struggling through financial storms has bent hope just to the point of breaking. Soothed by Christmas angels the branch clings to vine in one great act of faith now restored by gratitude. Joy fills a home that shuddered at the thought of Christmas coming. Hands now held blessings sent with love by those who answered the call to show compassion.
Give with love. Give until it hurts. Give as worship.
Souls shined bright through the fog and guided a sleigh of love to a broken family. Gratitude does not seem adequate for the feeling that swelled in their hearts. How could they express the blessing designed by so many homeschoolers who saw their need, and through Christ, fulfilled it?
The honor was mine. The blessing was felt in my heart as it was in the hearts of the family who received a Christmas. When finances could not find a way, God called me to gather a group of homeschoolers to help a homeschool family who longed to feel a blanket of hope this Christmas. The true gift was not wrapped in paper with a red bow at the top. The true gift was the reminder that God is always working and will always take care of you even when times are bleak.
Merry Christmas. Be blessed.