Christmas Feelings

As some of you know, when I write a letter or send an email, I often end with “Have a great day!”  And I mean it.  I sincerely hope, when I say that, that the person I’m sending the letter or email to will have a great day.

I know, though, that sometimes they don’t.  No one has a great day every day.  No one has a great week every week.  Life has its ups and downs.  That’s just the way life works.

As I write this, we’re just four days from Christmas.  Christmas is, of course, a joyous time for a lot of us.  A lot of us, but not all of us.  If you’ve lost a loved one recently, if you’ve had a serious health setback, if you feel alone, or for lots of other reasons, Christmas probably does not feel all that joyous for you.

Now, I could tell you that the Bible tells us to be thankful in all circumstances, and that no matter what’s going on in our lives we can still be happy because we have Jesus as our Savior and so have salvation and eternal life.  I could tell you that, but I won’t.  The chances are you already know that--you don’t need me to tell you.  And maybe, deep down, you are grateful for that.  But sometimes, when we’re in the middle of something, knowing that doesn’t seem to help a whole lot.  We feel like it should, we try to make it help, but it just doesn’t.  And then, sometimes, we start to feel guilty about the fact that we’re not feeling joyous about Christmas, and of course that just makes things worse.

On the other hand, those who do feel joyous about Christmas sometimes feel guilty about that, too.  Because they know that there are people who are hurting at Christmastime.  And they may want to help, and they may even try.  But sometimes, there’s just nothing they can do.  And that’s where the guilt comes in, because they feel like it’s not right for them to feel joyous when there are so many people who don’t and who can’t.

So, to those of you who feel joyous at Christmas, and to those of you who don’t, I want to say this:  it’s okay.  Whatever you feel, it’s okay.  God understands.  I’m sure God likes it when we can feel joyous at the thought of the birth of the Savior.  But I’m also sure God understands why sometimes we don’t and sometimes we can’t.  And God is okay with it either way.  After all, God created feelings, just like God created everything else.  God understands our feelings better than we understand them.  So whatever we feel God understands it.  And God also understands that we cannot instantly and automatically change how we feel, even if we want to and even if we feel like we should.  God understands that, as they saying goes, we have to feel the way we feel until we don’t feel that way any more.

But know this:  whatever you feel at Christmas, or any time of the year, God is with you.  That’s what “Emmanuel” means, after all:  “God with us”.  And God is with us.  God rejoices with us in our good times.  God comforts us and mourns with us in our bad times.  And God loves us and is with us all the time.  No matter what we do, no matter how we feel, God is always with us.  God is with you, right now, no matter what you may be going through or what you may feel, good or bad.

So this Christmas, whether you’re happy or sad, don’t feel guilty about it.  But if you do feel bad, know that we are here for you.  Know that we love you and we want to be there for you, too.  And know that it’s okay.  God loves you, no matter what.

Have a blessed Christmas.