Of Christmas and Tragedy

This picture was posted on Facebook by a local radio station. I am not sure who is the original source. But I think this is what Heaven looked like today.

To some, Christmas seems like a terrible time -as if there’s ever a good time - for events like the tragedy in Connecticut to occur. Tears come to my eyes as I imagine the presents bought and perhaps even wrapped, but never to be given. Of children with excited anticipation awaiting the holiday of the year in less than two weeks. Of empty chairs at family gatherings… if the family can even bring themselves to gather together. Certainly, those won’t be gatherings of celebration. Not this year.

And yet, part of me feels like -if such things must happen - perhaps the Christmas season is better timing than it seems at first. Hope. Joy. Peace. We are desperately in need of these things. We are desperately in need. We are desperate.

We need a Savior.

Christmas - no, the Christ of Christmas - brings us hope. Hope for an eternal future as bright as day, regardless of the darkness that is our night on earth.

The Christ of Christmas brings us joy. Not always an exuberant dance, but sometimes a sober “The Lord has given and the Lord has taken away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” A smile washed with tears, a hug tight with love. Joy that supercedes our deepest pain.

And the Christ of Christmas is the only source of true and lasting peace. There is no peace on earth without the Christ-Child. There is no peace in the heart without the presence of His Holy Spirit. There is no peace between fellow-men unless God is there in the midst of them.

In fact, without Him, we are broken. Lost, deluded, dying, hopeless.

I cannot help but think of that young man, so filled with the burden of bitterness and hatred that he sought solace in violence, not only against those he believed to have wronged him, but against the innocent and helpless.

I cannot help but think that I am much like him. I find myself angry, frustrated, and irritated when my day doesn’t go the way I planned. I carry heavy burdens of ingratitude and selfishness that continually inflict pain on me and those around me. I harbor grudges against people, against situations, against God.

I need grace.

I need forgiveness.

I need a Savior.

Oh, may we all humble ourselves before Him and accept the grace, forgiveness, hope, joy, and peace He freely offers us, wrapped up in the precious and unassuming gift of a tiny baby in a manger.

How desperately we need Him.

How grateful we are that He came.