This Christmas season will be very different for me and my family. First, slightly over two months ago, my mother died. My father died a little over two years ago. As someone recently told me, “It seems like mothers hold the family together. When they are gone, the children scatter.” With Mother gone, the Christmas celebration will be quite different.
Second, our oldest son was married a couple of weeks ago. He and his new wife used up the rest of their vacation time in Hawaii on a honeymoon; therefore, they will not have time to come “home” this Christmas. That will have to wait until after the first of the year. How dare them to do that! They chose a honeymoon over a Christmas visit with their folks!
Thus, the family changes. It loses members and it gains other ones. Isn’t it interesting how we go back in time in our mental trips and recall our childhood Christmases? I recall the presents under the tree, pizza on Christmas Eve, and a trip to Mississippi to see my grandparents.
Now we children have grown up, and the grandparents and the parents have gone on to glory. Things change. It is enough to make one feel wistful and nostalgic.
But life goes on. We still have another son at home whose eyes dance with delight when he mentions his Christmas list. The child in me lives on in him. One day he, too, will grow up and leave home to start his own family. Another change. In a sense, we lose another son.
But hopefully, from both of those sons, we gain grandchildren. The cycle begins anew. We lose loved ones. We gain new ones.
The apostle Paul declared that the sufferings of this world are not worthy to be compared with the gains in glory awaiting us. By faith I believe that one day, this old body will be exchanged for a brand new, glorious body in a home “not made with hands.”
Now, that’s a change I can eagerly await.
From my heart to yours and our family to yours, have a blessed Christmas.
Celebrating the Savior,
No comments:
Post a Comment