There is a looming in front of us. It’s November 15th and those days where everyone seems happy is getting closer. Those days where our whole families gather around the table, whether we like one another or not, and say thanks for all of the blessings that have been bestowed on us this last year. The day where those little feet will pitter patter down the hallways at 4:30 AM to open those presents around the tree while it is still dark outside and say, “Yippeee! I got that Lego I wanted!!!” And they will spend the rest of the day playing with said toy and argue with siblings to try theirs. They’ll have that Christmas morning hangover by 10 AM and and nap time can’t come fast enough, but as a parent, you live for those smiles in the morning and hope that just maybe it’ll carry throughout the day.
But these happy moments can’t happen for a lot of people this year. The holidays are tough, especially when our whole family is suppose to be together but our little ones have gone Home before us. Two years ago, I wish someone could’ve said something to me to make it all better, but they couldn’t. I wish now, having made it through our first set of Holidays, that I could say something to the families that I know are grieving to make it all better, but I can’t.
There are no magic words.
There is no going back to fix those tragic moments.
There is only waking up to each new day and clinging to our Jesus.
I say often that Jesus is enough. I truly believe it. He is. But I also get so nervous that it will sound trite and it does to some. Some scoff and roll their eyes, wondering how the pain can ever go away. It won’t go away because you believe that He is enough, but at the end of each day and each night and the sunrises the next morning with new mercies, you will realize that He was enough for the previous day and by the end of this day you will realize again that He was enough. Just as He has been enough for these previous days, He will be enough for the holidays. He will be, because He promised to be. He will be, because He came to Earth as a babe, so that He could prove that He gets it, He understands and He loves you so much to drink the most bitter cup of pain and sorrow 33 years after His birth.
Our children are in Paradise. They are with our Lord celebrating His birth, but that doesn’t negate the fact that this is still the hardest ever, and He was born to die for the hardest ever. For that we can be grateful that He will surely carry us through these next weeks.
Even thought I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil,
for you are with me;
your rod and your staff,
they comfort me.
Psalm 23:4
I have set the Lord always before me;
because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken.
Therefore my heart is glad, and my
whole being rejoices;
my flesh also dwells secure.
Psalm 16:8-9
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
his mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.
“The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
“therefore I will hope in him.”
Lamentations 3:22-24
Blessed are those who mourn, for they shall be comforted.
Matthew 5:4
Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for word. And he who searches hearts knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose. For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, in order that he might be the firstborn among many brother. And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified.” Romans 8:26-30
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, our inner self is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:16-18
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith-that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all fullness of God. Ephesians 3:14-19
He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21:4