I love Christmas music. There is something about the old Christmas carols and standards that make me smile and have a warm feeling inside. When I am working around the house around the holidays, I seem to work harder when "White Christmas," "Frosty the Snowman," and "O, Little Town of Bethlehem" are blaring from the radio. When I work in my office at the library, I have the sound track from "A Charlie Brown Christmas" or even sacred music like Handel's Messiah playing on my computer. Holiday tunes just put me in a good mood!
But I know that there are those who do not agree with me. My husband and I were in the car together the other day when a Christmas song started playing on the radio. He automatically switched the channel and growled something about being tired of those songs already! I called him "Scrooge" as a popular holiday song played in the quiet of my head.
And I have talked to more than a few people lately who are really mentally and emotionally struggling this holiday season. Friends who have recently lost family members...friends who don't have enough money to buy the presents their children want...friends who are just sure that the world is going to end on December 21...
I have been in their shoes many times in my life...when the Christmas season is just a reminder of the things that I had lost. Why in the world would those friends have reason to sing for joy?
Well, while it is hard, I think that pushing through those lost feelings is what is best for us. How do we do that? The answer to that question is different for each person, and some never are able to push through. But, when I am depressed and blue, I make a list in my head of all the things that I DO have in my life. I talk to friends...I talk to family...I talk to God. Even when we have lost everything...God us still there with us and will never leave us! That fact is enough to get me through. I KNOW in my heart that one day I will be with God and that the pain and tears I have on this earth will be beind me. That is enough...
THAT gives me hope enough to sing for joy and praise the God who will save me from my deepest and darkest hurts! I will pray for those friends who cannot sing for joy right now and hope that they find even a little joy this Christmas season.
So, I will join the Charlie Brown kids in the picture above..."Hark the Herald Angels Sing! Glory to the Newborn King!"
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