Seeking His Comfort

 Listening to the Pastor preach today about how many, many people do not consider Christmas a fun-joy-filled holiday, and how the song "Blue Christmas" speaks to some aspects of that reality...made me think that Christmas is really a very melancholic time of the year...period...specially for adults.  It doesn't have to be marked by tragedy...but, Christmas has a way of bringing in the blues in us, no matter how hard we try not to.

For me, as an adult, living in a country different than the one where I grew up in, Christmas is always colored on a blue hue due to the fond memories of long ago, which will never, ever come to pass again.  But, so it is the case for someone like Dan, who lives, but a few miles away from the place where he grew up in, still able to call his childhood home, home...Christmas is not the same as it was when he was a kid...so the longing for those who have gone before us and for the traditions that have been left behind is something that also makes him view Christmas through a blue-tinted looking glass.

It's like Christmas magnifies our longing for the comforts of our mythical home.  Even if it wasn't as great as the images that reside in our memories, many of us tend to idealize our home of Christmas past and our sense of loss is heightened in the melancholy of the season...turning the blue lights of our souls on in our hearts.

The thing is, our loss, our loneliness, our heartache, our sorrow, our pain tend to become intensified during the end of the year holidays, perhaps, because we are all looking for home.  But, it is not really the home that we used to know.  It is not really the home of our youth.  It is not the comforts of the home we make surrounded by those we love either.  The home we are looking for is not one we can build ourselves.  What we are seeking is the home where we can finally rest in the joy of experiencing perfect peace.  And, the only place where we can find that kind of home is in the Arms of the Prince of Peace.  What we are really seeking is the comfort of the home that can only be provided by the presence of Our Lord.

We really will not be able to avoid having a blue Christmas if we are without Him.

This is why I want to seek the comfort of My Savior, Jesus, the Christ, who came to us as a baby born in a manger, to reside in our hearts forever in the person of the Holy Spirit, the Emmanuel, God with Us, the Only One capable to fill the gaps in my soul, mend my tearing heart, give me everlasting joy and show me the way to enduring peace as I trust His will and express gratitude for His provision and for the blessing of His Presence.  May we all experience a Christmas with You, Lord, even as we are still on our way. In the Precious Name of Jesus, Our True Home.  Amen!