During Advent our church provides advent "to go" boxes for each child. This year the box contains a card to read each day and an activity to go along with it. The them for this week is hope. Last night we read the Bible passage on the card and talked about stars and how the star as a signal of hope in the scripture. Henry didn't really understand what I was talking about but he did enjoy placing his star in the house to remind him of hope and that he is a bright shining star in this world.
The Christmas season is so busy for most people. Trying to find time to shop, go to parties, wrap presents and plan all of our events for the actual day seems impossible. We go from thing to thing and rarely stop to reflect on what the season on Advent truly is all about. It is also a time where we can keep so busy that we forget about all of the loss and grief this time of year can bring up. The Holidays are hard for so many people, myself included that staying busy is the perfect way to ignore the hardships from the year and the people that are no longer with us.
Hope. Hope is often hard to find. How can we find hope in a world filled with violence, illness, death, racism, conflict and despair? How can we find hope when sometimes all we want is the one thing or person we can't have?
This fall has proven to be a hard one for me. It has also been one filled with immense joy over the birth of my daughter and the opportunity to stay home with my kids. I am lucky that even in my despair and heartache I have the strength and support of my family to get me through difficult times. In August, actually on my birthday, my best friends mom passed away. Scarlett was a beacon of hope and light. She brought laughter, joy and hope to all those that met her. I first met Lacy when I was 14. Her mother was a mother to me. She has been at everything of significance in my life; graduations, wedding, babies... Losing her was hard and brought up a lot of emotion around the death of my own father. Lacy and I are young yet we have both lost a parent. We have both gone through one of the hardest things we will ever go through. How do you find hope in that? How do you find hope in a season that is filled with memories of your loved ones? How do you possibly get through the holidays without them?
Lacy, if you are reading this I don't have the answers. Honestly, Christmas is going to suck. It just is. But somewhere in the midst of all the pain you can find hope. You can look at your daughter and see the joy in her eyes when she opens her presents. You can look at your father and see the delight he gets from her showering her with those gifts. You can look at yourself and see how incredibly strong and brave you are and know that you are not alone in this.
The birth of Jesus brought hope to a broken world. It reminded God's people that they are not alone and that God's love is so strong he sent his only son to bring light to a dark world.
As you go about this week and the weeks to come, remember to find hope. Remember that you are not alone, that God's is always with you and that even in our darkest of moments there is light.
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