Indicative Pain, Infinite Joy!

It is nearly Christmas, and with songs like 'it's the most wonderful time of the year,' I can't help but wonder is it really?

This time of year is bittersweet for many. For some - it very well may be the joyous occasion of the 'first' Christmas milestone of marriage, birth of a baby, new home etc. For others, it may be anything but wonderful as they look to this Christmas as potentially the 'last' Christmas with a loved one. Still others remember, with joy coupled with pain, as thoughts drift back to a Christmas of old that included a beloved family member.

Joy to the world the Lord has come...the earth rejoiced, and received her King. How beautiful that night must have been!!! Surely all of nature was at it's finest as it welcomed the Creator! We hear of the phenomenon of the bright star - so bright that it marked a place in history. Creation joined in the chorus of the angels. Oh holy night indeed.

In this most jubilant of nights however, there was a sobering reality. The birth of Jesus was surrounded with infinite joy, but this joy lead to indicative pain. His birth was, and will always be linked to His death. Jesus came to the world He created, and we celebrate it just as did the shepherds long ago. Yet, we often focus on merely the fact that He came, and can miss out as to why He came. Joy and pain - such opposing words and emotions. Often our greatest joys lead to our greatest pain, and in turn our most ardent pain may lead us to a deeper joy. Losing a child is the greatest, most ardent pain I have ever experienced, but that pain was equally if not more so matched by the unsurpassed joy that filled my life because of Gracie.

So as you celebrate the coming of our Lord, remember to thank Him not only for clothing Himself in humanity in the form of a baby, but for choosing to stay and grow into the perfect lamb, the sacrifice for us all! And that is what is on my heart this Christmas...indicative pain of infinite JOY!

Why lies He in such mean estate, Where ox and ass are feeding? Good Christians, fear, for sinners here The silent Word is pleading. Nails, spear shall pierce Him through,The cross be borne for me, for you. Hail, hail the Word made flesh,The Babe, the Son of Mary.