What are you expecting today?

I have had so many different reactions to the Christmas season, or to other "special" seasons over the course of my life. From happy excitement to dread, and everything in between. Are the Holidays tough for you this year?  Have you lost someone dear to you and is that loss making all the reminders of years past especially painful? 

If so, you've noticed that the first set of holidays after the loss of someone you love will be the hardest. The first Thanksgiving, the first Christmas, etc. The bigger the importance of the memory with that person (good or bad), the harder that day will be, so be pro-active in planning what you will do to keep yourself from being at the mercy of this day and this memory. Enlist your support team, and yes you have one. Call them in. NOW.

For the rest of you:

Years ago, I learned a valuable lesson from a friend whose husband was on the Billy Graham team while their children were young. This means he traveled all the time. She made it her practice never to write the days of his arrivals or departures on her main calendar. Why? When her husband was gone, she didn't want to wish away the precious days alone with their children by longing for his return.

On the other hand, when he was home, she didn't want to color the joy of his presence by overshadowing any day with reminders of how short his time at home would be. She wanted every single day to have its own value, whatever it held.

How about you? The holidays can make you uptight and pressured. For children, these can be days that they wish away, longing for Christmas to come so quickly that they miss the days in between. If you can, help them to learn to value every day. However, you yourself may wish Christmas or a deadline were over, just to relieve the pressure that's on you right now. 

Whatever today holds for you, thank our dear Lord for sending his Son to give you peace with him, and bring you the hope of eternity with God. He alone can conquer the holiday blues, tension, shame, and guilt. He alone can lift your heart from the memories and grief that pull you down, bring you permanent relief.

If you are grieving, reach out to one another: ask for comfort, and give comfort. Get outside yourself; not only is that the only way to get perspective on your probliems, it will let God's love flow through you, healing you on the way through.

If you're not grieving at the moment, take a little time to reach out to someone who is. You undoubtedly have someone in your family or circle of friends who needs comfort now. Extend that in the Name of the Lord.

May you be filled with wonderful expectation of God himself and his comfort, no matter what today brings.

All honor to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, for it is by his boundless mercy that God has given us the privilege of being born again. Now we live with a wonderful expectation because Jesus Christ rose again from the dead.

I Peter 1:3