Snow and family, Santa and gifts, kids and toys, Jesus and Christmas carols, love and generosity – these are the things we traditionally associate with Christmas. Watch any Christmas movie and any number of these themes will be prominently featured.
Yet here we are in 2015 and the temperature in Rock Hill, SC is expected to climb to a balmy 75 degrees. Instead of snow, we have a light rain. Santa is more likely to have traveled last night in a boat than a sleigh.
Here I am in 2015 and my family is everywhere but Rock Hill. My loved ones are celebrating Christmas today in Germany, New York, and Kentucky while I’m typing this blog in my kitchen drinking coffee and listening to Christmas music. Talk about timing – “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” just started playing on my Spotify channel. Monieca will be home January 13, but not today.
I’ve already enjoyed seeing photographs and videos from their Christmas morning in Germany and I’ve even spoken with them via Skype, but no hugs or kisses. It just isn’t the same.
And yet it is still Christmas.
The joy of Jesus’ love – and my family’s love – still fills my life and heart. There is peace and contentment.
Even though I enjoy the traditional things associated with Christmas, I give God thanks for this reminder that the peace and joy Jesus gives us does not depend on those things we usually think it does. The apostle Paul understood this when he wrote “I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am” (Philippians 4:11).
Yes, I miss Monieca and my family. I’d rather be with them than separated from them by an ocean and nearly 5,000 miles. But the true peace and joy of Christmas come from one place only – from the One who is always wherever we are. If we know Him, we are never alone. That truth is part of the Christmas message. Like the Bible says, “They shall call His name Immanuel, which translated means, ‘God with us’” (Matthew 1:23).
So I pray that you will know His joy and peace this Christmas, whatever your circumstances.
Merry Christmas everyone!
Pastor Steve Hogg
Merry Christmas!!!!!!!!!!
Interestingly we had a Christmas “away” from our family too. I believe I mentioned to you Pastor at how excited I was that my family was finally coming down south for Christmas. I also mentioned that out of the 16 Christmases we have lived in our house three of them have been here in SC. And the rest have been in WV. So finally I said, “Hey! We aren’t traveling this year, ya’ll have to come down here! So after months and months of my planning what I thought would be the best Christmas ever, and buying food little by little to freeze and decorating every square inch of my house…… my oldest came down with a stomach bug while out Christmas shopping on the 22nd. I called the family and everyone played the waiting game. She was sick less then 24 hours, but it was decided that she could still be contagious and that it would be better to postpone our get together. There was a moment where I was actually angry that she was sick. (I know… bad mom moment) I was devastated. Completely bummed out and just didn’t feel very Christmasy. We made the most of it and got up to have our special Christmas breakfast, before opening presents. I was ashamed at how I had felt and choked up and said, “You know, the stable was a dirty, stinky, smelly place. The last place a mother would want to give birth. The only thing perfect about that night was the precious baby that was born in the manger.” My Martha Stewart Christmas was a flop. We missed our family. My parents called us and said they felt weird it wasn’t the same. My sister called me said, “This just feels weird us not being together.” Everything was just different. But it was needed. The more people you have in your home at Christmas the more chaotic it gets. With all the quiet, it allowed us a lot of time to think. God surely had a reason for all of us staying put this year and I finally understand why. He needed us to just stop and be still, and to know. Just know that He is who He is. And He always will be, whether the stockings are hung by the chimney with care or not. I guess I just needed reminding.