'Tiss The Season

For what?!?!?! Christmas is supposed to be this magical and enchanted season of:

*Joy
*Giving
*Generosity
*Warmth
*Family
*Friends
*Relationships
*Faith
*Hope
*Love
*Miracles

The list can go on and on... So why am I not feeling it this year? I'm listening to loads and loads of Christmas music, yet it's not sinking in. I remember last year, I was working for CG and was adamant about celebrating Hanukkah, not Christmas, still somehow the magic has crept in and it turned out to be a beautiful season in spite of all the craziness at work...

This year is quite different. It's been a rough year and I was hoping that things would lighten up by the time the holidays rolled around... Some things did get better, some stayed the same, and some got worse. You know how it is said say that things must get worse before they get better? Well, it's gotten WAY worse and I'm still waiting for the light at the end of the tunnel. What's even harder is knowing that it's your own fault... That you're the one who screwed up and are now paying the consequences.

So I was going into this holiday season full of fear that Christmas will not be a season of joy and everything listed above, but instead, of pain, brokenness, tears, sadness, loss, emptiness, loneliness, and the like... AND THEN, I realized that that's exactly the state that the nation of Israel was in right when Jesus was born... Under the oppression of the Roman empire, waiting for their miracle, their Savior, their Messiah... And He came... To bring the miracle of:

*Hope
*Faith
*Love
*Life
*Redemption
*Restoration
*Healing
*Salvation

To make all things new... That's the magic of Christmas... Embrace it, believe it, live it...