As we gather together with families and friends during this Christmas Season; in love and kindness to share our blessings and our thankfulness for another year that has come and gone, for the strength and healing we’ve seen in our lives and in the lives of others,
May we take a moment to reflect; on those who’ve fought a good fight but are unable to join us as we look forward with the hope and anticipation of a child to another blessed year, one filled with continued strength, healing, and thankfulness, one where we can be found wearing a smile, even on the hardest of days. And when lacking the strength in ourselves on those days, may we be able to find it in the memory of those who are no longer here, and wear it proudly in their honor.
Lastly, though notably most important, may we be ever mindful of the reason we celebrate this season; why we set aside the time to celebrate with family and friends, why we go out of our way to spread cheer and good tidings to even those unknown individuals we pass by on the street as ships in the night,
May we find hope, thankfulness, and joy not only during this season but throughout the days and years to come, as the shepherds and wise men of old did when they went searching, bearing gifts for the New Messiah and King, the lowly baby born of a virgin, wrapped in swaddling and laying in a manger, as there was no other place to lay Him.
And may we find our life’s inspiration and the strength to push forward against all odds in the fact that long ago, out of love, a love we can not truly comprehend, God thought enough of us to send his Son as a baby to grow and know our way of life and our sorrows, before giving his life for ours that we may have everlasting life.
