Finding Christmas Joy

Finding Christmas Joy
by
December 11, 2024

It was another incredible year at Walk Thru Bethlehem. THANK YOU SO MUCH to everybody who worked hard to make it happen! We always hear incredible feedback on this event and how impactful it was for so many people!

We are now only two weeks away from Christmas. I have discovered that the Christmas season is much like life in general. There is a lot going on, and many plans are being made. There are a multitude of activities, parties, concerts, people to see, cards to send, and gifts to buy. We experience many emotions – joy, happiness, sadness, sorrow, loneliness, exhaustion, grief, fear, compassion, hope, peace – all mixed together. For those with small children who believe in Santa, Christmas can be magical, full of excitement and wonder. Yet for those who have lost a spouse or family member and find themselves grieving or alone, Christmas can be difficult – excruciatingly painful. Christmas is a time to reminisce, to take a stroll down memory lane. We remember Christmases growing up, when our kids were young, when our parents were alive, when life seemed simpler. We think of friends who have come and gone and wonder what they are doing now.

The truth is, many of us live our lives the exact same way that we go through the Christmas season – very busy, very tired, stressed out, rushing around, distracted, in a hurry, not slowing down, not being quiet… and then we miss it. We turn around and we have missed it! Children have grown up and moved away. They’ve married and started their own families. Grandchildren are born. Parents have aged and maybe even passed on. Relationships have drifted apart. Christmas reminds us that life is full of change and it presses forward whether we want it to or not. So if you’re not careful you’ll miss it. But one truth remains. Whatever emotions you might be experiencing this Christmas, whatever has happened this year for good or bad, it is still possible to find joy.

Joy is different from happiness. Everybody wants to be happy but nobody is happy all the time. Joy is much deeper, more meaningful, and it resonates in the depths of our soul. Joy involves the acceptance of life the way it is, flaws, disappointments, and all. And joy can come when we least expect it. There are many things that try to stand in the way of joy – stress, worry, pain, fear, envy, anger, selfishness, loneliness, addiction. But these are simply human realities, obstacles that we must face and overcome. We must learn to find joy in the ordinary, basic things.

Stanley Hauerwas says it well in The Peaceable Kingdom, “The most remarkable aspect of learning to live joyfully is that we learn to see the simple and most common aspects of our existence, such as our friends, our spouses, our children, as sheer gifts to which we have no right but who are nonetheless present to us.”

Joy and inner peace go hand in hand. Nobody ever said that finding joy is easy. But in a world of constant noise, breaking news, never-ending distractions, anger, and discontentment, we need to experience something different.

The famous carol says, “A thrill of hope, the weary world rejoices.” Yes, it’s a weary world, but we stand ready to rejoice. It’s still not too late to find joy this Christmas. It will only come when you are fully present with the people that you love and when you open your heart to the presence and mystery of God.

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