If you’re singing “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” this post is probably not for you. These words are for the ones who are struggling because whatever made life hard in the previous eleven months didn’t evaporate when December rolled around. In fact, it got harder.
The seasonal hoopla feels so pointless, so painful. Sitting in church, listening to carols, you’re not sure you really belong. You don’t want to be a wet blanket on other people’s Christmas spirit, but you can’t quite get there from here.
This post is for you. You know who you are. You’re lonely. You’re wounded. You’re grieving. You’re estranged from people you thought loved you. You’re bowed beneath the load of life. You’re sitting beside a hospital bed. You’re waiting for the phone to ring. You’ve just heard your doctor say the word malignant. You’ve said the long goodbye. You’re broke. And broken too.
This poem is for you. For all the ones who can’t seem to muster any Christmas Spirit.
Christmas Spirit, for the rest of us
It’s okay if you can’t look up…
if your path is steep and rocky,
if your focus is your muddy, slipping feet.
It’s okay if you can’t look up…
if your eyes are swollen shut from sobbing,
if your memories blur your vision.
It’s okay if you can’t look up…
If you’re terrified of what you’ll see,
If you’re terrified of what you won’t see.
It’s okay if you can’t look up…
If you’re ready to give up,
If you think maybe you already have.
It’s okay if you can’t look up…
Because –
God. came. down.
For all the times we cannot look up,
cannot reach up,
cannot stand up,
cannot cheer up,
cannot keep up,
cannot wake up from the nightmare that life has become.
God came down. (You know, Emmanuel.)
It’s the whole point of everything.
God’s part? The Presence. The Present. In every sense of the word.
Our part? The Pause. The Yes.
God with us. God’s spirit in us, beneath us, beside us, behind us, over us.
That’s the Christmas Spirit. For the rest of us. For all of us.
For everyone.
Every. One.
For me.
For you.
Reprinted with permission from Connections, December 2018.
One Response
Thank you Brenda for sharing this. May God give much grace to those experiencing sorrow, sadness and pain!!