(If you’ve missed my earlier “Christmas Gifts” posts, you can click here.)
Does the Christmas season ever seem a bit… lonely? Do you feel that deep inner ache for… well, you’re not sure for what. But you do know that in spite of Christmas joy and celebration, there remains loneliness.
And has that loneliness ever driven you to try to recreate the good memories, tastes, sights, and sounds from Christmas’ past; in an attempt to mask that uncomfortable inner feeling?
(In case you haven’t guessed, I can answer “yes” to these questions!)
That loneliness may tempt us to spend too much money, eat too much food and get too little sleep. For those of us who are familiar with addiction, those inner longings may act as triggers, tempting us to return to what we’ve battled to leave.
But what if this loneliness is actually a gift? A reminder of God’s desire?
What if this longing, this Christmas loneliness, is a unique glimpse into the heart of God?
Think about it. He lived in perfect harmony with himself. But that wasn’t enough, so he created. And everything he created was good. Perfect. But God longed for more. I don’t think it inappropriate to say that his longing was like a holy loneliness. So he created you, and me, to satisfy his longing for relationship.
Of course our great- grandfather- many- times -removed Adam broke that relationship. And we have followed in Adam’s footsteps.
God could have washed his hands of us. But since he still longed for relationship, he chose the time and the events we’ve come to call “Christmas” to put his plan into motion. His plan which would take care of his loneliness (and ours) once for all.
We see the Christmas story of Jesus’ birth as a thing of beauty. It is also a reminder of God’s holy loneliness. Of his willingness to give what (rather, to give who) meant the most to him, in order to restore relationship with us.
This Christmas, may our inner loneliness remind us that God also longs for relationship. That his longing, his holy loneliness, motivated him to create us and then to give himself for us.
We are not alone.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. John 3: 16-17 NIV
(Tomorrow: the Gift of the Good Father)
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