Sometimes life is inconvenient. Sometimes it has this nasty habit of disregarding the calendar year or our personal schedules. Sometimes things happen when they’re least wanted and least convenient.
This happens often, actually. Of course, we know this isn’t simply “life’s” doing, but the will of a higher power. However, the way a situation works out — regardless of whose doing it seems to be — can often be the last thing we need.
Our lives can become chaotic calendars made up of periods of pain and pleasure, dissatisfaction and gratitude; regardless of how our emotional calendars are organized, we are each guaranteed seasons in life that are rife with trial and sorrow.
So what do we do when that hard season matches up with what is supposed to be the happiest time of the year? How can we embrace the joy of the Christmas season when the halls we deck belong to hospitals or wishing joy to a restless world seems downright laughable?
Christians frequently tell those who are suffering to simply embrace the point of the season rather than get caught up in its materialism — just to be joyful. We often make a distinction between joy and happiness, focusing on the biblical nature of joy and usually vilifying happiness in the process. We often describe the pursuit of happiness as secular and the attainment of joy as righteous.
However, there really isn’t anything wrong with happiness. Enjoying seemingly surface-level pleasures like apple cider and Christmas lights isn’t wrong. Happiness is often easy to find in the Christmas season by looking to traditions, reunions with family or just the general cheery decor. It’s when we rely solely on that happiness for fulfillment that we begin to feel the need for something more substantial.
These happiness-inducing trappings are all good things (all good things), but they can’t possibly give us that inner security we need to survive when life starts crumbling. Happiness is like shallow water — it’s fine to wade in casually, but not deep enough for submerging our spirits.
It’s also a Christian cliché to tell others to focus on “the reason for the season” rather than get caught up in the frenzy of the holidays. However, this limits the power of Christ to only this month.
Rather than just focus on the point of Christmas, we should instead focus on the implications of the season. The point of Christmas isn’t to celebrate a serene birth scene in a manger. The point of Christmas is Easter. Jesus was born to ultimately kill those trials that haunt so many at this time of year. The reason for the season is ultimately death — his death, and the end of death.
Where there is mourning, he is the Wonderful Counselor. Where there are riots, he is the Mighty God. Where there is separation, he is the Everlasting Father. Where there is fear, he is the Prince of Peace.
Where there is suffering, he is.