He is Your Gift

Thank God for this gift too wonderful for words!

—2 Corinthians 9:15 NLT

         If you are someone who is alone this Christmas, I will tell you that I don’t know exactly what you are going through. I don’t understand what it means to be without a husband or family at Christmas. But I do understand loss. Mother is gone. Daddy passed this year. I do understand how your heart breaks when those you love are gone from your life.

         Companies, like Hallmark, remind us again and again that Christmas is a time for love and for families—a time for sharing presents and home. Warm and cozy feelings are their goals—along with a hot cup of cocoa to soothe and renew our visions of sugar plum sweetness. Over and over again, we are reminded that what the retail world tells us is real. And loneliness is magnified. Loss becomes greater. Despair draws us in, and we feel abandoned—without hope in a world that has left us behind.

         Jesus was not born into a world of sugar plum sweetness. He was born in a lowly manger, with little comfort, because there was no room for him in the inn. He came alone, without fanfare, to offer himself to be our greatest gift. He was born to give his life with no expectation of return. His love was freely given—never to be earned. He knew loneliness as we will never know loneliness. Abandoned at Calvary, He died to offer unconditional love as His greatest gift so that we might know God's fullness and joy no matter our circumstance or our pain. He is our answer to loneliness. He is the answer to our pain of loss.

         If you are alone, don’t feel abandoned. You have not been left behind. Your Comforter has come so you can rest in His loving grace. His heart knows your loneliness. He knew it at Calvary, and for your pain—your loss—for your life He gave all He had to offer. His gift for you is His life. There is no greater love than that which came from innocence to love you through this season right into the next.

         Yes, the loss is real, but He understands it in ways I never will—in ways you never will.  Do not strain to comprehend His grace. Your mind cannot receive what is meant to heal your heart. He is your gift.

© 2018 Lynn Lacher

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