I haven't written a blog in awhile and I just felt the need to get down in print some of the feels I've been having lately.My family has always been a bit "over the top" when it comes to Christmas and there's nothing wrong with that but this year, I'm feeling a lot different about the whole thing. This year I want to just be able to spend time with my family and enjoy a nice meal. I don't desire all the "crazy" that is the norm in my family.
Don't get me wrong. I love our traditions but this year my family will be missing one member around the table and I am dealing with that as best I can. My son, is Active Military in the Army and he is not able to come home for Christmas this year. This is the first year he will not be with family while we celebrate the Christmas holidays and it got me thinking about the real reason we even have Christmas.
So many of us have forgotten, or were never taught, the real reason for Christmas. The love that God showed us by sending his son to be born a man on earth while fully knowing His life would be taken from him in just 33 short years. I willingly signed the papers for my son to join the Army (he was only 17 when he enlisted) and I knew that he wouldn't be home for periods of time and expected that holidays would not be any exception. What I didn't realize was how sad that would make me when the time came and I was told he wouldn't be home. The sadness I feel must be nothing compared to the anguish God must have felt when he relinquished his one and only son to a world that would come to despise him and ultimately crucify him.
I would like to ask each and every one of you that read this to stop a moment and say a prayer for all of our service members in all branches of the military and their families this holiday. Pray for peace and comfort for all of them that can't come home this year and especially for the families that will never have their loved ones home ever again because they gave their very lives for a world that is filled with hate. Pray that they will feel the love of God and that they will learn to treasure the time they do have or did have with all of their loved ones. 
This is not meant to be a sad post but a post to encourage you to get back to the true meaning of Christmas and to treasure those around you. Spread kindness and love through acts of service, smiles and kind words instead of buying into the greed and materialism that has tainted this season of Joy.
My prayers go up for all of you and that each of you will find your own Peace on Earth this Holiday Season.
Blessings to All,
Nichole
0 Comments