Brokenness At Christmas
My friend tells the story of a Christmas during his childhood when his parents planned a trip away for the holiday. He and his siblings were warned that to take the trip meant no gifts under the tree. Still, Christmas morning as children, they totally expected “something!” Surely there would still be gifts. To their surprise they opened only a single small gift. Smiling, they held tightly to their gift, saying thank you, while all the while feeling a painful, sick thunk in the bottom of their stomachs, and wanting to do nothing more than cry.
Years later the memory of this Christmas led my friend to want more than ever to give gifts to children who had little or nothing on Christmas morning. What must it feel like to wake up, know that it is Christmas and while all the other children in your neighborhood are opening grand gifts, you have nothing except dust under your tree? Perhaps even, there isn’t a tree, but an empty space where in your mind a beautifully decorated tree might have stood. I can’t imagine that kind of pain or sadness. Do the memories of their emptiness haunt them forever? Does that kind of brokenness ever heal?
There are other kinds of brokenness, as well. Only last week a friend went to the funeral of a young girl not long out of high school who was killed in a tragic car accident; or, the family who lost a loved one to cancer recently and must face the holidays without their father. What about the family whose sole provider just lost his job, or the family whose house burned down only weeks ago, or was struck by a horrific tornado that wiped out an entire community? What of the parents who celebrate this Christmas alone because their child has chosen to take another road, turning his back on all that he knew and once loved; or of the family where children are being destroyed while Mom and Dad battle in the courtroom during divorce settlement? This makes Christmas a sad time rather than a time of joy. How does a person handle that kind of pain?
The ‘people group’ of Disabilities is yet another arena where it is easy to find brokenness. Those with mental illness find this time of year is when depression, PTSD, and other challenges are intensified, giving life a sense of overwhelming distress. Disabilities impacting learning, or even physical conditions can create individuals struggling to cope with the holidays.
There is much pain and suffering in our world. Those experiencing grief may be close to us, or only in our peripheral vision, but they are there. And when pain is crippling relationships, breaking our hearts, or destroying our self-worth, it’s hard to experience the joy of Christmas.
I encourage you this week, as Christmas Day creeps ever closer, to choose to recognize there is brokenness in everyone’s life; and there are those around you who try with all their might to not let you see the pain they are experiencing. You needn’t know the problem, only notice a need and do what you can to ease their burden. Be creative. Offer a meal, a ride somewhere, a gift of kindness in any form. Leave gifts on the porch for the little ones (and even the older ones if you can), invite them to dinner, offer them a cup of coffee and a listening ear, take a box of cookies, or homemade bread. It needn’t be a grand gift. (You might even want to give anonymously. If you give sincerely and with compassion, it will be cherished.)
It’s Christmas, the season of giving. Give with your heart and you’ll receive a blessing.