The Cradle And The Cross

This blog post was originally published two years ago when dear friends lost their son.
I am publishing the post again because other families are hurting.
Other families are grieving.
Especially at Christmas time, the grief is almost too much to bear.

Christmas is a time when the loss of those we love is felt more deeply.
Celebrations go on all around us, yet we are numb.
Carols are sung and music is played wherever we go, but we cannot sing.
We cannot seem to find the joy we are supposed to have this time of year.

God understands.

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He is a brother in the Lord.
Four of us sat at my kitchen table planning the National Day of Prayer event for many years.
After we planned, we would pray.
Many of those prayers ended with prayers for our families.

I received news that his son died this morning after a hard-fought battle with cancer.
How do you lose a son?
How do you lose a son so close to Christmas?
How does a young wife say goodbye to a wonderful husband and Daddy to two little boys?

I looked around today and it was business as usual for many.
I thought of this precious family and realize that now there is a new normal.
A new normal they never would have chosen.
Couldn’t there have been another way?

When many go around singing Christmas carols, others are grieving.
When many are planning menus, others are planning funerals.
When many are counting the number of people they will have at their table, others swallow the lump in their throat because one chair is noticeably empty.
Christmas for them is a reminder of the empty place.

Many of us have the Norman Rockwell notion of Christmas.
Some can even come close to achieving it.
Others can barely muster the strength and energy to decorate, buy gifts, or send cards.
I am just are not feeling Christmas this year, they say.

Feeling Christmas is not like taking a temperature.
Feeling a forehead may work for a fever, but it does not work for a hurting human soul.
There is no over the counter medicine for that kind of pain.
There is no doctor’s prescription that can cure emptiness.

Often this time of year floods the mind with memories.
Usually that is a good thing.
For others, those memories can be painful.
Only time can heal the deep wounds.

I will extol the Lord at all times; His praise will always be on my lips. My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt His name forever. I sought the Lord and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame…The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:1-5,18)

God the Father understands.
That is worth repeating.
God the Father understands.

God gave His Son because He loved us so much.
Jesus, fully God and fully man, went through all the human emotions that we experience.
Yet Jesus was without sin.

Jesus understands.

Jesus understands separation; He was separated from His own Father on the cross.
Jesus understands loneliness; His friends fell asleep in the Garden instead of praying.
Jesus understands betrayal; one of the Twelve sold him for the price of a slave.

Christmas is all about the cradle and the cross.
They are NOT incongruous.
Both had to happen in Jesus’ life for His Glory and for our salvation.

We think that the cross doesn’t fit with Christmas.
But it does.
The cradle pointed to the cross all along.

Our heart seems to ache even more when there is a death at Christmas time.
It is because of the cradle, the cross, and the grave that we live.
We live because Jesus was born, He died, and He rose again.

There were angels in the fields announcing His birth.
There were angels in the tomb telling the disciples He has risen just as He said.
God the Father keeps His promises.
God the Son is the Promise.

Now if we are children, then we are heirs, heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in His sufferings in order that we may also share in His glory. (Romans 8:17)

God is close to the brokenhearted.
The cradle of Christmas.
The cross of Easter.
God understands.

May we be sensitive to those who are suffering, especially at this time of year.
Christmas to them may be more cross than cradle.
Yes, there is an empty place, but praise God that empty place is a tomb!
That empty tomb is the reason we have hope!

Cradles and Christmas are all about HOPE!