Powerful Stuff

One of the most powerful things I have read in a long time.

Merry Christmas!

"I’ve always loved the celebration of Christmas, with the decorations, the lights and even buying presents. But that’s not what I need right now. I need a serious infusion of hope and comfort.
After losing both of my beloved parents in a six-month period and experiencing a life-threatening accident sandwiched between those two painful events, I feel beaten up. I don’t mean to whine, but at certain points in our lives, we feel slammed against a concrete wall, screaming for answers to some very serious questions. Like, Why I am alive? or, How in the world can I get through the pain that I feel has swallowed my soul?

Christmas is exactly the answer to the most troubling questions in life. As a matter of fact, it is the only answer. Sure, a lovely, perfect baby was born to a wandering teenager whose husband-to-be wondered if she had cheated on him (with God?), but beyond that conundrum lies a series of the most profound events ever to hit earth. God came and shouted to every one of us that He was here to overcome everything.
Don’t miss that. He was here to overcome everything: confusion, joy, agony, abandonment, loneliness, marriage, death and all that we experience on this earth. If that doesn’t confound you, nothing will.

Right now, as I walk through my days feeling lost and lonely, I need to know that God showed up to not only be with me in all of my temporal troubles, but to get me out of them—one day. That’s not pie-in-the-sky. It is reality. And at the heart of that reality is the love of God. The supernatural spirit who is God bound Himself into the tiny womb of a little girl because He knew that I needed help. And He did it because you need help too.

Christmas is about God leaving heaven and showing up. He had come before, but we didn’t pay much attention, so He came again to make us understand what reality is and what it isn’t. Reality isn’t unending hurt, loneliness, confusion or financial woes. Those are temporary, and we mustn’t forget that. The bigger reality is the overwhelming, awful passion of God. Let that sink in this Christmas. If you and I can, then nothing else will feel important.

That’s what I need this Christmas. What about you?"

Pediatrician, wife, mother and best-selling author of six books, Dr. Meg Meeker is one of the country’s leading experts on parenting, teens and children’s health.