A Pandemic Christmas

Christmas, that special time of year that was the highlight of my life, at least until 2018. Stuff happened, and it has extinguished the flame of this beautiful season. I have been trying to revive it, but it was making me feel even more sad.

Today though, I realised something, all the stuff that happened has helped me see clearer. I now know I don’t need to depend on anyone to make it Christmas. I need to look at the deeper meaning of Christmas – The birth of Lord Jesus.

Family drama, hurt, disappointment, betrayal – let’s keep that away from Christmas. People come and go and may come back, but they don’t represent Christmas. The birthday of Jesus is Christmas. So, this year, as well as for the years to come, I am going to focus on celebrating Jesus’s birthday.

The world focuses on Christmas being about family, but turn a blind eye to the people who do not have family or are far away from them. I’m not saying there aren’t really amazing people who step out to help the ones in need (I look up to these pure souls, I wish I had the courage to be one, right now I’m trying to save myself), but I’m sure there are people out there who get overlooked.

The one thing that the pandemic has forced upon us is loneliness. I think every single person on the face of planet Earth has been hit with this feeling. So, this year, instead of fighting it, let’s embrace it. Let’s forget the parties, meeting friends, going shopping etc. Let’s keep it simple – It’s a birthday party for Jesus and we are the host.

Clean up the place where you stay, put up a Christmas decoration, it may be forced, but do it. Don’t give up. I put up the Christmas curtains today, usually it would be a very joyous task, but this year there was a hollow feeling to it. I still did it, and by the end of it, well, I was still feeling hollow, but at least the room looks dreamy right now.

We are not doing this for us, but for Jesus. If you think about it like this, it takes the focus away from our troubles and gives us a purpose – A birthday host for Christmas. And Jesus doesn’t ask for much, he just wants us to talk to Him and think of Him every now and then.

 So why not surprise Him this year by actually talking to Him? And may be spruce up the place where we stay, it’ll give us a bit of exercise that has been lacking for the past couple of months.

This Christmas, or may be throughout December, try talking to Jesus. May be it’ll be the conversation we didn’t know we needed.