For a long time, I used to hate depressing Christmas music.  I might even say it was one of my pet peeves.  I used to squirm when I heard lyrics such as “I’ll have a blue Christmas without you. I’ll be so blue thinking about you”. What a way to ruin such a happy time!

You could say I lived in a bubble, not only at Christmas time, but all year long. I always thought emotions and stuff were important, but I wasn’t REAL. I just wanted everybody to be happy and get along all the time and I didn’t really want to hear anything that would shake that ideal.

But God has been really dealing with me about that in the past couple of years.  I had a couple of very profound experiences last year when God brought me face to face with some tough stuff and I had to let go of my “happy-go-lucky” bubble and get real.

So back to that “I’ll have a blue Christmas without you”. I still wish Christmas were perfect like we see in the movies, but it isn’t.  Some people really struggle emotionally at Christmas (and at other times).

I thank God that as Christians, our first defense should be prayer.  We have the privilege of going and talking to our heavenly father. He wants us to be honest with Him.

Something else that I saw in a video that I think is so true is that when we see these movies where families are perfect and so happy at Christmas, we have to remember that they are just movies…life doesn’t happen that way! !

I read something very convicting this week.  It was about Jesus in the manger. Just think about it. Jesus in the animal-feeding trough. And here we are worrying about that perfect Christmas gift and dinner and a whole bunch of other things. I think the point of what I was reading was that the manger is about service…not perfection or what others will think of us… but about loving and serving others.

But in the manger we see God…a God who promises us that He will never leave us nor forsake us. A God who has given us Himself and each other to turn to in times of pain and loneliness and seek comfort and joy at times when we least expect to.

Sarah Evans