Yearning for light, tethered to hope
Image by The Blessed Little Life
The words “struggle” and “challenge” almost seem redundant right, now don’t they?
In December of 2020 as a collective society and humankind we are all reaching for something… hope. We have seen the loss of lives this year. The loss of our normal. The loss of income, jobs, schools. The loss of many plans made, hoped for and dreamt for. We’ve seen it all this year- a pandemic, political polarization on an unprecedented level during election season, social movements and injustices.
Yet, here we still are. Standing, singing, breathing. Decorating, cooking, working. Mending, crying, grieving, and… hoping.
What is tethering me to hope right now?
That light and dark coexist. That chaos and beauty aren’t mutually exclusive. That we can dance in the paradox of grief and hope. Because a Holy son of God was born into the very literal mess of humanity. I imagine a weary and terrified Mary and Joseph trying to find a place for a baby to be born. That there was no room. Every Inn was full. The space they wanted was not the space they got, but they had the space they needed… I struggle to make room for celebration and joy in this season. My finals season just ended a few days ago and its already less than two weeks till Christmas. I feel behind, I feel like there isn’t enough time to catch up and do all the things with my kids that I wanted too. It feels bittersweet. Finances have been hard as a family of four on one main income. Managing work and life as a student parent has been no easy task. And balancing health issues alongside it all… conditions are what one might call less than ideal.
I feel raw and weary. And yet a still small voice reminds me, it is exactly these raw and weary places that feel like they have no room that Jesus came to fill with His presence.
“A thrill of hope, a weary world rejoices…” The world has grown rather weary this year and all of us with it. I don’t know what next year will bring. But I try to remember that He is Emmanuel, God with us. That there is the promise of life and life abundant, that we can live move and have our being in Him. I pray this Christmas wouldn’t just be a “nice” Christmas ( but yes that too) but that we would be tethered to the real light, and hope, and person who shows up in the darkest, dustiest and most worn places.
This post is part of a blog hop with Exhale—an online community of women pursuing creativity alongside motherhood, led by the writing team behind Coffee + Crumbs. Click here to view the next post in this series "Tethered to Hope".
