Mourning in the midst of merriment is unsettling. But there it is. This year, death has colored the final weeks of December.  Losing someone over the holidays challenges how I feel.

Maybe you can relate.

Death is an ever-present companion, silently following our every step, until it leads us through a fearsome door.  But, Death’s persistent presence can be a good goad.

Remember Scrooge when the third spirit revealed where Scrooge’s life was ending? Scrooge did a one/eighty, and changed his habits. The mercy – the transformation of a miserly old grump that Dickens described  — is that having another 24 hours is a gift of enormous benefit to you and me, even in our loss:

While you wake today, someone is breathing their last breath. Thank God for another day. Don’t waste it. (Anonymous Wisdom)

Even as it brings heartache, death brings hope – especially that it need not be the final word.  Consider Christ, please. ( Hebrews 1 )

“In the midst of life we are in death.”

In the midst of life we are in death
of whom may we seek for succour,
but of thee, O Lord,
who for our sins
art justly displeased?

Yet, O Lord God most holy,
O Lord most mighty,
O holy and most merciful Saviour,
deliver us not into the bitter pains of eternal death (A poetic adaption from a Gregorian chant from the Book of Common Prayer.)

“Jesus is not a metaphor. He is real. This all happened . . . He is a Light for us when all other lights go out.”  ― Timothy J. Keller, Hidden Christmas: The Surprising Truth Behind the Birth of Christ

mourning

Mourning in the midst of merriment is unsettling. So is living without hope. Would you consider Christ, the light of the world?

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