Hope in the Darkness

December can be a season of twinkle lights, ”Holly Jolly” Christmas music, and candy canes. All things light and fluffy and sugary sweet.

Parties, events, and programs area sweet way to commemorate the Christmas seasoned partaken the joy and celebration that we have in Jesus.

During this month we are also reminded to hope, the very first candle of the advent season.  Hope in this world can feel as flimsy as the tinsel that adorns the tree. Full of wishful thinking and positive thoughts.

Hope can also feel terrifying.

How do you hope when a test comes back questionable, or a diagnosis is grim? When loss leaves you feeling extra empty, or Christmas cards pictures were supposed to be a little bit fuller than last year? When the year was just really long or disappointing? Or when the picture perfect holiday you imagined just feels out of reach for a multitude of reasons, seemingly big or small?

How do you hope when the hits just feel like they keep on coming?

The Christmas season this year feels both festive and heavy. We feel the stark contrast between celebration and loss. How many people have we heard say “why would this happen now, during Christmas? Difficulties feel so much heavier at this time of year when all we really want is a reprieve from any of the stress of the year.

It does not feel like a coincidence that Christmas comes during the darkest month of the year.

Sometimes twinkle lights don’t make a dent in the darkness that surrounds us.

But in God’s sovereignty at the end of the darkest season, we celebrate the Light.

“The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.” John 1:5

Christ did not come to distract us from hardship, but to deliver us from it. Our hope is not in our circumstances and wishful thinking, but in a person.

“In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” John 16:3

The call to hope is a freeing one, because God promises that hope does not put us to shame, but it is born out of suffering. We hope not in what we see, but in Christ incarnate, living and reigning victorious. Our hope is a person who arrived as a baby. Who lived full life full of every suffering and inconvenience. Every disappointment and betrayal. Yet overcame it for us.

So maybe the longing and disappointment are holy things. To turn our eyes to true hope which leads to true joy. True peace. True rest. True salvation.