When Christmas isn't Hallmark

      Inundated by the fantastical romance that Hallmark has portrayed Christmas to be, it is easy for a single woman, like myself, to be disappointed when another Christmas comes around, finding me still alone. the mistletoe hangs tauntingly over the mantelpiece, happy families and couples on Christmas cards gaze fondly into one another's eyes, and wondering "Maybe next year," begins to be a tiring phrase that repeats itself in my mind. The haunting thought echoes from the unknown, "Will I always be alone?"

      In the chill of the morning, rushing out the door to work, trying to see the road from behind frozen windows - There in the chaos, I feel the gentle urging of the Spirit.

     What is Christmas really about? We know the answer - do we not? "Jesus is the reason for the season." Is a popular quip amongst American Christian circles.

    The incarnation of Christ, coming as a humble infant lying in a manger, is not where we should stop though. It isn't the whole story! His first coming is not the end, no indeed, He is coming again!

    The Jews were disappointed with Jesus, the Messiah, the carpenter's son. They wanted a warrior King, not a suffering servant. Christian, take heart! The sacrificial Lamb has been raised from the dead, and He is returning as the long awaited conquering King - He will call His children home, punish the wicked, and bring about the new heavens and the new earth.

I hear a whisper in my soul, "My child, I love you. 

I've made you my own. I'll never leave you nor forsake you. You're never truly all alone."

     Take heart, O my soul, in this fleeting shadowland.

    Yet a little longer you'll wander here on earth,

soon your duty's tour shall be over, and your King will call you home

Then with all the saints, adorned as a bride you'll stand,

face to face before the risen Lamb.

So be strong and of good courage, whate'er this life may bring

His is always the best of plans,

The time you spend with Him you'll never regret

When you stand beside the crystal sea.

You'll ne'er e'er wish you made more money, bought more things, or dated more handsome men

No indeed, for when in heaven, my Savior I see

I'll know more fully that which I only know in part

That Jesus Christ alone is deserving of all my praise and love.

This earthly picture of matrimony is a shadow 

- beautiful as it is -

of, O, such greater things that are as yet to come.

So here I stand, clothed in the armor of my King,

With my brothers and sisters in the faith, 

I walk on in courage and in strength that comes through Him alone.

I'll follow His lead, and seek His face, and on earth His will be done.

With the closing of the age, I'll finally see His face - the One who never leaves and ne'er forsakes.

So sing my soul, you're not alone! 

He who made you has saved you and will safely bring you home.

In that glory, of the closing of the age,

These things of earth will seem so trivial,

The world so shadowed, pale.

The deepest friendship of this day, cannot near compete

When daily walking with the Savior

And joining with the host of saints, His praises I’ll repeat!