Saturday night as I was scrolling through Facebook, tears were silently slipping off of my chin and onto my phone. I was having one of those rare moments when our situation felt incredibly unfair. My Facebook feed was full of pictures of high school students getting ready for their winter formal. A picture of some of my daughter’s friends from the high school posing for a picture in front of the Christmas tree had me mentally trying to picture where she would have been, should have been, smiling with her friends. So many things have been stolen from her and the air was suddenly stolen from my lungs.

 
I know I am not the only one whose heart can feel heavy and weary during what is supposed to be the happiest season of all. I have friends who will be celebrating their first Christmas without a loved one. Tomorrow, a very special friend will be celebrating her son’s birthday, only this year he will be celebrating it in Heaven. No……. my heart is not the only one that feels broken. In fact, when I allow myself to think of all the suffering there is just among other people that I love I feel blessed. My daughter may not have been in that picture but she is still in the room down the hall. Lord, help me to always see the blessings, even in the times when my heart is feeling the injustice of our situation.

 
Even without a sorrowful spirit, Christmas time is stressful. Checking accounts trying to keep up with lists for Santa can leave many people feeling less than jolly. Materialism is at its finest this time of year and my friends it is not a pretty picture. There are so many reasons to feel stressed this time of year; Christmas programs, holiday parties at work, trying to get the perfect picture for your family Christmas card (sorry, spoiler alert-there will be no Sorensen Christmas card this year haha!) and fighting crowds at the airport to get back to holiday dinners where you may or may not fight about politics while eating Christmas ham. Christmas is just not all mistletoe and Secret Santa. But that’s ok. Because guess what, that is not even what this season is about.

 
With all the chaos surrounding the holidays it can be really easy to forget why this really is the happiest season of all! But it all started with another mom with what I am sure was a very heavy heart of her own.

 
In Luke chapter 2 it tells us that Mary and Joseph were traveling to Bethlehem for the census when the time came for Jesus to be born. There was no room for them in the inn and they were forced to deliver what was to be the savior of the world in a stable. Into that dark night HOPE was literally born. Can you imagine that moment? Can you imagine the holy gasp that heaven must have made the moment that Jesus filled his lungs with his first breath here on earth?

 
Luke 2:8 “And there were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over their flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them, and they were terrified. But the angel said to them, “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is the Messiah, the Lord. This will be a sign to you: You will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger.”

 
The shepherds went and found Mary, Joseph and Jesus just as the angel had told them. Verse 17 continues, “When they had seen him they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.”

 
But Mary treasured and pondered these things in her heart……I can imagine that her heart too might have felt a bit heavy at that moment. What a holy privilege to be witness to HOPE literally being born.

 
So why is this the happiest season of all? Because Christmas is all about the birth of Jesus, literally the birth of HOPE! Saturday was a dark night for me. I have friends who are experiencing dark nights. But night will never be as dark now that hope has been born. If hope was born in darkness then I believe that we are in the perfect place to receive these words. “Do not be afraid. I bring you good news that will cause great joy for all the people. Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you: he is the Messiah, the Lord.”

 
As I listen to this song, my very favorite Christmas song, I am overcome with joy at the greatest gift ever given and once again the air is stolen from my lungs.