Now that it’s Monday, Christmas 2020 is officially over. The tree will stay up for as long as we want this year. Of all seasons, this is the one we need to pour as much love and light into as it can possibly hold. Even though this year was certainly challenging, Christmas was not without its joys. We were able to exchange gifts remotely and in person, although socially distanced. It’s really hard not to hug these kids! The time will come again when we can…it’s not forever, it’s just for now, right?

I made a big meatloaf on Saturday night as our “Christmas Dinner” so we enjoyed cold meatloaf sandwiches as we watched football yesterday. I inadvertently got drawn into a project over the weekend that I wasn’t expecting, but I was glad to do it. I am one of the administrators of the Facebook page for our high school class. There are two files that keep getting updated. One is “Where are you now?” The other is the Memorial Wall… “Gone…But Not Forgotten”. Somehow, the memorial wall was deleted with twelve years of data and comments on it. Fortunately, several people have kept track of those we’ve lost over the years and I was able to reconstruct the list itself. But, all whose wonderful comments and prayers…some from class friends who are no longer with us…are gone for good, I’m afraid.

After I regained my composure over the loss of all that data, I set to reconstructing a new, improved list…with a back up. Typos were corrected and the list was changed to last-name-first to facilitate alphabetizing. We lost three class members this month alone. We had a very large class..somewhere over 700 students. Our Memorial Wall contains the names of 110 of our friends. It never gets easier when we lose one. And it doesn’t matter that our class was so big…we’re still family. “Once a Big Red, Always a Big Red.” I don’t know what it was about our class…we were tight. I’ve talked to classes before and after ours and many have never stayed in touch with their classmates, never attended a reunion. I think Facebook has helped people stay in touch and for that, I’m very grateful.

I was kicked back in my recliner all afternoon and looked up the see the sky on fire! What a gorgeous sunset. No pictures can do it justice, but trust me…it was breathtaking. I had my lap desk, my iPad, my laptop, my phone, and our yearbook balanced on my lap when I threw my phone to Mr. FixIt and implored him to run out and take pictures for me. Over the weekend, photos have been coming in from the family and they were filled with so much joy, I absolutely had to share them with you today. 

Joy comes even in the darkest of times and we so need all the joy we can get right now. Right now, I can’t count on two hands the number of people I know who are sick with Covid or other serious health issues. And I cannot do a single thing but pray for them. I can’t go make them soup or hold them or clean their houses for them. I can’t get on a plane and fly to their side or hop in the truck and drive. It makes us feel so helpless. So, I take care of people in other ways. I’ve mailed out care packages. I’ve contributed small amounts to fundraisers. I’ve helped people who are helping people. I’ve lifted people up in prayer and told them about it. I’ve prayed with them. I’ve taken food to their homes. I’ve contributed food and blankets and coats to drives. I’ve rounded up at the checkout. 

We may be helpless in some ways, but we can make up for it in others. We may feel hopeless on this day, but we won’t always. We can become hopeful for the days of hope ahead. They will come. They WILL come! We can work together and rise up and meet this challenge with dignity and hope and grace…and most of all love. And within that…we will find our joy!

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“…We gladly suffer, because we know that suffering helps us to endure. And endurance builds character, which gives us a hope that will never disappoint us. All of this happens because God has given us the Holy Spirit, who fills our hearts with his love.”

Romans 5:3-5 CEV