He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.
Revelation 21:4

Significant Losses

For most of my life, the happy anticipation of my birthday and Christmas filled the month of December. Even though I was born a few days before Christmas, Mom always made sure my special day didn’t get lost amidst the other holiday festivities. I was blessed to have her with me for 62 birthdays. She went Home in the spring of my 63^rd year. By the time December rolled around, my 90-year-old father had a live-in caregiver to assist him after the stroke he suffered a few months after Mom passed.

If I could have, I would have fast-forwarded to January. Mom and I had so many treasured traditions, I didn’t feel like celebrating without her. Still, I went through the motions for my family’s sake. By the time my second Christmas without Mom rolled around, Dad was in an assisted living facility, and by the third, he’d joined Mom in the presence of Jesus.

I wondered if the December joys I experienced for so many years would ever return. Finally, last year I felt the stirrings of old, familiar anticipation, and this year I fully embraced the joys of the season.

Sometime Every Christmas, I cry.[1]

Nonetheless, my post-Christmas melancholy is almost as customary as the happy anticipation that precedes the holiday, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when it arrived the day after Christmas. Not only were the gifts given and family gatherings completed, but also the Facebook memories of Christmases past greased the rails of the downward emotional slope.

As I gazed through tear-filled eyes at photos of family feasts and gift exchanges when Mom and Dad were still with us, I remembered a comment one of my friends made several years ago. Even as we mourn the empty seats at our table, longing to be with our departed loved ones, Scripture assures us that there’s an empty seat waiting for us at the heavenly banquet (Revelation 19:6-9).

A Breath Away[2]

A character on a show I was watching recently died. As he neared the end of his life, the rapt look on his face, accompanied by a statement describing a vision of deceased loved ones, reminded me of a similar experience I had with Mom a few days before her passing. I stood by her bed, trying to calm her constant fidgeting, when she became quiet. A look of wonder stole over her face. She stared past me, smiled as if gazing around a room full of loved ones, long gone, and whispered, “Is that Ray? There you all are! It’s been a long time. Do you remember me?” The moment passed quickly, but it left an impression I’ll never forget.

Likewise, there was the conversation I had with Dad’s hospice nurse as we waited together in the wee hours of the morning for the undertaker to come.

“Did your dad tell you he’s been seeing your mom?”

“No, he didn’t, but it doesn’t surprise me. I told him she’d be waiting for him.”

Christmas Hope

I know, like me, many of you are missing loved ones this Christmas season, some of you much more recently bereaved than I am. But because of the Baby in the manger, whose birth we just celebrated, we can rest assured that our believing loved ones are safe at Home and there’s a place waiting for us (John 14:2-3).

We will join them one day because that Baby was the Word made flesh. He dwelt among us for a while, full of grace and truth (John 1:14), yet despised and rejected by men. Sinless, He was crushed for our transgressions (Isaiah 53:3, 5) so that we can be robed in His righteousness (2 Corinthians 5:21), made perfect, fit to dwell with our high and holy God, who is also our Heavenly Father. He loved us so much that He sent His only Son to save us (John 3:16).

That good news isn’t just for December! The Christmas message infuses every day with joy and hope.

So take heart, dear ones. The separation is only temporary. Each passing day brings us closer to our real Home, where we will join those who have gone before us, rejoicing in the presence of our gracious and merciful King.

Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.” (Revelation 21:1-4)

---

[1] Inspired by lyrics from “Sometime Every Christmas,” by Michael W. Smith.

[2] Inspired by lyrics from “To Where You Are,” by Josh Groban.