It is easy to find joy in the Christmas story. Once Mary knew that Joseph would accept her and the child she was carrying, I am sure she felt many moments of joy as the baby grew inside her. The birth of a new child always holds great potential for joy.
It has filled me with great joy each time I got to hold a new cousin or nephew for the first time. Although, the last three births in our family have been accompanied with a strange phenomenon. Each time my sister became pregnant the person in our family she told first (other than her husband) died before the baby was born so, when the baby was born although there was much joy there was also a level of sadness in knowing that the new baby would never know the relative who had just passed. As much as I would not wish this experience on anyone (in fact we all agreed my sister should stop having babies) there is an important lesson to be learned from this experience.
Joy and sorrow are not conflicting emotions!
We can feel more than one thing at a time. Have you ever found yourself laughing at funeral or feeling lonely at wedding? These are pretty common experiences. It doesn’t mean you are sad at the funeral or happy for the couple at the wedding. It is simply a reminder that our emotions are complex and layered.
Each Christmas there are people experience sorrow amidst the joy because they can’t be with loved ones – due to distance, estrangement, death, etc. – or because they can’t afford to give their loved ones all they want for Christmas. If we do not openly acknowledge the places of sorrow it is easy to become trapped in that grief and sadness.
This year because of covid the Christmas season will look very different for most people and that will be very challenging. This year especially it is important to acknowledge that challenge so that there is still room for joy this Christmas.