Dear Jamie Jo’s words made my heart go thud. I knew what
she meant. I’d experienced it. I knew the numb heaviness, and emptiness, the
longing a missionary feels at Christmas, far from loved ones and home. I wanted
to do something to make her feel better, but all I could do was send her a note
and commit to pray.
Over at one of her blogs, IRL: In real life with Jamie Jo,
she admitted that from Mexico, this Christmas season isn’t feeling so jolly
and ho-ho-ho like she’d prefer.
“The songs keep telling me,” she writes, “this is ‘The Most
Wonderful Time of the Year!’ It’s tempting to be shallow and cheerful, offering
pithy advice for celebrating the season far from family and friends. I just can’t.”
“… Christmas is hard,” Jamie Jo continues.
“Whether you are brand new to the field or like me, having
spent more than half of your Christmases outside the U.S., it’s not easy. We
can beat ourselves up for not being spiritual enough, for not focusing on the real
reason for the season, but maybe it’s okay to simply acknowledge that for us, this is the time when we feel the pain of
the sacrifice we have made.”
By clicking over to her blog post, “Most Wonderful Time of the Year?” you can read how Jamie Jo is choosing to focus on her blessings
and to recognize her sacrifices are not in vain.
Do you know missionaries far from home this Christmas? Recognize how lonely
they probably are. Send them a note. Pray for them.
And have a blessed Christmas!
I think Christmas can definitely be a time of mixed feelings for many - sadness for some, joy for others. Remembering what it is ultimately about, though, should be uppermost in our hearts!
ReplyDelete