Sheri Wren Haymore

Bravery

and Hope

What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you read the words, “Christmas Traditions?” For me, I think of my mother— her perfectly tinseled tree and graciously festooned home, her inventive holiday meals and thoughtfully chosen gifts. And how this vibrant woman was inexplicably diminished by Daddy’s death Christmas week of 2015, and by her own illness her last two Christmases. Each person has their own ideas and emotions surrounding Christmas Traditions. I have friends who start talking about Christmas on July 25 and begin decorating in October. For others, the reality that a drunk uncle will certainly ruin the family meal brings the emotion of dread around the holidays. I remember how a respected local Jewish family always papered their front door with a six-foot image of Santa. My parents’ Egyptian friends, who were Muslim, decorated a tree in their South Carolina home because, they said, “It’s the American thing to do.” Some people approach the holidays as a blast of partying. For others, their religion doesn’t allow them to acknowledge Christmas in any manner. For a good portion of my adult life, Christmas meant attempting to make hundreds of retail customers happy while trying to keep our celebration at home warm and meaningful. It meant driving two hundred miles for our family gathering. Christmas meant struggling to wring a sacred moment from the frantic blur of church activities until—at last!—Eileen Kidd sang “O Holy Night,” and the world stopped for a breath and my heart was sliced by a Holy finger. Yes, the very word Christmas has an edge, and well it should. Jesus Himself, the Prince of Peace, said that He came to bring not peace, but a sword. As it relates to the celebration of His birth, I think that sword can draw a sharp line. Between Glitz and Generosity. Presents and Presence. Holly and Holy. I believe Christmas can be the dividing line between speculation and the sure belief that there is something—Someone—beyond what we can grasp with our earthly hands. I believe that Jesus spoke with fervency about a Kingdom where all our earthly priorities are turned upside down because He wants us to live with anticipation that this world isn’t all there is. His words ask us to peer through the holiday greenery and pretty lights to see a babe in a manger and wonder what it will mean the day after Christmas. Whether you share the Christian faith or not; whether Christmas fills you with hope or dread; whether you’re carrying a hurt so deep that you wish you could skip all of December—I have a Christmas wish for you. I wish you the gift of a Brave heart. May your courage bring an expectancy that Someone who is beyond our understanding is reaching for you simply because you matter. Merry Christmas!

"... and the world stopped for a breath and my heart was sliced by a Holy finger."