Read Jeremiah 1:5

Christmas has always been my favorite holiday! I love the crisp winter air that comes with the season, the music and the spirit of joy and smiles that seem to surround the atmosphere. However, when growing up, Christmas wasn’t always a joyous holiday.

Just after my 6^th birthday and before Christmas, my parents divorced and everything changed. My world flipped on its axis and I was labeled “different” by my friends. A one-time happy season turned into a chaotic discussion of how and where we were to spend our holiday.

To my parent’s credit, they tried to make it an adventure and an exciting time as “we got two Christmases’” but it didn’t change the chaos of emotions that came at every Christmas because we were, and still are, a non-nuclear family; we were, in a sense, torn apart. My favorite holiday was marked with tears of sadness. As an adult, I love the lessons that came with being a non-nuclear family; it made me the strong woman I am today. One of those lessons is that of Jeremiah 1:5.

I love what God reminds Jeremiah before his work begins. He reminds him that He formed Jeremiah, that He knew Jeremiah and consecrated him. He reminds Jeremiah, at the beginning of his call as a Prophet, that He prepared him for what is to come. God formed and shaped Jeremiah exactly for this life of his. God formed us, shaped us, and prepared us (and continues to do so) exactly for this life and what is to come. He is the true gift that Christmas reminds us of. This gift is THE answer to our chaos of emotions as we deal with changes in our family. He is the strength to cling to when things aren’t as we wished they would be. His spirit is within us to access when we can’t see anything but our own perspective.

So, bottom line; no matter what your family may look like this Christmas season, no matter who shows up to Christmas dinner, no matter who walks into Christmas Eve service with you, know that Christ has formed you and He has instilled in you the ability to walk and see life as He sees it. You just have to look.

Your family may be “different”; you may compare your family to others, but, if Christmas means anything or reminds us of anything, it is that the gift of Jesus helps us get through a rough season, even at Christmas.

Focus on Him.

Kelly Lawson