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I love this season. I love the decorations, the gatherings, the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes.
Most of the time, I feel the thrill of celebration. Most of the time.
But sometimes the season brings with it a longing from somewhere deep within. The shiny, bright light of celebration is juxtaposed with the reminder of broken things—broken relationships, hurting people, and an imperfect world.
Being awake to the light and life of Christ causes us to see just how dim everything else can be.
Surely I’m not the only one.
I’m learning that the simultaneous joy and ache are normal. In fact, it seems to be an accurate picture of living in God’s Kingdom: we are filled with joy at all God has done, and we carry a lingering ache because this world is not yet as it should be.
We might sometimes choose to ignore or escape the ache, longing, or struggle, but to do that for long is to forfeit the wholeness of the story.
I’m convinced the interweaving of joy and ache is perhaps the best picture of the good news of Christ.
The coexistence of radiant glory and dark despair doesn’t minimize the story; it clarifies the truth of it.
He didn’t erase despair; He entered into it—into the deepest depths of it.
He entered the darkness and allowed it to have its full effect on Him.
If that had been the last page of the story, we’d all be fools for celebrating. But since this darkness didn’t have the last word, we can rejoice, oh weary one.
We have a Savior who doesn’t simply say, “Cheer up,” but who says, “Come to Me.” He gives us a forward-looking hope that what is dark and broken in us, in them, and out there will one day be bright, shining glory.
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