Morning After Night
Hello Friends,
How the year has flown by! I realize it has been so long since I have connected with you all! This year has been a challenging yet sanctifying year for my family, indeed. Despite the many valleys we faced, the Lord was with us through it all. My deepest prayer is that by the time this post is published (which will likely be quite behind schedule), you all will have had a safe and merry Christmas with family and friends. The Bussey Crew enjoyed the quiet, peaceful and holy holiday that we prayed for. This year, we were blessed to read through the entire book of Luke every Advent night for the first time EVER! This marked a new season of reason for my young family as it signaled that my children are getting old enough to be relatively attentive and follow the scriptures and ask good questions. This was also a period of growth for me as I fought to ensure that we did our reading EVERY night…NO MATTER WHAT. So many years, we would start and fall off of our routine. I’m praising God that this year was different. It can be done!
Despite the overall festive tone of the season, my heart has been particularly burdened as I’ve watched darkness descend around the world. War, natural disaster, death, disease and loss permeated my news feed. I’ve also been keenly aware of the personal loss and trials that loved ones and friends have been dealing with or are processing over the holidays. Our own trials and sadness have not abated as the holidays approach. In fact, they’ve seemed to increase! Financial burdens and unexpected expenses loom over our heads, and sickness lurks in the shadows ready to pounce on the children. I have felt increasingly depressed as I have simultaneously mourned a friend who transitioned to heaven earlier in the year, and dreaded the relocation of another dear friend set for the day after Christmas. Also, while my heart rejoices at the precious new life we are expecting this coming Spring 2024, my heart and arms also long for the treasured babe that we would be holding this Christmas. Oh Lord, how can we truly rejoice when the night seems so long and bleak?
One of my favorite poems is a poem called “In the Bleak Midwinter” by Christina Rossetti. Ms. Rossetti wrote this poem under the original title “The Christmas Carol” in 1872. Over the years, it has also become an actual Christmas carol sung by choirs all over the world at this time of year. The night of the birth of Jesus Christ is imagined in this poem. Much is made of the harsh conditions and environment our Savior must have been born in. Ms. Rossetti dives deep into what that long night must have been like. And yet…out of that difficult night something magnificent was born. An incredible light sprang forth out of the darkness.
And so, in these especially dark times, I turn to the Word of God to encourage myself ( AND YOU!) as we enter into this holiday season. The passage that encourages me the most in this time is John 1:
“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.”
~John 1:1-5
What a perfect description of why we should be encouraged that the morning has come, despite the heaviness of the night. Other scriptures that encourage me include the following:
“The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light.”
~Romans 13:12
“For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ.”
~ 2 Corinthians 4:6
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”
~John 8:12
Consider the following scriptures as well…
"You are all children of the light and children of the day. We do not belong to the night or to the darkness."
~1 Thessalonians 5:5
"I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, and the bright Morning Star."
~Revelation 22:16
Maybe this holiday season will be different for you. Maybe you are going through a difficult season, and its hard to imagine a time to rejoice. That’s okay. Just remember, of all things this time of year reminds us of the morning coming…an end to the night. A special gift was given to us in the birth of Jesus Christ, our Morningstar! With Him comes the promise of the end of darkness. Though we may pass through dark times, we were not meant to dwell there. That is not God’s will for us. Let this holiday season give you hope that morning will come…..a new day is dawning.
~Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays from The Bussey Family
