עמנואל With us is the Mighty one

I am certainly not a Christmas traditionalist. You won’t find a tree in my house, but still, this is a good time of the year. There is just something that even a materialistic or Santa-crazy world cannot take away, try as it might. Celebrating that God became a human baby. Of all the wonders of Christmas this is the most amazing one for sure. But a sad time too. A time when the empty space opens up. Suddenly my bed is too spacious. My sofa huge. My table half empty. My heart hollow.

As i sign into Netflix, walk around the shops or drive through my now-busy-town, i feel so hopelessly
alone. Christmas is a time of love and miracles the movies would like to portray. Family dinners and braais. But all it does is stamp the alone-ness in bold letters on my heart. 

Nothing helps. I pick out gifts, wrap them with love. Plan the food but don’t care much about eating it. 

But then, i remember Isaiah 7 “Therefore the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him Immanuel.” 

I might feel alone, but this Baby - the real reason for Christmas - His name is Immanuel. God with us. God with me. I am never alone. Never. I am not forsaken. I belong. And in Immanuel’s own words “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.”

עמנואל - with us is the mighty one

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