A Pandemic Christmas and the End of a Challenging Year

A pandemic Christmas is fast approaching and I wonder where this year went.

Like most, I'm glad this year is coming to an end.  There were so many challenges during this time. Death was the hardest part of this year.  Losing people seemed magnified by the pandemic.  No wakes, no funerals, no gatherings to say goodbye or to comfort each other.

Despite everything, I do have some good memories of this year and I have a top ten list of blessings.  I also read a lot of books and tried to be happy.  And I celebrated ten years as a blogger, a milestone I nearly didn't acknowledge.

I remember attending Mass for the first time in August of this year.  It felt like I was breathing for the first time!  My husband, oldest son and I are in music ministry.  When we got the call to return, things began to feel normal with a few adjustments.

I read a few articles about other peoples' prayer lives.  The consensus was that their prayers became much more intense.  Living in these strange times challenged even the best of the faithful.

Now we are in Advent and Christmas is so close.  A baby awaits us to bring hope and joy to His people.  The Christmas lights remind me of the light at the end of a nearly year-long tunnel.

Let me offer this prayer for you:

Lord, in this holy season of prayer and song and laughter, we praise you for the great wonders you have sent us: for shining star and angel's song, for infant's cry in lowly manger. We praise you for the Word made flesh in a little Child. We behold his glory, and are bathed in its radiance.

Be with us as we sing the ironies of Christmas, the incomprehensible comprehended, the poetry made hard fact, the helpless Babe who cracks the world asunder. We kneel before you shepherds, innkeepers, wise men. Help us to rise bigger than we are. Amen.

- Author Unknown

Merry Christmas!  May you be blessed abundantly this season and beyond!