Gentle Christmas

I pray your Christmas is gentle this year.

For sometimes, it is not merry.

Sometimes, the lights don’t sparkle as they once did,

and the weight of life feels heavier than the joy of the season.

But tender—yes, gentle—it can still be.

A quiet whisper from the Savior who came to carry your sorrows.

Soft words of kindness given to others,

and to yourself—a balm for the wounds unseen.

When “merry” feels a world away,

may you find refuge in the gentle love of Emmanuel.

The baby in the manger, who came not for the glitter and glow,

but for the broken and weary, the lonely and lost.

I pray you feel His tenderness wrap around you,

that His love settles deep into the aching places,

and that this Christmas,

though it may not be merry, may be gentle enough to heal.