Restore us, O God;
let your face shine,
that we may be saved.
You have fed us with the bread of tears,
and given us tears to drink in full measure.
—Psalm 80.3, 5
The Gentle One does not cause us pain,
yet all tears come from God.
The joy of Christmas
is the presence of Christ
in the dark night of our hurt.
Let your sorrows be
a manger for the Christ child,
a lowly resting place for the Beloved,
who transforms it
into a heavenly throne.
The real “reason for the season”
is not Jesus all by himself,
but the presence of the Beloved
embedded in the world’s suffering,
transforming it
into a place of holy encounter.
Go to the rough manger,
and behold the tender child.
~Steve Garnaas-Holmes 12.16.13
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