It's two days until Christmas and sunny with a high of 81 degrees farenheit. After my stint in London last spring I had sworn off the cold, longing to live in a place where it's warm year-round, but this Christmas leaves me longing for the four seasons of the Midwest. Christmas has crept up on me this year, and because I'm in a different environment I've had to really reevaluate what Christmas really means to me: is it a feeling? Is it cookies and coats and movie marathons? Is it a tree sheltering a pile of presents underneath? Or is it really about the story for me?
For a while I had resolved to simply let Christmas pass me by. It just wouldn't be the same without the traditions I've experienced my entire life celebrated with the family that I miss greatly. It would be easier that way, I thought. I'll be home soon enough and the holiday will come around again. But the Christmas songs on the radio won me over, and I became anxious for the holiday that seemed like a secret because there was little evidence of what I had known it to be around me.
My spirit just couldn't avoid celebrating Christmas, but it seemed I needed a refreshers course. This was provided in the past two weeks that we've spent at an Oasis project in the slums of Kampala called "Bambejja." "Bambejja" means "princess in the local language, Luganda, and it is a communtiy for underpriviledged girls. It is a place that literally provides them with an "oasis" from the hardships of their lives--lives that are truthfully lived on a day-to-day basis. We ran a two week kids club for them with a Christmas theme, and it was in the sharing of the Christmas story with these girls that it became a new story to me. Because this story was written for people like these--people that need hope, people that need redemption. And the reality of it is that I'm no different. I need hope, I need redemption. And just as these girls, I have nothing without the gift of Christ--I am nothing without the gift of Christ.
So this season, as Christmas grows closer, I can't deny that it won't be difficult. I have so much hope burried in these things that make Christmas a magical holiday for me. But the truth is there will be one thing that's the same--the story. And that's all the hope I need.
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2 comments:
Lacy, we are with you in thought and prayer. We admire you for being able to serve the Lord in another country. We wish you a "Merry Christmas" and a "Happy New Year". Your 81 temp sound good compared to our 10 degree. We are to have light freezing rain; however not much accumulation. Love and prayers Nancy Gallatin
Lacy, we miss you and will be glad when you are home. Until then, I am so proud of you and am praying for you. What an amazing opportunity and experience this is for you and those whose lives you touch. Lee Ann and Michael are due here sometime this evening, then your dad and Grandad are coming up in time for church tomorrow. I think Michael is going to sing O Holy Night...maybe you can sing next year! We love you and hope to talk to you on Christmas Day!
Nancy, Ben and Nana
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