Christmas Eve 2023
My darling Pam,
The hopes and fears of all the years are met in thee tonight. Oh Little Town of Bethlehem
I have often heard that it is sad, if not terrible, when death comes knocking at the holidays. The reason of course is the continued sadness associated with the holiday for the survivors going forward.
No longer do I believe that. While you are not likely to die today or tomorrow or even during this holiday season, even so, we have certainly become intimate with the process, the procedure and sadness of the experience. Nothing of death deters from the holiness and beauty of this season.
Quite the contrary, this is the season of hope, a season of anticipation and a season of emancipation. I thank God for the gift of grieving and hoping, of uncontainable joy and immeasurable sadness. I thank God for this, the season of the Prince of Peace, for it is only here, in the presence of peace that I can find abode.
It is my expectation that the reliving and remembering of the sadness of this Advent and Christmas will be swallowed up by the experience of hope and joy that gives reason for this season.
It is my anticipation that this suffering will make the presence of His peace so much sweeter as the years pass.
Truly my darling, the hopes and fears of all the years are met in Him tonight.
I love you more with each passing year. With each passing moment, you take my breath away.
Love,
Brad