About to head over to a Christmas Eve service at my church - possibly the only service that I'll be doing this year as I've had a whole bunch of other stuff that's stopped me going on the other days this month.
It's not exactly been a great year, especially for those living in the United States and the Middle East, with the return of one Donald Trump to the White House.
Jesus himself knew all about a hard life. He was born to an unwed mother (I can imagine that Nazareth would have full of gossip once Mary started showing) and became a refugee shortly afterwards. Assuming that he worked as a carpenter like his earthly father did until he started his ministry at 30, he'd have been faced with all the uncertainties of the building trade, not to mention a lot of toil in a world before power tools in a Mediterranean climate. He experienced all the hardships of life on Earth - and then death at the cross after a perversion of justice. But then he overcame that and is now preparing heaven for those who follow him - which will be easy in some ways and less so in others.
God knows of our sufferings and is there to help us. It might not be obvious how he does so, it might not be straight away, but help is coming and all will be set right at some point.
I wish all my readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
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