All that Glitters

Well, it's December, and here we are in the middle of the Christmas season.  For many it is a super busy season; there are presents to buy, decorations to put up, and family gatherings to prepare for. There are just not enough hours in the day to get it all done. 

Also amid the carols, lights, parties, and shopping, though, is a lonely soul for whom Christmas is painful. They may have been alone for years or lost a loved one recently and a huge, gaping hole is in the middle of all the merriment where their loved one used to be.

It is both stressful and painful in many cases.

For both extremes there is something you need to remember to keep everything in perspective: Social media paints an incomplete picture of what is really going on in most cases. 

Remember that while the tree may be near perfection and the pictures of the party trappings may look like something in a magazine, just off camera in some of these homes is a stack of empty Christmas decoration boxes and a sink full of dishes. 

Perhaps the smiling families in those pictures have not all been together in many years, and this year they finally managed to get their schedules together. For most of those years, there was a family member or two alone during this season.

Try to remember that even though it looks like everyone but you has it all together, this is a delusion. Things are not always as they seem to be.

All that glitters is not gold.  

Life is imperfect and most humans are just like you and me; figuring it out as they go along. So while your news feed may be filled with smiling faces and glittering decorations, don't beat yourself up because your house seems to fall short of what you perceive to be the norm. 

And don't lose heart if you are feeling lonely, smiling on the outside but crying on the inside.

Most people are just like you, they just don't take pictures of everyday life usually. We all fall into the trap of only showing the best, and we all need to remember that next time we are scrolling and feeling inadequate.

Truth is, we are all inadequate.

We are all imperfect and inadequate, that is why we have Christmas in the first place. "All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" as it says in Romans 3:23. 

So take heart, my friends. You are not alone and without hope. Christ came to save us all, and He did that because He loves us.


He loves both the extremely busy and the utterly alone equally.

He LOVES us ALL.

Have a blessed and merry Christmas this year and remember why we have this celebration in the first place.

Merry Christmas!