2020 The Hugless Year

I love hugs. 2020 halted them. Who would have ever thought? However, even before 2020, my grandchildren were not "into" hugs. It's not that they don't love me, I believe they do, but for some reason, they are not a big deal to them. To me, they are, should I say, "were"? I understand this day and age that one should not force a child to hug you or anything that they feel uncomfortable doing. I understand the principle, but there are two sides.

I am wondering if the disparity could be life experiences. As a senior citizen, one is so often reminded of mortality. Kids don't think, "this might be the last time I get to hug grandma" and have regrets later if they didn't. They don't think that way and shouldn't, but the thought does cross older peoples' minds at times. One last hug for the road to the grandchild until we meet again. May they remember the love of a hug. It just seems children don't value them the way an older person does.

Surely hugs are just a fleeting physical expression of love and what we have learned in 2020 is there are other ways to show love, yet even those other actions have been limited with the pandemic. I imagine there are those who were thankful for a year when people didn't tackle them with hugs. For some it was a relief but for many the lack of hugs hurt.

It is interesting that in Ecclesiastes where the familiar passage tells us there is a time for everything, actually says in 3:5 "a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing." I guess these are those times.

I hope this time to refrain ends soon. As we enter a new year, we look forward to moving on from our year of refraining from so many things. I imagine some of those things we refrained from will carry on. I am not sure people will ever shake hands again. As for me, I look to a new season of love and hopefully hugs from those who feel comfortable doing so. 

Jesus Knows

Those who know me well know that I have a tender heart, a heart that makes tears flow very easily. I can't help it. It's just the way that I am. One afternoon driving home after a trying day, my thoughts overflowed bringing me to tears. It was at that moment that the Christian radio station quoted the Psalmist's poetic writings, "You keep track of all my sorrows. You've collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book." Psalm 56:8 (NLT)

Here I am crying, and David is saying in his anguish (he was a POW at the time), that he knows that God is aware of every tear drop and just as the hairs on our head are numbered, so are our tears, as if collected in his bottle and each one written down in his book and acknowledged. Not physically, but metaphorically, I believe it is true.      

The shortest verse in the Bible is, “Jesus wept”. This was when Lazarus died. A study of the translation reveals these were silent, personal tears. There was another time in the Bible that it was noted that Jesus wept, Luke 19:41, "As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it." This word for wept translates into "wept aloud". His love of his country, patriotism and seeing what it had become brought him to tears.             

I know the events of 2020 have brought many to tears. Our country is in pain in so many ways. For Christians, we hold on to the belief that God is in control. Jesus came to earth as a child, living on earth and experiencing life as a human, including shedding tears. He suffered physical and emotional pain, grief, anger, humiliation along with joy, peace, love—all the feelings. There could be another two-word verse in the Bible: “Jesus knows.”

Whatever you are going through, Jesus sees it all and knows. All our tears, shed and unshed, are known by God, not actually kept in a bottle, but may this imagery remind you, he was born, lived, and died all for you, that is how much he cares. May you reflect upon his love and in this birth, we celebrate now that leads us to life everlasting and a life of no more tears, "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." Revelation 21:4. 

As we all navigate through the unknown seas (salted like tears) in this coming year, may you know that although you may sometimes be alone or those who feel alone even in a crowded room (pre-Covid-19), know you are never alone. Jesus is there. Jesus knows. Every tear drop that falls is seen. At this Christmas time and as we enter a new year, may you have the hope and the joy that only God can give. Merry Christmas.