Our last senior ministry of the year finished with a Christmas program for our seniors. For us, it was really nothing special. We barely had two weeks to prepare our program, but for most of the seniors, it meant a great deal.

There’s one gentleman who was a military man. He sits up real straight and when I greet him with a “Hello, sir,” he always offers the most firm handshake, but I rarely get anything resembling emotion from him. He has been one of our most stalwart. Our Christmas program brought something totally different.

This seemingly strong ex-military man struggled to keep his emotions in check as I asked him how he was this time, and it touched me to my core. So, I spent extra time with him and gave him a kiss on his forehead.

The holidays aren’t all hollies and berries. In fact, the holidays often bring with them the reminder of those whom we have lost not to mention the things like health and independence and financial stability that we can often lose.

I sometimes feel it creeping up on me, too, as the holidays approach and I am reminded of the year that we spent between Christmas and New Year’s watching my sister-in-law slowly die. It’s hard not to associate the days with the loss. That’s the bittersweet of our Christmas holidays.

One of the songs that I performed at our ministry was called “One King” and was recorded by Point of Grace. I like the words of the song as they say, “One King held the frankincense. One King held the myrrh. One King held the purest gold. One King held the hope of the world.” Hope is what gets me through the holidays and more than a few people have wondered where I get it. My dictionary describes hope as, “…to believe, desire, or trust.” In my life, it means that I’m not going to give up, but my hope comes alongside having a purpose as well. I think that because many of our seniors feel cast aside and purposeless, they lose hope.

I suppose that sometimes we can’t find hope by ourselves. When life takes a left turn, we turn to others to remind us not to give up and to give us reasons to hope. It doesn’t have to be an old friend who gives us that reminder. It can come through a momentary interlude of caring from someone who doesn’t have to. It can be the general feeling of good will that is generated during this season. It can come from our relationship with God and the knowledge of His ever-present love. However hope comes into our lives, it fortifies us until the next time we find ourselves wearied by the world.