HELP FROM HEAVEN

I just discovered this song yesterday. It feels really fitting for this time of year, as Advent is about waiting and not about celebration. One of my closest friends Tamsin is often expecting miracles and I reply that she might not get them and that that's OK. We're both right, but seeing different sides of the picture.

We live with the knowledge that certain things won't and cannot happen. We may not be able to conceive. A loss of a child will not be undone. Friends won't be brought back to life. Relationships may not be reconciled. We may not be healed. We cannot undo things we have done or things done to us. We cannot unsee things we have seen.

We're sometimes waiting for breakthrough and there is a deep hope in this song, acknowledging the pain, holding on to the hope within it, and acknowledging the conflict. The hope found in 'Immanuel' is a small glimpse in a baby - not an immediate reversal of the status quo.

If Christmas magnifies pain for you, that's OK. The tears have not been wasted, and there is a future for all the broken pieces.