Mother, heaven and Christmas by Debbie Davies_122203

Posted: 12/19/03

Mother, heaven and Christmas

By Debbi Davies

Unbelievably, 2003 is almost over, and we’re into the eye of the holiday storm.

To me, the first thing that comes to my mind is that it has been two full years since my mother unexpectedly died, and praise God, waits for me in Heaven. Even two years later, everything to me is either before my mother died or after my mother died. It has that impact on me.

My mother’s death gave a more personal meaning to me regarding the way all time is measured or referred to B.C. and A.D., which indicates time before and after Christ was born. That gives me a glimpse of how the whole world was impacted by Christ’s life.

Similarly, I have been impacted by my mother’s death. But, of course, Christ’s life was multiplied by how many people were on the earth. I’m sure that sounds trivial to many people, particularly those who have not lost their mother or other immediate family loved ones.

But here’s another example: You remember how our nation felt when so many people were killed on 9/11? Remember how you felt? That day was a turning point in our lives. Things were either before 9/11 or after 9/11. It’s a benchmark, a notch in the kitchen door where your dad measured how tall you were at the end every summer. It’s a big, big deal.

When Christ came to earth and later died on the cross, it was an even bigger deal. Such a big deal they mark time by it. It’s been such a long time ago since it actually happened, and we’ve seen so many school and church Christmas pageants about this event we call Christmas that it’s easy for the season to take a fairy tale persona and be cloaked by commercialism.

The fact remains, though, that for anyone who is a born-again Christian, Christmas is a time to praise God and thank God for his gift to us.

However, for a Christian with a loved one in heaven, it means even more. Christmas is the reason to go on living. You go on living and sharing God’s love with others until you see his face in heaven and then, behind him patiently waiting, you see your mother’s face, your father, brother, sister or grandparent, the loved one who is there before you. Time won’t matter anymore after that moment.

Most people feel truly sorry for other people’s loss, but they feel even more sensitive to loss around the holidays. People say things like, “Oh, I know it will be especially difficult for you during the holidays; Christmas will never be the same.” Well, those people are wrong and right all at the same time. Christmas is an even more joyous occasion for me because if it weren’t for Christmas I would never see my mother again.

Christmas is a vivid reminder to me of God’s love and God’s promise to me as a Christian. Because of Christmas, because God sent his only son to earth as a newborn baby as prophesied in the Bible, to pay the penalty for my sins, my mother’s sins and your sins, we all have the opportunity for eternal life if we only believe on him.

They’re right—Christmas never will be the same. It’s even better now than it was before my mother died. It means so much more to me now.

Thanks to Christmas, my mother is waiting for me at our heavenly home, and I’ll be there in God’s good time. I just hope dinner’s ready when I get there and there’s a homemade cherry pie!

Debbi Davies, a member of First Baptist Church in Mesquite, Texas, writes a column called “The Gospel According to Texas” for CMP Magazine