Is One of Your Loved Ones Spending Christmas with Jesus This Year?

My husband and I each lost one of our parents shortly before Christmas a number of years ago, so we understand how the usual happiness associated with that holiday can also mean sadness to those who are recently bereaved. The laughter and joy of those around you somehow seems hollow and clanging as you see only the empty chair where the missing person used to sit. You try to enter into the gaiety going on around you, but your heart just isn't in it.

Last Sunday, our pastor's wife made a loving gesture towards members of the congregation who are grieving over the death of a loved one. That gesture won't soon be forgotten, I'm sure. In fact, it was so caring that I thought it might be nice to share it here on Associated Content so that others might give some thought to doing the same thing in their own churches.

At the end of the regular service, Shirley, our Pastor's wife, stood with a little basket on her arm. Inside the basket were some tiny little angel figurines. Each of the figurines had a delicate garment of white and gold, and had a verse written across its back; a verse that came from a poem written by Wanda Bencke after her 13-year-old handicapped daughter, Lysandra Kay died after spending 5 days in a coma brought on by a seizure.

It is a beautiful poem, written from the perspective of Wanda Bencke's daughter as she described the enthralling sights and activities of heaven, while still being aware of the sadness and heartache her family is experiencing because of her absence. She goes on in the poem to encourage those who love her to wipe away their tears, and to be glad as she has this wonderful opportunity to spend Christmas with Jesus this year.

After reading the poem to the whole congregation, our Pastor's wife invited one of the teenagers in the church to personally deliver each of the little angels as she called out the name of every family who had lost a loved one during 2008. It was an emotional time, and, from what I observed, the beginning of a healing time for several in our church.

If you would like to see the poem in its entirety, click the link accompanying this article.

Even if you are not experiencing a period of grief at the present time, having the poem handy when the time does come might bring comfort to your own life, or to the life of a friend.